Trésors de Bretagne et d’Armorique : Entre mer, pierre et traditions | Trésors du Patrimoine

Trésors de Bretagne et d’Armorique : Entre mer, pierre et traditions | Trésors du Patrimoine

Morbihan marks the break
between Cornouaille to the west and Vannetet to the east. This department, created during the
French Revolution and whose name means Little Mother in Breton, is one of
the most admirable in Brittany. Allian, from the Côte des Mégalites to the bay
of Quiberon, wild and romantic landscapes. At the heart of this territory,
the country of the Orient is characterized by a deep indentation
penetrating the land. Called until the city twelve, Cape Lorien,
it remains very active with its 200,000 inhabitants and its port which sees
tons of fish, shellfish and crustaceans unloaded daily on its quays. Off the southern coast of the Pays de l’Orient lies an island that boasted the first French fishing port,
the island of Groix. It is on this island,
with an area of ​​less than 15 square kilometers, that Erwan Thunert,
originally from Groisillon, is an abalone farmer. Having been farming alliotis
tuberculata for 10 years now, he is one of only two
French producers of this animal, which is similar to a sea snail. Around twenty kilometers from the island,
in the very heart of the Pays de l’Orient, in Plouhinec, Philippe Larboulette is
also a farmer of Breton origin. It is on these lands of around ten
hectares that Philippe took over the family farm with his brother. In 1998, he created a GAEC, Joint
Agricultural Exploitation Group , in which he
cultivates various vegetables. But today, they are harvesting a variety
typical of the region. Oriental cabbage,
also called Kaol in Breton. This is the characteristic cabbage of the Orient
. So, in general,
it’s a very lost, very tough cabbage. And otherwise, it is characteristic
because it is very green, slightly blistered. So, neither curly nor smooth in between. And with big ribs. Here we see the central rib. This lost cabbage, of variable size,
is said to be a population variety. Unlike hybrid cabbage,
it allows you to create your own seeds. In advance, not requiring the producer
to buy more each year. An advantage offset by
more random and longer harvests, up to three times longer than a
hybrid cabbage, which necessarily involves more labor. So, the harvest period,
as in October for the first plantings which took place at the beginning of July,
until… We hope to go until April,
in general, as they say, until the end of October. So that’s basically his period. But the big period
is in the middle of winter, which generally has the most production. It was in 1890 that this cross
between a Milan cabbage and a Vaugirard cabbage was born. This cabbage, which prefers the seaside,
was initially mainly sold locally,
but its long shelf life made it an ideal cruciferous vegetable for export. It quickly became a
historic product of the Eastern country. As there was a demand from the
eastern regions where winters were very harsh, for sauerkraut cabbage. So in the 1920s,
1930s and just after the war, entire trains left
for the East of France and Germany. And then, when the refrigerator was
invented, a source of cold. So, these regions produce their cabbage
in the fall and put it in the refrigerator, so they no longer need
fresh cabbage for sauerkraut. Having disappeared at a time when productivism
was emphasized, it is now returning to the cultures of the Eastern countries. Not far from there,
on one of the beaches of the island of Groix, Erwan also works with a
forgotten product from the country of the Orient: abalone. Several times a week,
at low tide and accompanied by his employees, he comes to harvest the
abalone’s favorite food: seaweed. There we are on the foreshore of the island of Groix
to collect all these little algae. So, we make a basket there. For the next two days,
that’s enough. As seaweed becomes increasingly rare
with global warming, Erwan, in an effort to respect
the environment, leaves land fallow every month
to preserve marine biodiversity. Too bad there’s no smell,
there’s a great smell there. You have a nice smell of seaweed. Abalone is a gastropod with a
demanding palate. Erwan therefore chooses precisely
the varieties of algae that he wants to give them. Algae that are also edible
for humans and can be stored for up to five days in the refrigerator. So here we have one of
abalone’s favorite algae, palmaria palmata. So, quite red, quite thin. It looks like kelp
which is browner. There, we have laminaria digitata. So that’s really what’s
important to them. And after that, we have crispus condrus. So, this one is a bit more of
a sea lichee, a kind of moss. They love this seaweed. It’s a bit like their chocolate. What we’re looking for
is that, as they are small, fairly young abalones,
we really need tender seaweed. This hermaphroditic gastropod
is a slow-moving insect. It consumes only a small amount
of algae for food. The quality of the sea water is also
essential for the flavor and taste of the abalone. And the island of Groix turns out to be an
ideal place for harvesting the algae used to feed them. In Groix, we still have A water quality. A quality is therefore exceptional,
still good. There aren’t many areas
in France where you have A quality. There are all the mineral salts,
everything you need. We are still not too close to the
continent for pollution problems. So there, it’s good. We respect the environment
in our harvesting and in our product; we really have top-of-the-
range abalone. After obtaining his degree in
marine biology, Erwan decided to go and train in Ireland. He did an internship and was then hired
by an abalone specialist. It was with him that he learned all the
techniques of this very special breeding. It was during my training
that I discovered abalone. And so, as they say,
we caught the virus. It is an animal that is truly magnificent in color and taste. This passion for the product is
found in Philippe. It is behind his stall,
accompanied by his wife, that every Wednesday morning,
he sells and presents his products at the Merville Halle market. I find the Orient, yes.
You want a little drink, right? No, it’s per piece, yes. He has been attending this market in the Eastern country
since 1999. This is a significant part
of his sales. This represents 50 to 60 percent of marketing. Otherwise, we sell it
in Biocup stores in the region. Lorient, Lannester and Bell’s. And today, it’s a
regular customer who comes to see him. Is it firm?
