Why is chocolate sausage so popular around the world?

This delicious confection is known all over the world and is popular for many reasons. Want to know which ones?

The name itself can be misleading, as many people think of a meat product when they hear it, but in reality it has no connection to a real sausage - in fact, the name ''sausage'' comes only from its physical similarity. In addition to its divine taste and ease of preparation, its popularity is linked to the affordability of its main ingredients - biscuits, sugar, cocoa powder, eggs and butter. At first glance, you might think it requires a lot of skill, but it doesn''t - you don''t have to cook or bake it, it is served cold after a few hours of chilling.

It is most popular in Italy and Portugal

Chocolate sausage, or chocolate salami as some people call it, is a traditional Portuguese confection that you will find in almost every shop in Portugal. In fact, it originates from neighbouring Italy, where it is known in Italian as salame di cioccolato. Unlike the Italian recipe, the Portuguese flavour it with rum or their very famous port wine.

It is also popular in England, Ireland, the United States and Australia, where the ingredients are slightly different from the Italian or Portuguese ones. In these countries, the common denominator is the foam, also known as ''marshmallow'', which serves as a binding agent for the other ingredients, thus replacing the eggs in the Italian recipe. In the United States, however, not only eggs but also walnuts or almonds are substituted for the biscuits.

This delicious confection is known throughout the world and is popular for several reasons. Want to know which ones?

Eggs are also avoided in Bulgaria and Hungary, where csokoládészalámi, as it is called there, is made with a larger quantity of walnuts. The literal translation of chocolate salami, as it is called here and in Bulgaria and Hungary, is chocolate salami in English-speaking countries.

A confection with a number of interesting names

But more interesting names have been given to it in northern European countries - in Lithuania, for example, it is called tinginys, which means ''flax'' in their language, to reflect its simplicity of preparation. Lithuanians believe that a woman created the recipe for it by accident, when she was cooking chocolate and added too much sugar to the jar instead of syrup. When she tried to resolve the situation, she crumbled some biscuits into the resulting mixture and when the mixture cooled down, chocolate sausage was created.

It has a slightly special name in Germany, where it is called kalter hund, which means ''cold dog'' in English. It is not known where this name comes from, but some people think that it was given this name because the slightly moist layer on the surface makes it resemble the wet, cold muzzle of a dog. Their recipe contains biscuits, eggs, cocoa powder, coconut oil, vanilla sugar and a dash of rum.

Chocolate sausage is also known in Greece and Cyprus - the Greeks call it kormos, which means ''trunk'' in Slovenian, or mosaiko, which means ''mosaic'', because of its distinctive shape, and to represent the different patterns that are visible when you cut into it. Like the Portuguese and the Germans, the Greeks like to add a dash of alcohol to the ingredients for flavour. In Cyprus, the traditional recipe for chocolate salami, called doukissa, is supplemented with a syrup of sugar, water and melted chocolate, which also serves as a binding agent for the other ingredients.

A gift suitable for all occasions

Chocolate sausage or salami can also make a great gift - if you''re not convinced by its simple preparation, you can also buy it in our online shop Mojačokolada.si. It''s made from top-quality 70% dark chocolate and hazelnut cream, wrapped in wafer foil and, for the icing on the cake, comes in stylish packaging.

Whichever way you choose, here''s a helpful hint: it''s a perfect accompaniment for chocolate wine, or port red wine, made from indigenous Portuguese varieties.

Let the chocolate culinary indulgence begin!