The Best Salami Sticks In America

Schaller & Weber has been curing, smoking, and perfecting German-style charcuterie on the Upper East Side since 1937. Their salami sticks are what happens when nearly a century of craft meets the audacity to try something new.

Let's be direct: the American meat snack market is, with a few notable exceptions, a wasteland. Rubbery tubes of mystery protein, salt-bomb sticks shrink-wrapped in gas station purgatory — you know exactly what we're talking about. You've eaten them. You've felt vaguely ashamed afterward. This is not that.

Schaller & Weber's salami sticks are something else entirely. They are the product of nearly ninety years of obsessive German craftsmanship applied to the simple, democratic pleasure of a handheld meat snack. They are sophisticated without being precious. Convenient without cutting corners. And they come in three flavors that read less like a grocery list and more like a well-curated cocktail menu.

If you haven't tried them yet, consider this your notice.

A Story That Starts in Stuttgart

Before you can understand what makes these salami sticks exceptional, you need to understand where they come from. And that story begins, as so many great American food stories do, with an immigrant who refused to compromise.

Ferdinand Schaller was born in Neuhausen, Germany, in 1904. By the time he was fourteen, he had already begun a rigorous five-year apprenticeship as a butcher and sausage maker in Stuttgart — learning not just technique, but philosophy. He traveled throughout Germany and the Alsace region, sharpening skills under masters of the trade before completing his studies in Hamburg. Then, in 1927, he boarded a ship bound for New York.

Ten years later, Ferdinand met Tony Weber in Manhattan, and in 1937 the two men opened a butcher shop in Yorkville — a neighborhood on the Upper East Side that was then the heart of New York's German immigrant community. It was customary at the time for butchers to specialize in a single thing. Schaller and Weber chose pork, and they chose to make it by hand, every single day.

"If you start with the best ingredients, use traditional time-honored recipes, and take pride in your work, you will get the finest product." — Ferdinand Schaller, Founder

Word spread. New Yorkers lined up. For decades, customers passed through the doors of that Second Avenue shop seeking the finest meats the city had to offer, and soon people across the country and around the globe were seeking out the classic European-style delicacies from this master charcuterier. By the early 1960s, Ferdinand had built a dedicated production facility — demand simply required it.

The medals followed. Schaller & Weber became the first and only American sausage and meat producer to win multiple medals of honor at exhibitions in Holland and Germany. In 2000, they entered twenty products at Welser Volksfest in Austria and returned home with fourteen gold medals and six silver — another first for an American charcuterier. That kind of recognition doesn't come from shortcuts.

Today, Ferdinand's grandson, Jeremy Schaller, stands at the helm. The shop on Second Avenue still operates. The recipes haven't changed. And now, that same family has turned its attention to reinventing the humble salami stick.

What Actually Goes Into These Things

The foundation matters. Before we talk flavors, let's talk about what Schaller & Weber will — and won't — put in a product with their name on it.

Every salami stick is crafted from humanely raised, antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed pork and is free of artificial ingredients. Each stick is gluten-free, shelf-stable, and weighs in at 0.85 ounces — a trim, precisely portioned thing that fits in a jacket pocket or a carry-on with equal ease.

The base is a traditional Landjäger — the classic German dried sausage that has fueled hikers, hunters, and mountain wanderers for generations. Since 1937, Schaller & Weber has produced these German-style salami sticks, eaten by generations during outdoor adventures. The new sticks modernize that legacy without diluting it. Same rigorous curing. Same hardwood smoke. Same alpine spice backbone. Just more interesting company.

The decision to collaborate rather than simply extend the product line was deliberate. Building on their history of successful partnerships in sausages and charcuterie, they explored diverse flavors by teaming up with like-minded New York-based brands committed to crafting exceptional products. The result is three sticks that feel less like flavor variations on a theme and more like three distinct characters — each one coherent, confident, and worth seeking out.

Three Sticks. Zero Compromises.

01 — Crown Maple (with Crown Maple)

The Crown Maple salami stick masterfully blends dry-cured salami with the natural sweetness of organic Crown Maple sugar, enhanced by a hint of hickory smoke. Crown Maple's sugar is rich in natural antioxidants — a genuinely healthier alternative to standard sweeteners, not a marketing claim dressed up in clean-label language. The effect on the palate is warm, comforting, and quietly luxurious: the kind of thing you'd find on a rustic charcuterie board at a very good hotel somewhere in the Hudson Valley.

02 — Zab's Hot Honey (with Zab's Datil Pepper Honey)

The Zab's Hot Honey stick melds salami with the sweet heat of Zab's Datil Pepper Hot Honey, creating a perfect balance of sweet and spicy. The combination of Zab's honey with their salami is one of those rare collaborations where both parties are clearly operating at the top of their game. The heat is present but not punishing. The sweetness rounds it out. The result is the kind of thing you eat one of, then immediately eat another.

03 — Hudson Whiskey (with Hudson Whiskey NY)

The Hudson Whiskey stick seamlessly infuses savory, dry-cured salami with the bold essence of Hudson Whiskey's premium "Do The Rye Thing" rye — capturing rich, spicy notes for a robust flavor experience. This is the most assertive stick of the three: peppery, complex, and immediately recognizable as something designed for people who take their flavors seriously. Ideal alongside a glass of the whiskey itself. Even better on its own, somewhere between meetings, when you need something that actually tastes like something.

Why It Matters That These Exist

America has no shortage of meat snacks. What it has always been short on is meat snacks with actual heritage behind them — products made by people who could trace their recipes back through generations, across oceans, to a specific butcher shop in a specific neighborhood of a specific city that has spent nearly a century arguing over who makes things best.

Nearly a century after first opening their doors, the Schaller family still produces the one-of-a-kind products and old-world delicacies they have become known for. The salami sticks are not a pivot or a brand extension or a calculated play for market share. They are the natural evolution of a legacy — Schaller & Weber taking what they have always done and making it available to more people, in more places, without softening a single edge.

You can find them online at schallerweber.com, at the flagship Yorkville store, or through an expanding list of retail partners. Buy the variety pack. Try all three. Then figure out which one says the most about you.

PS: Don't sleep on the Currywurst Ketchup!