Yes, well done. Do you want something to wear? Nathalie lives in the region and
regularly comes to Philippe’s stand on Wednesdays and Saturdays to buy Lorient cabbage. When it’s cabbage season, I
almost always use Lorient cabbage. This is a very, very good cabbage. In fact, it is melting, it is sweet,
it has a very fine taste. So, it’s really very
pleasant to work with. And then, when I’m going to cook it,
I’m going to remove the green leaves, the first leaves that I’m not going to keep. And then afterwards, so to
speak, everything is preserved. Everything is good in cabbage. Although
it was once mainly eaten as sauerkraut, Lorient cabbage can
also be cooked in beurre blanc, its soft, sweet side going
well with both meat and fish. And some even prefer it raw,
especially during the summer months. Philippe is not only targeting connoisseurs, he
is also trying to target novices. A way to enhance this cabbage,
forgotten by many. The interesting thing about this cabbage
is that it’s something that has been brought up to date and that was
cultivated for a long time in the country during… Between the two wars, let’s say. And then it has a slightly sweet taste,
which is pleasant and it is easy to work with. We see that people,
once they have tasted it, and now know it better,
also seek it out. It’s a cabbage that pleases, what. Once you’ve tasted it,
you usually adopt it. Have a nice day. Through this
short-circuit sales method, Philippe seeks to maintain a
global state of mind, in accordance with his marketing and his
operation, exclusively organic and respectful of the environment. Later, after the market, he found Maëlle Péden
on one of his plots . Yeah, it’s pretty. A technician from Gab 56,
a group of organic farmers in Morbihan,
she supports farmers on techniques and solutions for
producing certified organic crops. Just discuss the hardware. And at the beginning of May, you have things that are… In this context, it can be
technical monitoring, going around the crops with market
gardeners to see a little bit what has been done, what hasn’t been done. And if there are things that do
n’t happen, try to fix them for the following year. Because in organic farming, we don’t
necessarily have the solution at the moment. Sometimes it’s more… You have to anticipate, in fact,
and prevent problems before they occur. And otherwise, afterwards, it’s a lot of
networking and putting producers in touch. That’s basically what gab is.
That’s the point of the gab, I think. It was in 2000, after the
mad cow disease incidents that disrupted French agriculture,
that Philippe decided to no longer use chemicals on his land. He then contacted gab 56,
with whom he now regularly discusses the different
techniques he can implement on his farm. The first principle
is to set up rotations. That is to say, you have to have… You can’t have just one
production on the farm. You need to have several crops that
can rotate because they will not necessarily be susceptible to the
same diseases. They will not necessarily have the
same fertilizer needs. So they said, it’s after cabbage,
there, for example, not to put another cruciferous vegetable. This cooperation between the GAAB
and the farmers also brings a lot to Maëlle. An exchange that is
indeed useful to everyone. I come here a lot to learn. It is one of the historic organic farms,
in fact, in the department. So it’s a farm that I
can rely on to write
technical bulletins and pass on information to other producers.
Then, you have to evolve. We’re still feeling our way around organic. Because there is always something to learn. So, yes, it’s always good to exchange. For several years, the demand for
organic products has continued to increase. This is what allowed Philippe
to be able to engage in organic farming and to succeed financially. For the same quantity,
it is still necessary to plan to be either mechanized or to have
a larger workforce. So that also explains the price. Behind, we cannot sell at the same
price as conventionally, because we still do not have
the same average cost per kilo. One kilo of conventional carrots
and one kilo of organic carrots. In the past, I think there
are still big differences. This amounts to hundreds
of hours per hectare. Yeah. Erwan is one of these operators who opt
for an environmentally friendly approach. In its 400 square meter aquaculture,
150 pools extend over four levels. Each one contains 700 liters of water and is
made entirely of polyethylene, a material suitable for this
animal that does not support PVC. A custom installation created by his
mentor in Ireland and designed with qualitative, not production, goals in mind. It’s an aquaculture
where it’s not like night. There, when we handled 20,
30 kilos per day. It’s a big day. We are dealing with small quantities. We have a production of 5 tonnes per year. So it’s not much in aquaculture. In value, yes, but in quantity, no. There, sea water enters
and there is an overflow. Sea water is collected. And so, every hour,
the seawater is changed in the basin. So sea water falls into it
from the water treatment room. So, we are
still in sustainable aquaculture, that is to say there are no
chemicals, there are no vaccinations. Hormaux aquaculture requires
careful verification work. So, every day, basin by basin,
Erwan checks the food, the water, but also the farm’s equipment. So there, that’s an oxygen sensor. There we have a temperature probe
and in other pools we have salinity and pH. These probes are interrogated
by software every 10 seconds. And so, for 10 years, we have had curves
every 10 seconds from the center of the breeding. These gastropods grow by an average of 2 cm
per year and remain in these basins for around two years before being
sold. Erwan, who buys his dormant spat
in Ireland or Brittany, has opted for aquaculture rather
than fishing, to optimize taste quality, but also out of
respect for marine wildlife. So, it’s an animal that is not yet
in the process of being detected, but not far off. That is to say, the resource
is severely affected. So, due to overfishing and poaching,
and also the problem of global warming, that is to say the changes
in temperature which directly impact its reproduction. So, it’s true that in the long run, there
may be problems. Hence the interest in creating culture
and passing it on to others, to future young generations. Because there are not many of us,
but now, a few on the planet,
we have wiped the plasters of technology, of setting up systems,
processes, and all that. Now, mortality
is well under control, which was not the case 15 years ago.
We did a lot of stupid things. These abalones,
for ecological and biological reasons, are not vaccinated,
which results in a loss of approximately 20 percent of its production each year. A huge loss,
which he nevertheless managed to profit from. In abalone, everything is valued. So, when we do
vacuum packing or our mortalities, we still collect the shells and clean them. And often, we sell them. They are sold because they are
a beautiful shell. So we sell them online,
we sell them in our store. As soon as we do trade shows,
we sell shells. We would sell almost more
Dormot shells and Dormot rillettes than Dormot. The two flagship products are
Dormot rillettes and Dormot shells. Apart from these derivative products,
they also offer live abalone to connoisseurs. Today, Erwan has to prepare some
for a restaurant in the region. And the packaging of abalone is just
as meticulous as the rest of its production. The order will then be
shipped directly to the restaurant. Along the coast of Plôts-et-Mers, the fishpond offers a magnificent view of the island of Groix. For Yvon Guéguen, owner of the place since
1991, it is only natural that he offer
his customers the chance to discover this gastropod, produced artisanally and locally. It’s a product that people have heard of
, and most of the time, we’ve never tasted. A bit like truffles, a bit like
caviar, elite products, let’s say. We approach it, if the customer asks us
to describe it, we approach the taste of the scallop. So, one side salty, one side sweet. It is in the kitchen that one of the
restaurant’s three chefs, Christèle Guilvin, receives the abalones
freshly shipped by Erwan today. I always remove the intestines part. And finally,
by pressing lightly on the abalone, we will remove the mouths of the abalone. To tenderize the abalone,
it is beaten with a cloth and a light weight on it, so as to break the
top head of the abalone. And finally, before cooking,
to finish softening them, we massage them. It is only done
to relax the flesh. Once the abalones are tender,
Christèle cooks them in clarified butter with
a salt and pepper seasoning. A simple preparation, respecting the taste of the product. The
next day, on the farm of Jacques Lecerec,
another cabbage producer from Lorient, it was Alain Léscope who visited him. So Alain, are they beautiful?
