Opa's Summer Sausage: For the Board, the Drawer, and the Road

Opa’s Summer Sausage is the smokehouse’s ready-to-slice sausage: a fully cooked, smoked chub with the savory, no-heat flavor of the Country Blend, made in Fredericksburg, Texas, for the board, the snack drawer, and the road. It comes as a whole chub or pre-sliced, and in a second version — Jalapeño Cheddar Summer Sausage — for tables that want the bestseller’s heat-and-cheddar profile in sliceable form. It needs no pan and no plan. This is the guide to it.

What is Opa’s Summer Sausage?

A different product from the smoked sausage links, built for a different job. The links are made to be warmed and eaten hot; the summer sausage is made to be sliced cold and eaten as it is — on crackers, on a board, out of a cooler, off a pocketknife at a deer blind. The flavor is the house seasoning and smoke in the Country Blend register, no heat, in a firmer, denser texture that holds a clean slice. It is fully cooked and gluten free. Call it Opa’s Summer Sausage; there is no “Country Blend Summer Sausage,” even though the flavor is the same idea.

The two versions

Opa’s Summer Sausage — the original, savory with no heat, the one that goes with sharp cheddar, a good mustard, and pickled okra. Whole chub or pre-sliced.

Jalapeño Cheddar Summer Sausage — medium jalapeño heat with cheddar cooked into the grind, the sliceable cousin of the lineup’s number-one seller. Whole chub or pre-sliced, and in a larger value chub for households that go through it. Contains dairy.

How do you serve summer sausage?

Cold, sliced thin, straight from the refrigerator — that is the whole method, and it is the reason the product exists. A quarter-inch slice is the board standard; thinner for crackers, thicker for a sandwich. Or skip the knife: the pre-sliced package opens straight onto a board or into a lunch. It does not need warming and is not improved by it. If a board is the meal, plan on the summer sausage as one of several proteins rather than the only one: it is rich, and a little goes a long way. The board guide covers the full build.

What goes with it?

Sharp cheese, whole-grain or hot Bavarian mustard, pickles and pickled okra, crackers with some structure, apple or pear slices, and nothing that competes with the smoke. On a board it sits next to the cured meats — the peppered smoked beef and turkey breast — as the no-heat anchor. In a snack drawer it is the long-hauler: the package that gets opened, sliced, and closed a dozen times before it is gone.

How long does it keep?

It lives in the refrigerator — summer sausage isn’t shelf-stable, whatever the name suggests. Unopened, it keeps to the sell-by date on the chub. Once opened, store it airtight and use it within five to seven days. It freezes well by the sell-by date if a chub needs to wait — up to a year. The pre-sliced packages follow the same rule: sell-by unopened, then five to seven days, airtight, once the seal is broken.

Summer sausage vs. smoked sausage links: which one?

The links are made to be warmed — the pan, the pot, the grill, warm coins on a board. The summer sausage is made to be sliced cold — the board, the drawer, the trip — no cooking, no cleanup. Same smokehouse, same seasoning idea, different jobs. Most households that know Opa’s keep both: the links for dinner and the summer sausage for everything between dinners.

Where do you find it?

At the Deli & Market in Fredericksburg, always, and shipping nationwide from the online store, where it rides in the samplers. A smaller number of grocery stores that carry the Opa’s links also stock the summer sausage; the store locator and the meat counter are the way to confirm, and asking for it by name is how it gets stocked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does summer sausage need to be cooked? No. Opa’s Summer Sausage is fully cooked and made to be sliced and eaten cold.

Does Opa’s Summer Sausage need to be refrigerated? Yes — keep it refrigerated, unopened to the sell-by date and wrapped tightly once cut.

What flavor is Opa’s Summer Sausage? Savory and smoky with no heat, in the Country Blend register. The Jalapeño Cheddar Summer Sausage adds medium jalapeño heat and cheddar.

Is it gluten free? Yes — like every meat product Opa’s makes.

Can summer sausage be shipped? Yes. It ships nationwide from the online store, cold-packed, on its own or in the samplers.

Small Batch. Craft Made. Texas-German tradition — since 1947.

Opa’s Summer Sausage is at the Deli & Market at 410 S Washington St in Fredericksburg, at select grocery stores across Texas, the South and Southwest (store locator), and shipping nationwide from opassmokedmeats.com.

This post is part of The Sausage School — everything Opa’s teaches about choosing, warming, and serving smoked sausage.