Souse

 

About every ten years I will have a taste for souse. Now the nice thing about souse is it reminds me how grateful I am to have other things to eat. My wife’s grandparents use to eat it every week or so and I was always amazed that they seem to like it. Usually served cold as part of a sandwich or on a cracker.  It has similar ingredients to scrapple. In our area the main producer of souse that is available in stores is made by Gwaltney.

Souse, of course, made from a pig's head cooked down until the meat falls off, than the meat is separated from the head, mashed up fine and vinegar or a brine, pickle, red and green peppers is added. Since a pig's head is mostly bone there will be a great deal of gelatin mass in with the meat.  The whole mess is poured into a loaf pan and refrigerated until it forms a terrine-like product usually in the shape of a loaf.  It is then sliced.   Like scrapple the taste will vary with the maker.  Unlike scrapple, souse is just pig cooked down to a gelatin mass with no corn meal binder added.

above ad from 1944 Salisbury Times

During WW2 the popularity of souse increased because it was not rationed. You will notice that it is the most expensive item among the bologna, scrapple and liver pudding selection.