They are magnificent. For Alain, a
descendant of one of the creators of Lorient Cabbage, bringing this vegetable back
into cultivation is a duty of remembrance. I’m not a farmer, but
it’s still a family business and I’ve been working at it for 40 years. It’s a passion and selecting them
is a pleasure. After the disappearance of Lorient cabbage,
which was not suitable for large-scale distribution,
it was thanks to people like Jacques and Alain that it became possible to
cultivate this rare pearl of the Cruciferae. I got my seed We have our seeds
at the bottom of the freezer, since
we kept our seeds in the freezer. And we restarted production with
a bit of a bag, so to speak. And that allowed us to go back
and work on the selection with Alain afterwards. Among those passionate about this cabbage
is also Julien Pont-d’Aven, director of the Coherence network for
sustainable and inclusive development. He also participated
in its revival. We found producers. There were still
a dozen of them at the time. Who, historically,
preserved the seed of their parents. And then, finally, we said to ourselves,
well yes, we have to continue to… We have to continue to make
oriental cabbages. And then, with the idea that if we
want to save it, we have to eat it. The aim of this union is to obtain
a label for oriental cabbage. So, it is with Alain,
Jacques and others that they have been fighting for several years to have this
GIp logo, which will protect the cultivation and sale of oriental cabbage. We worked together on a
specification with a rotation. For example, you cannot
grow oriental cabbage less than three years after a previous crop. And then, we also worked
on the location of the municipalities. Where could we
get oriental cabbage? Where did it exist historically? And now we are having discussions with
the INAO, which is now due to send a team to monitor the
situation on the ground. How do you describe the product? How do we
talk about the taste of the product? Before obtaining
official certification from Europe, which we hope will happen within a few years,
as soon as possible. Obtaining this logo would be a plus
for farmers on a commercial level, but also to guarantee
the protection of local heritage. On the island of Groix,
Erwan is today organizing a visit to his aquaculture for
local children. Good morning. Hello children. Come for the visit?
We come to see. I will show you. We’re going to go around a pool,
so I can explain and show you at the same time. Come on, go to Erwan’s. Come on. Accompanied by Alice the hare,
they introduce these future adults to this local product. That’s a big abalone. This is a small farmed abalone
that is being produced. This one is really cute, yeah. This visit, halfway between fun
and discovery, seems to be very popular with children. Curious about these animals, which are,
to say the least, unusual. And how does he manage to
move fast enough? It does like brains,
it creates mucus to slide. It contracts here,
it slides and then it moves forward. He ate a round, look. It’s a punctuation mark.
Approximately how fast is it going? I don’t know, I’m telling you, you do the math,
5 meters per day, 5, 6 meters per day, that doesn’t add up to much per hour. Can it stick or not? Normally, yes, but they take
time, it’s not like us. Oh yeah, that fits right away.
Here, a present. You make a pyramid. Ah, they’re stuck.
Great. They are fine.
It’s good. It’s good.
It’s good. It’s good.
It’s good. It’s good.
It’s good. It’s good.
It’s good. It’s good.
It’s good. It’s good.
It’s good. It’s good. Gently.
One two three. Erwan organizes nearly
4,000 visits per year. Free for children. An activity that he
considers essential. I was given a lot of knowledge,
precisely when I was a student, about this product, about abalone,
and so it is important to pass it on and to know that it is possible. Because often, people
think that it’s simply, you have to have a 15-year degree or it’s too complicated. It’s relatively complicated, but
like any job, it’s possible. Passing on a vocation and bringing
forgotten products back into fashion is what
Erwan and Philippe are trying to do. Whether it’s growing
oriental cabbage or abalone, they both work with
passion for their products. These two lovers of the Eastern countries
thus prove that in an era marked by industrialization, it
is possible to return to local and environmentally friendly production. In the north of Brittany, the Côtes d’Armor department is renowned for the richness
of its maritime landscapes. White sandy beaches,
islands and rugged cliffs face a hostile sea filled
with rocks and reefs. Armor, the land of the sea, in Breton,
has a history steeped in the comings and goings of fishing boats. The country of Goëlo is no exception to the rule. As early as 1800, Pinpaulian fishermen
were already sailing off the Icelandic coast to bring back
precious cod. In Paimpol, the built heritage takes us
through the centuries, as evidenced by the Beauport Abbey, founded in 1202
by the Count of Pentièvre and Goëlo. The Goëlo region offers a mild and temperate climate. Sheltered from frost,
the seaside land has made it possible to develop a
specific market gardening activity. Among the local stars,
the new potato. A farmer from father to son,
Hubert Jacob takes particular care in cultivating this seasonal vegetable. Today,
maritime activity is still very varied. In the kingdom of myth-making,
the Côte de Goëlo is also a mecca for shellfish fishing. Aboard his boat, the Jimako,
Gilles Bauchet begins his spider crab fishing season. For over twenty years,
Gilles has been exploring the open seas of the Goëlo region, between the Douvres rocks and the Minquiers. He knows the territory like no one else,
which allows him to seek out the most precious delicacies
hidden at the bottom of the ocean. When night falls on the port
of Loguyvie, it is time for Gilles and his sailors to embark
for their day of fishing. I started when I was 15. I’m 46. So, it’s been
a few years already. And I’ve been the boss for 23 years. As they say, I started at the bottom of the
ladder and climbed the ladder one rung at a time. There, we set off
on the south of the Maquis. We’re going to turn around
5,000 meters of spider wire. Currently,
we start our production around the end of November, beginning of December and we
go until the end of August now. We are looking for a product
of maximum quality. And then, what the customers were asking for most
was female, male or medium spider, that for us. Fishing will last between 12 and 15 hours. During the week, Gilles and his crew
repeat the operation 5 to 6 times in order to be able to pull up their entire net. As you approach the fishing zone,
the maneuver is perilous. Gilles must follow the net as
closely as possible, despite the swell and the current. There we have a problem to solve. He begins to turn the nets. This is where it starts. As soon as the first few meters
of net are raised, some sailors begin to untangle the spiders. Gilles, meanwhile, remains at the helm
to cast new nets. The nets we are currently casting
are set nets. So wedged
means they’re at the bottom and there are big mouths on them
so they don’t move. We put them in a place and let them
fish, it depends, sometimes three, four days, sometimes 8,
10 days, it depends. And when we… After 8, 10 days, when we come to
collect it, it’s still in the same place. After 8 hours of sailing,
all the day’s catch is hauled in and the new nets are installed. Gilles then comes to help with the unraveling. There I am
untangling the spider. Well, what you need to do
is free the top of the spider first, and then
free the legs from the back. That’s pretty much the basis,
and then, well, we adapt. Every spider is different. There, it’s a female. The female is always bulging
underneath, this is the pocket for putting her eggs. The claws are very small,
it is the female. Now that’s a male spider. The difference from the female is that
we see the large claws. And there, below the body, it’s full. So. The female was bulging just now, precisely to guard her eggs. The unraveling operation is long. It will last until the
Jimako arrives at the port. A few kilometers inland,
it’s time for Hubert to check whether the harvest of the first
potatoes of the year can begin. I’m going to pull on the foot, so you’ll see how it comes out. So. There we have the sea.
