One of the neat things about the St. Albert Farmers’ Market is the quirky names vendors give their business. For instance, there’s The Butcher’s Bus, a popular booth manned by sausage makers Charles and Jody Hansen.
For four years, the folksy couple has attracted shoppers to the stall offering bite-size sausage samplers and perogies produced at their farm-based facility about six kilometres south of Sherwood Park.
With more than 25 different sausage types, variety has been key in gaining consumer appreciation. Some of the more esoteric flavours are Hawaiian, cheese and jalapeno, cheese and olive, and andouille, a Cajun farmers’ sausage packed with heat.
But no other sausage comes close in popularity to their Mennonite sausage. “One out of three people that taste it, buy it,” says Charles. “It’s cold-smoked and has a flavour that’s really enjoyed.”
A traditional farming family since 1989, the Hansens once raised cattle, sheep and hogs. But when Canada reported its first case of BSE in 2003, the bottom fell out of the beef industry. Like other struggling ranchers, the Hansens tried to sell their beef privately for two years.
“At the time of BSE guys were selling out of trailers. We thought it was a terrible way to sell cuts of meat so we bought a bus. We thought in winter people could come into the bus and shop.”
The bus was a failed experiment. The duo learned consumers preferred the convenience of buying meat at a box store while loading up on groceries.
It was at this time a hunter asked them to make pepperoni sausage from his grandfather’s recipe. After fulfilling the order, Hansen decided to play with the ingredients. “It was too strong with one spice and I thought it was missing another.”
While exploring the sausage industry, Hansen learned that traditional Mennonite sausage was so popular, people travelled to Saskatchewan and Manitoba to buy it. They experimented with recipes and refined a traditional method.
“The early Mennonites didn’t have access to a lot of spices — just salt and pepper. They found if you smoked the sausage, flies and insects are no longer attracted to it. And although they didn’t have cool fridges, salt was all you needed to keep it.”
The Hansens soon concentrated on raising grain-fed hogs that are given barley rations laced with minerals twice a day. “The ration allows them to grow, but not with a great deal of fat.”
After the pigs are slaughtered, they are deboned and connective tissue is removed at their provincially inspected facility. The meat is cleaned, ground and mixed with spices and 13 per cent fat. “Most commercial sausages are 20 to 25 per cent fat.”
The filler-free mixture is stuffed into pork casings and sausage rings are then smoked in a stainless-steel smokehouse. “Because of the equipment we use, it’s exactly like the sausage farmers used to make. Our equipment is just bigger.”
At the start in 2006, The Butcher’s Bus sold about 900 kilograms of sausage. This year, their projections reach 6,800. “Every year it’s been better. The demand is big. People come back and say it’s delicious.”
The market runs every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on St. Anne Street and St. Thomas Street.
