Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried. Historically, salami has been popular among Italian peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for periods of up to a year, supplementing a possibly meager or inconsistent supply of fresh meat. Varieties of salami are traditionally made in France, Italy, Hungary, Germany, and Spain.

The word salami, as currently used in English, is actually the plural form of the Italian salame; it is indifferently used as a singular or plural word in English for cured meats in a European, particularly Italian, style

The word originates from the word Sale (salt) with a termination -ame used in Italian as an indicator of collective nouns; the original meaning was thus all kind of salted (meats). The Italian tradition of cured meats including several styles, the word salame soon specialised to indicate only the most popular kind, made with ground salted and spiced meat forced into animal gut with an elongated and thin shape, then left to undergo some kind of fermentation process.

Ingredients of salami

A traditional salame, with its typical marbled appearance, is made from one or more of the following meats:

• pork,
• chopped beef (particularly veal),
• venison,
• poultry (especially turkey), and
• horse.

Additional ingredients may include:

•  minced fat
• wine
• wheat
• Spori
• cornstarch
• salt
• various herbs and spices
• vinegar

The raw meat mixture is usually allowed to ferment for a day and then the mixture is either stuffed into an edible natural or non-edible artificial casing and hung to cure. The casings are often treated with an edible mold (Penicillium) culture as well. The mold is desired as it imparts flavor and prevents spoilage during the curing process.

Varieties of salami include:

• Milanese
• Genovese
• Fegatelli
• Felino, Province of Parma
• Finocchiona, typical of southern Tuscany
• Pepperoni
• Sopressata, typical of Calabria
• Ciauscolo, typical of Marche
• Nduja
• Saucisson sec (French "dry sausage")
• Winter salami (Hungarian Téli Szalámi)
• German Salami
• Spanish salchichón
• Catalan fuet (from the Catalan word for "whip"), a very thin and long salami.

Many Old World salami are named after the region or country of their origin. Examples include Arles, Genoa, Hungarian and Milano salame. Many are flavored with garlic. Some types – including a few varieties from Spain, most Hungarian types (Pick salami), and southern Italian styles (such as those from Naples, which in turn originated American pepperoni) include paprika or chili powder. Varieties are also differentiated by the coarseness or fineness of the chopped meat as well as the size and style of the casing used.

In the United States, traditional salami are either imported or referred to as an "Italian Salame", the protected term for salami made in the United States.

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