Jardins comestibles : cueillettes, herbes et traditions rurales | Trésors du Patrimoine
French historical and cultural region. The territory of Anjou has
the city of Angers as its capital. Clad with slate roofs,
cradled by the Maine and the Loire on its lands, castles and vineyards share the
same landscape in a peaceful atmosphere. A climate that earned the region an ode
to Anjou from the poet Joachim du Bellay who, happy as Ulysses, loved
the sweetness of Anjou more than the sea air. Over time,
this delicate oceanic climate has been adopted by the region’s producers. Jason Abbott grows quinoa,
a subtle-tasting grain native to the high Andean plateaus of
Latin America. It’s a choice he made with his wife
Maude, after learning of their daughter’s gluten intolerance. A few kilometers away,
on these hectares of land. This is another type of product
that Thierry Chaillou grows. The Anjou shallot is recognizable by its
pinkish copper color and its strong taste. It is cultivated according to the rules
of the art specific to the region. As every year,
it is the crucial harvest time for quinoa producers. Jason is the instigator of this culture
in Anjou, which today represents a third of French production. He helped most of the farmers
settle here and now follows their progress. Today, he is going to
Yasmine Marchand’s plots. And then we said. Quinoa has been cultivated in France
for centuries, and it has been limited to
botanical gardens or by researchers, etc. There, Quinoa d’Anjou is
the first real commercial sector. Its origins date back to 2006 when we,
the Abbott family, started eating a lot of quinoa
and found it to be a great product. And we said to ourselves one day,
it would be like rice. This presents an opportunity
for farmers in our region. But farmers have to cope with
the climatic demands of this crop. While the weather is often a source
of worry, it seems to have been kind to
Yasmine’s quinoa this year. It’s still a little damp. It didn’t rain. There it is, it’s really good,
so it’s perfect. This morning we were a little worried about
a few drops of rain, but now it’s good, there’s a bit of wind,
sunshine, it’s perfect. Jason He said the humidity
was not good. So here we go. In the first few years, there were
only about twenty of us farmers. And then, in 2013,
the international year of quinoa, where the market’s interest and
demand really picked up significantly. This allowed us to grow relatively
quickly because our customers asked for more quinoa. We were able to respond. We have incorporated many
more farmers. So now there are about
300 of us in the Anjou sector. After being pre-cut and
sun-dried in ondines, the quinoa is collected by a harvester. The machine causes friction
and blowing to isolate the good seeds of white color
and medium size. It’s still quinoa. The taste is not very strong,
but it is subtle. It is. It’s a little bit like
hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts. Our main objective
is quality on the plate, so that it is very good to eat. Thierry, however, cannot rely on
machines to harvest his shallots. Everything is done by hand,
with the help of his employees. This morning, they are all gathered
for the uprooting on the hectares of family farms that Thierry
shares with his father, his brother, his sister and his sister-in-law. We know how long it takes
per hectare, how long it takes per hectare to pull up. 150 hours. So the history of shallots in Anjou
is ancient since we have written evidence that they were
already present in the 17th century. More recently, it
arrived in the 1960s. It was played and there was a
real boom in the 1970s. Since then, it has been traditional. I myself was born into it. You should know that Anjou shallots
are also a passion because they require a lot of
labor and energy. But when you have a good product,
in the end, it motivates you a little. In February,
Thierry manually plants 160 to 200 zero zero zero mother bulbs per hectare. They will take root,
grow and multiply. The particularity of the
traditional shallot is that it multiplies by producing five or six daughter bulbs. This phenomenon, called
vegetative multiplication, differentiates it from the onion which must be sown. I don’t know if you can see it clearly,
but there are different circles and that’s typical of a traditional shallot. Every time we have a circle,
a bulb will come. An onion makes large circles
all around and then tightens. So that’s it.
These growing points. This is what will give us
the daughter bulbs. In July. Thierry can harvest his shallots
after being pulled up. They dry naturally on
the ground for ten days to three weeks. Protected by their foliage,
they are then sheltered from the sun. It takes a perfect climate. The mildness of Anjou
is already temperatures that are tempered by temperatures that are
too high. That’s bad. And then regular rains
and humidity which allow good development. There is also the ground. The soil that is well drained,
which is a little clay. We couldn’t do that
in the south of France. Too high temperatures or
too much rain would cause development to be blocked from happiness.