And then we see, it rained. And so the potatoes are… You see, the earth is
too sticky. Okay, again. You see, she’s dull. So, you have to wait a few days. I think tomorrow
should be fine. Today it is still too wet
and the earth sticks very much to my hands. So, that’s not a good sign.
It must be able to be undone naturally. The harvest for today
is compromised. In addition to making them unpresentable,
the soil that remains stuck to the potatoes can have an impact
on their conservation. The new potato is
naturally different from the others. Its rapid growth gives it
a sweet taste, but also makes it more fragile. Hubert also compares it
to a spring fruit. If it is possible to harvest the first
vegetables of the year as early as May, it is thanks to the
climatic situation of the coélo. It’s linked to the proximity of the ocean,
which is a bit like our radiator, which both moderates
nighttime temperatures, prevents freezing, and makes the climate mild enough to
produce these spring vegetables. As soon as you move away from the coast by three or
four kilometers, the nights are a little cooler.
We can have frost. So frosts can go as far as
completely destroying the crop. So it becomes too risky. The special thing about this plot is that you have a land of beautiful colors, that’s what we call it. It is quite rich in humus, but also
a soil that has small stones. This soil structure
allows good drainage and good capillarity of water. Sheltered from the wind, these small plots
bordered by embankments and hedges allow for an early harvest. But the particularity of
early potatoes from Brittany is that they have different varieties and soil structures. Thus, each plot has its
own characteristics. A few hundred meters away,
Hubert is going to clarify the evolution of another variety. We are in the open air,
in so-called open fields, with the soil structure being
these famous wind-blown silts. These are finer,
even very fine elements, which means that we were able to plant
potatoes this year, from March 25. By the beginning of July, we will
be able to harvest the new potatoes from this plot. So there is a good time lag
between the two types of soil structures. The Gulf Stream effect and the different
plot profiles allow Hubert to ensure his harvests despite
sometimes inclement weather. At the port, Gilles arrived at the quay. The day is not over yet. He still has to unload his catch into his
tanks and prepare his orders. This is a reserve there, this one,
has a capacity of ten tons. And we put the spiders
inside, inside. We will wait until we have sales. And these spiders that were caught
at the beginning of last week, those ones. And they stay perfect. The tanks are designed
so that the spiders can live in them without any problems, without breakage, for
8, 15 days, or even three weeks, sometimes. You can see when they come out of the water,
they are very lively. There is no problem. Generally, we have big sales
at the beginning of the week, either on Monday, Tuesday,
or the international market. And otherwise, I work with a few
fishmongers directly in the Paimpol area. And also my wife
who has a fish shop. Thirty. After weighing each crate,
it is time to sell the merchandise. Today, most
of the crustaceans will go to Spain. However, he keeps some of his catch
for the local market and for his wife Sophie’s fishmonger. So, the spider is cooked
in cold water, preferably. It will hurt less. You put it… I always put it on my back. Like that. Sophie knows
her husband’s way of working well. She can thus sell her
products with complete confidence. You can never be 100 percent sure
that a spider or crab is full. The advantage is that he is someone who,
even if he does quantity, will prioritize quality. Anything that,
for him, is likely to be empty, I will try to throw overboard. Which still allows me to
always have a loyal clientele. Because they know how
my husband works. And there you have it. There he can eat, he can eat
with the trunk waste too. Oh yes, of course. And then, they are very full, too. As soon as we come on vacation, yes, it’s
true that if it’s morning, we go to eat. Compared to crab, the flesh
is much finer. That’s what’s appreciable. It’s true that crab
meat is firmer. It’s very good. But I find the spider to be
a much finer product. The flesh of the body is really very,
very fine and succulent. Afterwards, it’s a game of patience,
but it’s also fun. The spider’s flesh has a finesse
that is not found elsewhere. For traders like Sophie,
it is a pleasure to work with local products of such quality. This pleasure is shared
by Pierre-Yves Lemoëal. He runs the restaurant at the port in Paimpol
and is preparing to prepare the spider crabs caught by Gilles. Break it into four. For those who are familiar with
seafood, and especially crabs, spider crab has a finer
taste than crab. Tourists are more familiar with
crab because they already come during periods when there is crab,
because the spider crab is six months old and the crab is six months old. In summer it’s the crab,
in winter it’s the spider crab. The obstacle is that there are
fishing periods which are normal to protect the species. But otherwise, it
still sells pretty well. But it’s true that it doesn’t sell
as well as crab. I think it comes from… People have gotten used to eating
more crabs than spider crabs. So… There you go, and there’s also a
lot of imported oilcake. And the spider is
still much more local. The port restaurant offers
fish, shellfish and crustacean specialties. Pierre-Yves knows these products and makes it
a point of honor to work with local fishermen and fishmongers. This is how he
gained the trust of his customers. At serving time,
when the sun is out, the terrace facing the port of Paimpol is always full. Made with seasonal produce
and depending on the catch, the seafood platter
is the star of his restaurant. Great. It’s impressive. The famous work of patience
to unearth the flesh of the spider then begins, but does not seem to
spoil the pleasure of tasting it. So there, everything. Come on, let’s get started. The weather finally allows Hubert
to begin his first harvest. The new potato is fragile. You have to be careful. We must not hurt them. You have to check that they are… Not burst with the machine, with the and that the earth does not damage them. When it’s too wet,
the soil can damage them. We don’t see too much of it,
we don’t see any damage. It’s good, but it’s limited. In order to best respect the product,
the new potato is picked by hand. For the first harvest of the season,
Hubert prefers to go little by little. This ensures that he gets the best quality potato possible. We’re going to make about twenty boxes. And we’ll send that
to the cooperative this afternoon. You have to be careful. It is better to deliver a good product than to massacre it. The tool is a fairly simple tool
that consists of removing the potato from the ground as smoothly as possible. The machine has two bases which will
lift the earth and then a very, very short belt which allows
the fine elements to be sieved and dropped. And we find the
