An anastomosis performed in calcified tissues tears up faster than in healthy tissues. This study develops and validates an in vitro non-destructive method to distinguish healthy from calcified aortic tissues. An uniaxial unconfined compression test is able to distinguish healthy from calcified aortas (p<0.01). The compressive E-modulus at a strain level of 10% is 227+/-34kPa for artificially calcified and 147+/-15kPa for healthy porcine aortic tissues. Calcified aortic tissues have a lower tensile strength than healthy porcine aortic tissues (p<0.05). The ultimate tensile strength is 1.34+/-0.18MPa and 1.55+/-0.31MPa for artificially calcified and healthy porcine aortic tissues respectively. Calcified aortic tissues have a lower resistance to tearing than healthy aortic tissues (p<0.05). The resistance to tearing is 1.78+/-0.33N/mm and 2.16+/-0.64N/mm for artificially calcified and healthy porcine aortic tissues respectively.