What ? This first harvest is not
entirely intended for consumption, but will be sorted and calibrated. Some bulbs will be replanted
and harvested the following year. To taste them. Thierry doesn’t wait, he tests
his product directly in the field. Unlike onion, it is
a taste in the mouth that is quite long, which lasts and develops
quite long intensities. We can taste. We’re not going to eat too much of it
because it’s enough. Interesting.
It’s very interesting in cooking. That has a good intensity. There you have it, these are beautiful products. For their part, Jason
and Yasmin take stock. The harvest is over. Quinoa will continue its
journey to a new stage. The field is harvested,
the quinoa is harvested. It is now placed
in seven boxes. The box will leave for the
Brissac silo where it will be cleaned. separate the good
quinoa from the weeds. Now it will go away. The quinoa arrives at the Brissac silo where it
will undergo a series of stages allowing the grain to meet
the established specifications. The rules are strict: quinoa must
be cleaned, sorted and dried if it exceeds the permitted moisture content
to make it edible. Even silos are subject to standards. The Brissac silo is dedicated to
100% quinoa, meaning that we cannot use gluten-based cereal grains
since today gluten-free consumption is
gaining momentum. And so quinoa from Anjou
also has the specificity of being gluten-free. Added value for quinoa. The objective for the plant sector is
to obtain a quality product and to develop the
French market by reassuring the consumer. I think quinoa
is a seed of the future. We feel it in our desires,
in our consumption. Today we feel a craze
for everything that is seeds, so-called seeds, health or health foods,
that is to say foods rich in fiber, rich in protein. There is also concern about
traceability, quality and in particular the absence of phytosanitary products
on products intended for direct consumption. Now, the interest for us
is to make consumers aware that there is a
French sector and that they are not obliged to buy an imported product
to consume this seed. We’re in the 2015 harvest.
Now that’s nice. It’s good, but there is some white good. We are on a good caliber, a good caliber
and in terms of color, it is good, we are good, we have the colorimeter. Meanwhile, Jason’s wife, Maud, is
busy marketing the quinoa. Hi Charles, how are you? Are
you doing well. Yeah, perfect.
I’ll bring you the quinoa. Today, she delivers it to Charles
Boucher who runs a grocery store and restaurant. He sells it raw or in prepared dishes. Maude seeks above all to democratize
quinoa and to make it known, you sometimes need to arm yourself
with a little imagination. I’ll bring you some quinoa, crack. It’s brand new, it just came out. Actually,
we decided to make cereal, but 100% quinoa, a bit
like crispy and all that. But if there is only quinoa,
so in salads for example, you can sprinkle it.
Look, I’m going to taste it. Well, go ahead, go ahead!
It’s very healthy, it’s very nutritious. And then, in addition, we need, at the level
of French agriculture, to diversify the crops in the fields. For the moment,
we are limited in quinoa production since we do not necessarily have
the commercial outlets behind it. So we cannot produce
more than we can sell. So for now,
my job is to find other markets and make
this little seed known, to democratize it. Maude also sells her quinoa to
school canteens that want it. She even gives it to the one in the town
where she lives with Jason to encourage him to introduce it to children,
the seed being still little known of this type of establishment. Maude doesn’t hesitate to suggest
ideas for cooking it. It is important to make children aware of a varied diet from a young age. To bring quinoa? Not necessarily every day,
but from time to time on plates, in canteens. I think it’s
beneficial for them. It’s also beneficial for the region,
for farmers, to show them that there is
a whole variety of foods and that we don’t have to eat fries
every day in the canteen. Children aren’t the only ones
curious about a quinoa dish. Many of this caterer’s customers
are discovering it. We get good feedback when we
tell them it’s quinoa from Anjou. It’s true that it’s a bit of a surprise
because many people aren’t used to it yet, so the feedback is positive. Now we have to try to make it
part of the collective consciousness. And the most surprising thing is to learn about
the existence of Anjou quinoa when you come from Anjou. As someone who is in favor of short circuits,
it’s true that I didn’t know at all. Amazing ! Short circuit.
Awesome ! We are for it. Hi Thierry.