potato on the surface afterwards. The potato that Hubert grows is
a product that has nothing to do with a storage potato. Competition in the market is fierce. Hubert insists on the quality of his
production, because he knows that this is what will make the difference. A storage potato
is placed without sprouting. That’s the first point. So mechanize planting,
also mechanize harvesting and mechanize sorting,
since these are machines that will sort them in the
packaging centers and the yields are also much lower than those of so-
called storage potatoes. To get an early potato, you
have to pick it carefully. These are sprouted plants that
were also hand-planted. So, every time,
it’s manual work. And manual labor means high costs. After harvesting the potatoes
manually, the 20 crates are then sent to the
Prince de Bretagne cooperative in Paimpol. The potatoes are washed, then covered with peat, before
being crated for sale. Hubert and Joseph Rousseau are there
to check the final product. Hello Joseph. You see, I pulled my first
potatoes today. Are they beautiful?
They are beautiful. This is Lydie Christelle, is it?
Yeah. And hey, she has pretty skin.
It’s not very marked. The next plot
looks a little more marked because it was a little more dry. We delivered them and then they went
through a washing machine which removed the soil that we saw this morning,
which was sticking to the tuber. So, who would have made
a pretty average presentation. The fact of washing it and peating it,
since we find a correct presentation. And gives a feeling of terroir too.
Plus… At the consumer level,
it feels a little more natural. So we wash it to make it dirty again,
but there is the drying effect of the slag which is still interesting
in terms of preserving the product. Because we are dealing with a vegetable,
we are not dealing with a starchy food. And so, it must not turn green.
It shouldn’t… It should be eaten
quickly after being pulled out. Age, because it is a young product. Prince de Bretagne brings together no fewer
than 2,300 farmers who produce 130 different fruits and vegetables. As far as new potatoes are concerned
, it is the leading French producer. So, the story of Prince de Bretagne
took place in the 1960s. There was a lot of
vegetable production in Brittany, in the region of Saint-Paul-de-Léon,
Saint-Paul and Saint-Malo. And in fact, we were under the power
of the merchants and it was seen at the time that there was a need to structure things. And so it is up to us, producers,
depending on the developments in production, to make known what we are
implementing, both in terms of the seriousness of
production and expansion. Today, however,
Prince de Bretagne is more than 50 vegetables, 50 products. The goal is to seek to promote
the work of producers as fairly as possible. Sometimes supply
exceeds demand. There, you have to manage. But thankfully, these periods
don’t last too long. And indeed,
that is the goal of the operations, to find the best balance
between the law of supply and demand to provide the best
remuneration to producers. Thanks to the mix of skills,
the grouping into a cooperative allows for better promotion
of the product’s orientation. In this way, Prince de Bretagne offers
visibility on the European markets to Berre potatoes. Gilles also works closely
with various fishing professionals. In order to better establish the
opening and closing dates for spider crab fishing, Laure Robigot comes to
visit Gilles at the port of Oguivi. Hi Gilles.
Hi Laure. How are you ?
Yeah. SO ?
As per usual. We feel calm during
the day, it’s done. A little wind?
A little bit of a north wind. The landings are constant. Professional fishermen like Gilles
are in constant discussion with the fisheries committee and Ifremer in order
to re-evaluate the dates of the fishing periods every year. The stock can then be managed sustainably
and maintain the sustainability of the resource. In fact, crustacean stocks,
such as spider crabs, lobsters, and spiny lobsters,
are stocks that are managed at the regional level in the marine environment. Management is,
in fact, our responsibility, to the fishing committee. So, this allows us a certain
flexibility in management proposals. Professional fishermen
are involved in management. We work together
with Ifremer all the time. We are involved in several
partner programs on knowledge acquisition in parallel with the
implementation of management measures. And in fact, we see
the benefits right away. Although stocks are not threatened,
the sale of spider crabs has been in decline for several years. Gilles is therefore looking for solutions
to enhance and modernize his business. Among the avenues being considered is
the marketing of the already shelled spider. It’s true that we have a problem with the sale
of the spider, because it turns out that from year to year,
there are more landings on the spider. The problem
is that the customer potential has not increased. We would look for new customers,
but the problem is that it’s still the spider,
we still work it the same way, we still sell it the same
way for 30 or 40 years. And by now,
all other products have evolved. And we have a problem, which is that we are
trying to find a way to cook the spider, to peel it,
while still being profitable. But I think that’s the future
of the profession, to be able to sell only the flesh of the spider. And there, I think we will
quickly find opportunities. For both Gilles and Uber,
being involved in the management of their business is important. Uber goes to the
Saint-Tec test station, in Gautier. Mathilde and Guillaume are
growing different market garden plants here in order to test and observe their
behavior in the face of climatic hazards. And if not, show me
your board there for… So there, it’s Sephora, yeah. Global warming is caused by
excesses, or rather is marked by excesses. So excess dryness,
excess humidity, but which no longer really corresponds to the seasons, in fact. We had a very,
very mild winter the winter before. We had a very, very dry winter this winter. And these are things we did
n’t see before. And these are things that we have been seeing
more and more often over the past five years. That is to say, our
temperate climate is becoming more excessive. For us, this is what global warming is,
in concrete terms. This has consequences for mildew. We know that
we had mildew at the beginning in Primaline production,
in crops grown under cover. We had And so the mushroom was there
quite early, but then we had 55m of rain last weekend. And suddenly, that’s it,
sporulation has begun. So, we will have to be
very, very vigilant. In these micro-plots,
Guillaume also tries to counter and prevent diseases
on potatoes. The aim of the trial, in fact,
is to find an early variety. Of course, there is also
resistance to mildew. So, this is a trial conducted
in organic farming. So there will only be
copper-based treatments. The test is planned, a tear-off. So we are on a March 21st planting
, so we count 90 days around… The 1st day of July? Yeah, that’s it, maybe a little before.
