Black pudding, otherwise known as blood sausage, is a dark sausage stuffed with animal blood seasoned and cooked with fillers such as bits of meat, suet, oats, or barley and congealed until solid. Various cuisines around the world incorporate versions of black pudding. The fillers, seasonings, and type of animal blood used vary according to regional tastes and local availability.

As long as animals have been slaughtered for food, there has been the desire to maximize the usefulness of the carcass. Homer’s Odyssey contains a reference to a sausage-like victual consisting of a stomach packed with blood and fat and roasted over a fire. This reference is nearly three thousand years old.

Black pudding is extremely popular in England and Ireland. In northern England, the humble black pudding even has a festival dedicated in its honor: the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships, wherein participants sling black puddings in an effort to knock Yorkshire puddings off a stack. British black pudding is generally made with pig’s blood mixed with pork fat and oatmeal or barley. It is traditionally served as part of a full breakfast, but it has become popular as a fried item in fish-and-chip shops.

The French call their black pudding boudin noir, and make it with pig’s blood, pork fat, onions, and bread crumbs. Often, cream and apple brandy may be added to the boudin noir, making for a sausage that is much lighter in texture than those filled with cereal grains.

Spain’s version of black pudding, morcilla, also utilizes the fat and blood of the pig, but incorporates rice as a filler and is seasoned with paprika and sherry and occasionally almonds and raisins. Morcilla is often served as a tapas dish. German blutwurst is made with pork, pig’s or cow’s blood, and barley. Zungenwurst is a variant of blutwurst that contains pieces of pickled pork tongue.

The term “black pudding” may also be loosely used to refer to other foodstuffs that feature large amounts of animal blood among the primary ingredients. Examples would be Taiwan’s zhũ xiě gāo (or “pig blood cake”), which is pork blood and rice that is formed into a cake and steamed or fried; Finland’s veriohukainen, a pancake-like creation made from pig’s blood, rye or oat flour, and onion; and Russia’s krovianka, which combines pig’s blood and buckwheat groats.

Black pudding also may be made with the blood of animals other than pigs and cows. Although far less common, the blood of ducks, geese, and lambs may be used.

It can be challenging to obtain fresh blood to make black pudding in the home kitchen if the cook does not slaughter his or her own animals. If one is bringing animals to an abattoir to be slaughtered, one can request that the blood be captured and retained in addition to the carcass. If one has no animals of one’s own, sometimes fresh blood can be purchased from an abattoir. If not, dried blood may be purchased from specialty suppliers and reconstituted.

Black pudding is widely available in British, European, South American, Central American, and Asian markets but is more difficult to find in North America. Americans seeking to purchase a black pudding will be hard-pressed to locate one at their local grocery store. Specialty or ethnic grocers would be a more likely source for black puddings and sausages in North America.