Yes, you. On his farm,
Thierry receives a visit from Bruno Gautier, also a producer of shallots. Thierry’s are drying. It is during this stage that they
take on their pink color. This particular drying technique
for Anjou shallots gives the bulb a higher dry matter content, which gives it impeccable preservation quality. This is an essential criterion in the specifications for
Anjou shallots. Yes, they are. They are not far from being
good to harvest because. As soon as the weather is nice and they
have time, we’ll pick this up. Another little one. a few days and then
it will be completely dried out. Now that’s some good news. In 2015, Anjou shalote obtained
a PGI, a protected geographical indication that Thierry and Bruno
followed very closely. It took them ten years to obtain this
sign, which constitutes a means of protecting themselves from competition
in their reasoned approach. From the GP specifications. This really allows us to
differentiate ourselves from traditional games that can be found everywhere. This guarantees a consistent taste
throughout the year. We have a
higher dry matter content. We have a natural drying process which
allows us to have a perfect product. It makes a difference. Afterwards, you have to know how to sell it,
but I think that’s how we ‘ll be able to stand out from the crowd. There is a
higher-level Dutch rival. This is the seedling shallot. Very present on the market. What we know is that this product does
not correspond to the definition protocol that was established in 2005. And the most surprising thing
is that the Dutch State cheated on the registration of these varieties
and that we are unable to challenge these varieties. The defense is
to explain what we are doing, our approach to a traditional shallot. So the PGI Anjou shallots, but it is
also on seed shallots. It is a deception,
a defect since it is an onion. A consumer who goes to a
supermarket or whatever. How do you expect him to see the difference
between traditional toilets? We see it because there is the
root plate which is clearly marked, but someone who does not know it
can, they can confuse it, they will only see it when they have it
on their plate, they will not see it, it is used to see, that’s all. For local agriculture,
it is therefore important to defend local products. This is what
Claire La Haie does in her own way. So this morning,
we’re going to prepare some Anjou products: shallots and raspberries. She runs the Atelier Gourmand, where she
offers cooking classes entirely dedicated to local products. The recipes are simple and original. The star product of the day
is the shallot, which she suggests combining with candied tomatoes
for the starter and raspberries for dessert. It’s true that
you can really work with shallots in 1000 different ways. It can be found from the beginning
as an aperitif to the end as a dessert. It is also the basis of
our white butters. It is used in many
local dishes and with fish, meat, vegetables, and
aromatic garnishes. For quinoa,
the risotto version with Anjou quinoa can really go well
with many, many products. It’s really the idea of working
the shallot as the main ingredient. And since we’ve been shopping
for shallots and raspberries with Fleuron d’Anjou for a long time,
it’s forced us to think outside the box. After some good advice
and the preparation of the dishes, all that remains is to dress
the plates and finally move on to tasting. Under Claire’s watchful eye. It’s good.
Mmm. It’s superb.
Enjoyed. And so, the Anjou shallot? What does it bring in terms
of taste in particular? Well there you are. I have to admit,
she is well balanced. It’s not too spicy. It is really very aromatic
and the Angevin terroir has been classified as truly optimal for cultivation. Shallot cultivation. There is really the side of
me defending my country. And finally, here is my country,
my region, my department. And this is what is happening
around my house. Because it leads to
economic life and. And then when we have products that are
so cool and with which we can do lots of things. Well, there’s no need
to look any further. Local products will never cease
to surprise, especially if the latter is dedicated to evolution and change. Jason Abbott is experimenting on his
experimental farm to find the future quinoa variety that will
best adapt to the area. Indeed, every year,
the seeds are exposed to a large number of parameters such as rain,
sun and frost, considerably modifying the quality of the product. Jason is determined to find
a variety that will live up to it. In the meantime, he already has a few
promising ones on hand. There is Riobamba Duchess. Young Adela comes later,
Pasto and Jessy the earliest. I consider myself a
football team manager. There is one who is good for attack,
one who is good for defense. I need to understand the strengths
and weaknesses of each variety in order to know what role it would play
in the range of varieties we have. Ideally, we can reduce the weaknesses
that are unbearable once we know them and once we have
discovered them and try to concentrate in the same variety in a new
variety the strengths that we have found are very important in us. The big winner so far is
Duchess. It has just been released after years of testing. Jason gave him the strengths of Atlas
and Jayce, giving him intermediate precocity. But convinced that he can do better,
Jason continues his research. Here are two varieties of testing. This variety produces very
beautiful seeds, very white, very large and shiny,
but the taste is extremely neutral. There really isn’t much taste, even
though this variety is much less attractive in seeds. The seeds are smaller too, but in taste, we have a flavor of almonds, hazelnuts,
coconut there, it is a variety which could pass the commercial stage. This is a process of selecting
new varieties that will never stop. This has been going on for thousands of years,
and we haven’t yet reached the perfect variety. Besides, the environment is changing. So even if we find a
perfect variety for today, for tomorrow, it would not be perfect. We must always test.