Maybe a little before. Yes. So, we hope that we can learn
some lessons so that farmers can implement… these varieties. In place these varieties. Quite. Hubert and Gilles are the representatives
of this unique terroir. Here, in the land of Goëlo,
the sea air shapes the territory and offers an exceptional location
allowing you to taste products of incomparable quality. As it wanders along the west coast of France, the Atlantic ventures into the Gulf of Morbihan,
nicknamed the Little Mother. Spread over 12,000 hectares and surrounded
by 300 islands, this Breton haven benefits from a gentle oceanic climate sheltered from the wind,
rocked by the coming and going of boats. Spreading out inland and encompassing
the city of Vannes, Vannetais is a land of fishing
and agriculture which gives it a strong and attractive identity. In this combination of land and sea, Vantèse gastronomy is
rich in local production. In the Pays d’Oret,
Marc le Rousic is a producer of buckwheat, also called sarrasin. This polygonaceous seed contains flour in its
shell, particularly used in the dough
of the famous Breton pancakes. Some 100 meters from the
Quibron peninsula, Jean-Marie Lestrade goes fishing for pollack. This fish, which can reach up to 1.2
meters in length, is considered one of the best on the coast. The youngest live near the shores
before moving away into the depths. It all starts at the port at 4:00 in the morning. Jean-Marie Lestrade and his crew member
load the boat with ice trays, hoping to fill them with pollack. And off we go for a
long day of fishing. There we set off for a day of about
twelve hours. We leave around 3 or 4 in the morning,
we come back around 4 in the afternoon, 5, sometimes later. It depends on what we find,
the conditions in which we work. By the time they get to the
fishing area, the two men are preparing the bait for pollack with
cuttlefish on 1,400 hooks. Usually, we fish with
live bait, with sand squid. They look like little
eels, actually. And we fish them ourselves.
And these days, there aren’t any. They decided to leave. So in this case,
we make do with what we have. Pollack is caught using a longline,
a long line to which a wire with a hook is attached every 5 meters. Longlines, also called baou,
must be constantly monitored because the fishing line can deteriorate. The equipment must be perfect. Because you can always have
a bar or a really big venue. When they go back up, when they arrive,
there, it can break. And then you lose it. On the line, the fish has its chance. If he’s not hungry,
he won’t get caught. And then, if at the last moment,
he manages to be cunning, he manages to get away. That’s the game. Once the lines are ready,
they are placed on the bottom and held by anchors. Here we go. Fishing takes place over 6 km. 12 lines of 500 meters are unrolled
and each remains in the water for approximately 2 hours. You can catch 30 kg of pollack
on a bahou like that. It depends on the… How can I say? Whether they are hungry or not,
especially if they are there. You can always fish more, but you can always fish less. Buckwheat seeds were introduced to France at the time of the Crusades and were popularized
by Anne of Brittany in the 15th century. They became the staple food of
Brittany and fed entire populations for almost three centuries. Brittany in general has
a very acidic pH soil. These were more or less poor lands. So buckwheat acclimatizes
to poor soils. But when we give it
the nutrients it needs today,
you have a crop that is still clearly superior to that
on the poor, thin lands of Brittany. Today is
harvest time for Marc. It always takes place
between September and October. But this year
the weather was not very good and the rain dampened the plots. Well, we’ll see if it works. We left.
Here we go. Bad news,
the humidity has created earth ridges on the roots, which is causing
considerable crop loss. The plant is pulled out, it drags,
it drags on it and we see, there is earth
because it has been pulled out, pulled out and it has not been cut and it has been a while. When there is sun,
the straw breaks better. It breaks well. But without sun, it’s damp and it stretches
its mouth – It chops instead of cutting. It chops instead of cutting. It chops It’s good, we
have to cut it, yes. So. It was ripped off.
There’s some grain that’s fallen there. Everything fell apart. By whipping each other,
we find all the grains on the ground. We are dependent on
climatic hazards. If it’s very beautiful, if there’s sun. A harvester will generally thresh his wheat,
the harvest, from 11:00 in the morning, when the dew has gone. The moisture did not come out of the grain. And we can beat at that time, until
11:00 in the evening, after, without problem. In the 1960s,
buckwheat was abandoned in favor of other crops such as wheat and corn. But today,
it is experiencing a new boom thanks to the success of creperies among tourists. The one from Brittany has a
protected geographical indication which helps it stand out from the big players
in a carrier like China. But to avoid damaging his buckwheat,
Marc will have to wait for the good weather. It won’t fit inside.
No. The vagaries of the weather mean we
have to give up. And we’ll get back to it next week,
since they’re predicting bad weather by the end of the week. There you go, end of construction. It’s time for Jean-Marie
to pull in the longlines. Although pollack is rare this
season, fishermen know the places where they are sure to find some. From experience, by dint of searching,
of coming, sometimes it is other colleagues who inform you. That’s with people
you feel good with. Otherwise, it’s a lot from experience. It’s by dint of putting. There, it’s good, there, it’s not good. Here, there
are rocks and wrecks under which pollack
particularly like to sneak. The pollock is a fish… It’s a carnivore. He looks for food, he wanders around. You can find it between 30 and 150
meters deep. They follow the food. If there is nothing to eat,
they don’t stay. But after that, they all live,
they live quite closely together. When there are places in an area,
often there is not just one. It is not a solitary fish. The biggest pollocks go out to sea,
where Jean-Marie cannot access with his small boat in bad weather. But that morning, the sun is shining
and the fish are biting the hook. There,
a pollack is a fish that weighs between…
On average, it’s seven or eight kilos. And they’re yellow, you see. Because there is its cousin, the pollock, which
has a much darker color.
