Alpine Market Cure · Air-Dried Beef
Walliser Trockenfleisch
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Adrian Michael / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
It air-dries for months in the Valais's famously dry mountain wind, losing much of its weight to moisture loss alone before it's ready to slice.
Beef is salted with mountain herbs, then hung to air-dry for several months in ventilated wooden chalets built specifically for curing. Market stalls across Valais slice it paper-thin to sell by weight, eaten plain or with rye bread and pickles.
Why it's made this way: The Valais's dry, windy Alpine climate made long air-curing possible long before refrigeration, and the region built its meat economy around that natural advantage.
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