SAUSAGE MAKING SUPPLIES...in Canada...

[Ken D]

Hi. Whereas I only come to the forum today, there is a chance this vendor has already been mentioned. I did a search, though, and it came up blank.

Their casings are very good, and not too spendy. They have a category called 'shorts', for about a third the price of longs. Shorts are perfect for homers, as they dont tangle much, and no need to make 100 pounds at a time.

In Imperial, a 25-30mm casing needs to be about 16" to make a link, or a ring that weighs one pound. for a 10 pound batch that's about 13 feet, or plan on 5 yards of casing.
Long casings are about 40 feet !! Shorts are between 2 and 6 yards.
No concerns about prepping too much casing, only to repack it for later.

I only shop there, I am not commercially related to the site.

They have a great selection of related products. They no longer ship to the USA. Bio-terrorism fears from south of 49, and all.

And the best part, an online pdf file of recipes !!
I'll link to the recipes, and then anyone interested in product can surf the rest of the site. When the file opens, just place the pdf hand on the recipe you want to view, and it comes up.

Best, KD

http://www.wwf5.com/stuffers.com/conten ... usrecp.pdf

[Peter]

Thanks for your information, Ken and welcome to the board. I have been aware of the Stuffers site for a while but never paid attention to their casings. Others will certainly benefit from the information there. The recipe index is a really good one and is a good reference for any home sausage maker. Shipping casings from BC to eastern Canada may present problems though.
Suppliers in eastern Canada also can supply what you refer to as shorts. A hank of casings is about 100 yards and this is the standard package. A hank is a bundle of casings each around 5 - 6 yards. I can't recall seeing a length of natural casing 40' long. My stuffer would not accommodate a 40' length either. I need to work to get a full 6 yard length onto the tube at once.

[Phoneguy]

I was in the store a couple of weeks ago. I was impressed and happy with the product I purchased.

[Skyhawk]

I've placed several orders at Suffers and at Canada Compound, and both companies offer excellent service. I've been such a good customer, that Stuffers didn't charge me shipping to Ontario on my last couple orders.

There is no problem shipping the hog shorts or any other natural casings to Eastern Canada from BC. They're well packed in salt, and good even without refrigeration for at least a couple weeks. In any case, no order has taken more than 7 days to get to my door from the time I ordered. About these casings... you wouldn't believe the size of the bag you get. For home use, it's nearly a lifetime supply of 29-35mm for $17. The website says it will do 100 pounds of meat, but I've gone through at nearly 50 pounds (20kg), and I'm only 1/4 into it. Most in the lot I received are definitely over 2m, and do require a bit of untangling.

I use also use Canada Compound for a lot of things, especially for their amazing variety of cultures. And yes they do sell retail! Unfortunately their website gives the impression that they only wholesale to the big guys. You need to call for prices, and their product list is in .pdf format that you have to download for each product class. It's worth a call, because their prices are at least half that you would pay at USA's Butcher & Packer or Allied Kenco. And the shipping charge is cheap, especially compared to Allied Kenco which charged a friend of mine nearly $50 to mail him two little foil packets of bacteria culture to Canada. Butcher & Packer's shipping rates are a fraction of Allied Kenco's, but I was extremely unhappy with their service compared to our Canadian suppliers.

The folks at Canada Compound and Stuffers seem really knowledgeable, eager to help, and friendly, and importantly very prompt in letting you know if there's a problem with your order by phone. I've never experienced that level of service south of the border.

[Peter]

I would like to add another couple of suppliers to this list; Malabar Superspice in Burlington and BSA in Montreal.
Customer service from these 2 companies is second to none and both welcome smaller users.

[Skyhawk]

I was under the impression that Malabar sold only to commercial processors and such and didn't cater to the retail market. In any case, awhile back I filled out their request form for their catalog. After waiting for it a few days, I finally received an email from them asking me which business I represented. I didn't reply (I'm not a commercial producer), and they of course never did send the catalog. I wasn't terribly impressed.

[Peter]

I was under the impression that Malabar sold only to commercial processors and such and didn't cater to the retail market. In any case, awhile back I filled out their request form for their catalog. After waiting for it a few days, I finally received an email from them asking me which business I represented. I didn't reply (I'm not a commercial producer), and they of course never did send the catalog. I wasn't terribly impressed.

Funny, my experience with Canada Compound matches yours with Malabar.

[Skyhawk]

I didn't think that Canada Compound even had a catalog. There certainly isn't one advertised on their website. Now you have me wondering... I should call them directly and inquiry about it. Although they offer enough product info on their website (sans prices), I'm not a big fan of their scattered .pdf files they make you download.