It’s really black. These are fish that can
grow much larger. And the quality of its flesh
is not at all the same. After being caught,
the fish is quickly drained of its blood in which all the bacteria reside. It is then gutted
and immediately iced. In other jobs,
when you catch large quantities at once, it’s more difficult to process
a lot of fish at once. So the quality suffers. While we have time
to take care of each fish. It’s true that… Because we have smaller volumes,
but that way, we add value to the product. Tomorrow morning, his fish
will be sold at auction. But in the meantime,
there is still some work to be done under the eyes of the hungry gulls. At Maison Lucas,
a smokehouse in Quiberon, Pierre, the production manager, smokes pollack,
considered a choice fish by many consumers. So, we got our place then? Gorgeous.
A beautiful pollack there. Stunning. The first step is to wash
the fish, removing all the mucus surrounding it. It is then hand-spun
before being salted. A very important phase for the taste
and preservation of the fish, because it allows the water that constitutes it to be removed. The salt used comes from Guérande,
because here, we focus on quality. We have purists in terms of taste who are
really looking for a very fine product. So that’s why we can’t
afford to do just anything. So it has a slightly dry flesh,
but very, very fine in the mouth. Truly a very, very fragrant fish. Really, pollack is
something really special. It’s really…
You can taste it to understand. After remaining in the salt for 1.5 hours, the
fillets are rinsed and machine dried. They are then smoked using this
generator that Pierre fills with sawdust. The wood has a big impact on the
flavor of the fish afterwards. So I collect
green beech sawdust, which is supplied to us by Claude Simon. The last Breton clog maker
who reserves his sawdust from two clogs for us. And what’s more, its sawdust is
perfect for smoking our fish. Smoking is done cold, between 20 and 30
degrees, and will continue all night. The exact duration is not disclosed. Manufacturing secret. When the fillets have taken on a nice
golden color, they will only have to be separated from their bones and sliced. People want to see, in fact,
the authentic, they want to see things that are still made by hand. And they appreciate that. So that’s why we still do
the unstopping, unstopping and slicing by hand. Smoked pollack conquers
the finest gourmets. Its rarity, and this artisanal manufacturing method
, however, generate a relatively high price, requiring targeting
the ideal period to ensure sales. For buckwheat seeds
to finally become buckwheat flour,
they pass through millers like Jean-Pierre Berthaud,
whose family has excelled in the trade for this generation. He learned on the job before
taking over his father’s mill in 1992. I ultimately modernized
my parents’ working tool, while going back, I would say,
in some way, since the last modernization was
to install a millstone, which can be estimated to be four or five hundred years old,
which come from the Pyrenees. So I wanted to bring back these
stone millstones as a little reminder of my grandfather, whom I never knew,
since he had died when I was born. And so, I found different
archives showing him with these millstones, and it always made me
want to put some millstones back together. The mill consists of two pairs
of millstones, each weighing 1.4 tonnes. The upper wheel rotates at 110
revolutions per minute, while the lower wheel is dormant. Here is the millstone turning. I’m going to lower
the upper wheel, but never send it into contact,
because above all, the two stones should not touch each other. But just so that it is the product,
in the end, which makes the layer between the two stones
And that is where we will have our quality of flour and our quality of grinding. Here, Jean-Pierre still uses
more modern mills with cylinders. Buckwheat grains pass
through several machines to be crushed, sieved or pulverized. The different results are combined
to create six varieties of flour. We have a production that is more
important today, even if we are now managing to develop
stone flour and trying to promote it in relation to
silane flour, for taste benefits. It’s more distinctive in taste, it’s different. And today, consumers are
very curious and want to discover things. And it’s truly a discovery to be
able to make things that were made centuries ago and to find them
on our plates today. In the town of Auret,
Marc Lerouzic runs a shop where he sells the famous flour
and local products made from buckwheat, such as honey, which he makes
into pasta and pancakes himself. It is more interesting to sell
these products directly. So, we know what we need and
we know the market well, since we have a loyal customer base
year-round and we know our needs. And we are less dependent on the prices
of wholesalers or purchasing centers. Then selling locally is important. And then, for the customer too,
because he finds himself, he likes to know where the product comes from. Buckwheat flour free from impurities and
processing is also a sign of quality
and customer confidence. Buckwheat flour is most often used for Breton pancakes. In Brittany, we find very popular ones
in all the towns, like the one run by Séverine
and Jean-Noël Étienne, near Plérin. So, hop, preparation. Buckwheat flour, a
true marker of the region’s identity, is prepared into a paste. In some departments of Brittany,
eggs and wheat are added. But here, apart from water and salt,
there is only buckwheat flour. Buckwheat is easier to digest. There is no starch, it’s 100
percent, there is no gluten. Taste-wise, it’s the same. It’s all about the taste, buckwheat,
you either like it or you don’t. The finished dough remains
in the refrigerator at 5 degrees for 24 hours. It is then cooked and made
into a pancake on these traditional crepe pans called billig. This is today’s cake. And the little extra. We’re not chauvinistic, but almost. This crêperie offers other dishes
made with buckwheat flour, such as this leek and grilled pancake verrine
as a starter, this buckwheat hamburger for the main course, and
this dessert sprinkled with buckwheat crumble. To prepare their dish,
Jean-Noël and Séverine rely on regional products. Gammeunet andouille,
Plairin eggs, Plairin ham, Plairin sausage. We are in the region, we tend
to fight with what we have here. I think that now, more and
more restaurants and crêperies are paying attention to what they do with
mainly local products. Now, more and more, I think. The quality of Séverine
and Jean-Noël’s products and their philosophy delight customers,
like this man who comes regularly. It remains traditional,
but brought up to date. This is what makes
this creperie a little special. Creperies
are not considered cooking. When we say: I’m going to a restaurant, it
sounds more noble than going to a creperie. While I think that creperies,
there are a lot of creperies that are really very good, that are largely
as good as some restaurants. So it’s good to put
the crêperie forward too. It’s a pleasure. Like that, in addition, we change the menu every
day, so we never do the same thing. And then the customers are happy. It’s a passion. I’ve always been into crepes,
into Gaëte. Afterwards, it is a recognition
of my work. I’m happy because
I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s the end of a long day of fishing
for Jean-Marie, but the work is n’t finished and he’s starting to feel tired. We note down everything we have caught. The time we return to the port,
we leave the port.
