A gourmet link: specialty flavors enhance the appeal of chicken sausage, defining its marketplace.

Remember when sausage mostly was an accompaniment to eggs, and the choice was plain or maple-flavored? Today, chicken sausage adorns refrigerated cases and freezers in supermarkets, health-food stores and gourmet shops across the country. Yet, whether it is priced lower than beef or labeled

Of course, centuries ago, when frugal butchers stuffed leftover organ meat into cleaned animal intestines, 'gourmet sausage' would have been an oxymoron. Though the filling morphed into ground pork and other meat, sausage was hardly banquet fare.

Now, manufacturers add herbs, spices, and seasonings to chicken to create sausage in flavors such as Andouille, apple, chorizo, Italian, roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomato. Chicken sausage serves as a mealtime favorite, snack or hors d'oeuvre.

In keeping with consumers' interest in fewer chemical additives and more organic foods, several manufacturers offer natural and organic chicken sausage.

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Though only a few decades old in today's market, chicken sausage goes back centuries. Acheira sausage reportedly first was produced in Mirandela, Portugal. Made from chicken instead of pork, it was created by Jewish people during the Inquisition in order to hide their identity.

Today, chicken sausage is valued as a low-fat, nutritious and tasty alternative to pork and other meats. According to the National Chicken Council (NCC), the gourmet chicken sausage market is 300 to 350 million pounds this year, a pound or more per person.

"Usually we see new products starting in foodservice, but the gourmet chicken sausage products seem to be working the other way around," says Bill Roenigk, senior vice president of the NCC. Chicken sausage began in gourmet grocery stores and quickly made its way into mainstream supermarkets. Due to its low volume, smaller specialty meat companies are its major producers. Roenigk predicts that it will be a while before gourmet chicken sausage becomes a mass-market item.

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"Because the products are upscale with more costly, 'exotic' ingredients added to the chicken, the retail price point is somewhat higher," he explains. "Although this tends to hold down higher volume, repeat purchases are fairly good."