Back at the port, Jean-Marie and his crew member unload the fish before heading
to the Quiberon auction, where the director, Alexandre Le Brun, is waiting for them. So what’s
great today? A little bit of place, there you go. It was fine, we were able to get 80 kilos of pollock. For the end of the season, it’s okay. The auction is the first place
where fish is marketed. When it arrives here, it is sorted,
calibrated and all the information concerning its catch entered into its
terminals with the security agents. Ok, same size, extra quality,
type of tray, it’s good. They serve to inform buyers,
as the auctioneers operate on an auction system. In the auction houses, between 60 and 70%
of buyers buy online. So, the more information they have provided via our
terminals by fishermen and auction staff, the more
accurate their purchases can be. This way, they know exactly what they are
buying with complete confidence and security. This information is stored in
a database for three years. They provide statistics
and traceability on products, also allowing
quotas to be controlled. Once the quota is reached,
this species can no longer be sold, so no auction will allow
fishermen who have caught it to sell their products. So, fishing is closed and this is
what allows, given that the quotas are calculated for good reproduction
of the species, to allow for
responsible and sustainable fishing over time. Quotas are difficult
for fishermen to manage, especially when the boat is small,
because they are limited by geographical area and time,
and must still consume their quota or risk being
demoted to another category. There is still a certain flexibility
among producer organizations for… Especially on Yellow Island,
there is a certain flexibility. As long as the quota is not consumed,
to accommodate someone who may have had accidents
during the year, to allow them to continue
fishing and maintain the activity. That’s the goal of the
producers’ organization, so that everyone can fish,
and then everyone can earn a living. That’s the point. Christine Larsonneur is the president
of the IGP Blé Noir Tradition Bretagne. She regularly visits
producers’ plots to ensure the quality of the product. Today,
with Marc Lerouzic, she is hunting datura, a very toxic plant that
grows in buckwheat fields. This is the datura plant that I found
earlier at a grower’s. So this producer, obviously,
his plot is not going to be harvested. So, I would like to know if you,
for your part, have identified any. So, on my plots,
I have not identified this type of plant. Marc doesn’t have any on his plots. Moreover, it has already been checked three
times by the Triscalia cooperative and a form stipulating the absence
of the plant on its farm. Without it, he
would not be able to harvest. When we harvest, we
also harvest the Datura seed. And so this bug contains
about 500 seeds. So, it only takes one bug to pollute an
entire plot of buckwheat. Another problem that has also been identified
is that this seed is roughly the same size
as the buckwheat seed. Same size as buckwheat seeds,
which makes it difficult for machines to distinguish them. This plant, very rich in alkaloids,
is said to originate from Mexico. Highly toxic, it is
sometimes nicknamed the madman’s plant. No cases of poisoning have been reported
in Brittany, and for good reason: tension there is at its highest. Did you feel it? You should feel it. You’ll see, it smells,
but it’s a foul odor. Often, it was enough to give a seed
and that allowed people to be robbed , and therefore to steal from them. So it is still a plant that
can cause damage to health. You can remain disabled. You can even die from it in high doses. So, for us, it is out of the question
to put on the market a product which could have
such consequences. And then, for our industry and
especially for the consumer. It is a product that,
from a sanitary point of view, we put everything in place. Marc pays close attention to the health
of his plots by using the three-year rotation which consists of alternating
on the same plot and over three years, a fall cereal, a
spring cereal and a cheap one. This ancestral technique allows
the land to regenerate naturally and is perfectly suited to this
farmer who is very attached to his land. It is better to consume
local produce rather than import it, since bringing buckwheat from China
or Eastern or Asian countries requires air transportation. It is still a significant carbon expenditure
. And then, it’s also in my perspective,
since I have a farm produce store
where in the advertising, it says: Eat local, eat full countryside. Marc has nothing to worry
about his buckwheat. The strong Breton identity gives its
product a lasting and promising future. As for Jean-Marie,
as long as pollack reproduces and finds buyers on the stalls,
he will continue to keep the fishing profession alive by sailing the waters of
the Gulf of Morbihan.

🦀 La Bretagne comme vous ne l’avez jamais goûtée, avec le chef étoilé Guy Martin ! 🌾🌊

Amoureux de la France et du patrimoine, ses trésors n’auront plus de secrets pour vous 👉https://bit.ly/4dnI1h1

De l’île de Groix aux ports du Goëlo, ce documentaire vous emmène au cœur d’un territoire authentique, où traditions maritimes, agriculture biologique et produits d’exception se conjuguent avec passion. 🌿 Erwan élève des ormeaux dans les eaux cristallines du Morbihan, tandis que Philippe cultive le chou de Lorient, un légume oublié à la saveur sucrée et fondante.

🥔 Dans les terres, Hubert récolte à la main ses pommes de terre primeur. En mer, Jean-Marie part dès l’aube pêcher le lieu jaune, et Sophie sublime l’araignée de mer dans sa poissonnerie locale.

🌾 Du blé noir à la galette, de la mer à l’assiette, partez à la rencontre de celles et ceux qui font vivre l’âme bretonne.

✨ Une immersion iodée entre savoir-faire, paysages sauvages et traditions séculaires.

📌 Un voyage sensoriel entre criées, champs bretons, produits locaux et mémoire vivante.

#Bretagne #Morbihan #CotesdArmor #Ormeaux #ChouDeLorient #PommeDeTerrePrimeur #BléNoir #AgricultureBio #PatrimoineCulinaire #ProduitsLocaux #Terroir #DocumentaireFrance #FranceGourmande

Épicerie Fine – Terroirs Gourmands (Saison7) :
E04 – Ormeau et chou du Pays de Lorient
E14 – Araignée et starlette du Goëlo
E31 – Lieu jaune et sarrasin du Vannetais

© Tout droits réservés – AMP
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