We must maintain a great deal of variability, a great deal of genetic diversity
in each species in order to be able to search for and test new things
endlessly. On this third Sunday of
July, the small town of Chemellier is organizing
its traditional shallot festival. Although Thierry usually markets
his product through the local cooperative,
this festival is also an excellent way for him to promote it. This is the traditional ladder for
toilets in Anjou. We produce it there. We got off to a good start and started
early this morning at 9am. The first people were arriving. This morning we were about 600 kilos. There, we sold half. And then I think that tonight,
we will have nothing left. We have people coming from everywhere,
we have people we saw from Marseille who are discovering the product a little. This allows us to explain what we do
and this exceptional product that is Anjou shallots. It is also possible
to taste it on site. Everything is organized so that visitors
can enjoy a bavette accompanied by its shallot and red wine sauce
which revives the taste buds. It is very good, the sauce
is very good, very fragrant. And that’s Anjou shallot. A true colleague. Anjou shallot
or Anjou shallot. This folkloric event has been held
for twelve years thanks to the efforts of the Brotherhood of Friends of the Shallote,
a group that does not hesitate to welcome other defenders
of this jewel of the Angevin region. Bearded and mustached with loyalty. Welcome to our brotherhood
with the title of great mustachioed man. Anjou shallot. I swear before our patron saint
Dorothy that for the best dishes, I will always choose Anjou shallots
and that, without compromise, I will fight against these imitations. It’s something we give to our
guests, especially as a thank you. Because most of the time,
we try to make sure that these are people who,
for one reason or another, have made a small contribution,
sometimes a very large contribution to L’échalote d’Anjou.
SO. There are the long-time colleagues. Thierry is one of them. After selling shallots at his
stand, he proudly puts on his faithful costume, which he has worn since
the creation of the Brotherhood. The future is to have
a remunerative, remunerative price for Anjou shallots
to make them a quality product. We would like to be paid a little
more to be able to develop production a little. So the future
is to have recognition from consumers who would agree
to pay a little more to have superior quality. There, it’s great, we
sent a country day, we’ll finish around a glass of friendship
and we’ll continue to talk a little in the evening before going
back to work tomorrow. We’ll be pumped up to go and
work on our shallot. Passionate and tireless work
that will perhaps one day earn Thierry the chance to see his shallots on the shelves. As for Jason, he will give his quinoa
the time it needs to adapt to the territory. Because the climate of the Anjou region
combines both surprise and serenity. Cunt, cunt cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt , cunt cunt. To the east of Orléans,
around thirty kilometers south of the capital, lies the Gâtinais region. Oaks and fir trees flourish
mainly in this area made up of plains and forests,
including those of Montargis, Orléans and the Bois de Fontainebleau. The region owes its reputation to
aromatic herbs and was also a holiday resort for certain artists
such as Christian Dior and Jean Cocteau. Straddling the departments of Loiret,
Seine et Marne and Essonne, this region also owes its fame
to the famous Gâtinais honey, one of the most consumed in Paris. Thierry Sergent, beekeeper, has been
harvesting his honey there for over 20 years. Milly-la-forêt mint is also
one of the aromatic herbs grown in this area. Alain Bosque exploits it
with the greatest care. Today he is starting to
harvest his peppermint. Insane.
There are hundreds of varieties. Plants
specialize in either my back or peppermint, or they are culinary,
or they are medicinal. We grow peppermint,
the Mitcham variety from Milly-la-Forêt since we planted the forest. But the Mitcham variety, there is some
in Hungary, there is some, there is some almost everywhere, there is some
all over the world. Compared to other mints,
this peppery variety has very specific characteristics. You have a stem,
a stem that is not square but not round either,
a stem that is slightly oval with leaves, you see, a little
purplish like that there. And especially when you smell
a very strong smell, a smell that stings you. That’s why it’s called
peppermint, a very strong menthol smell. The richness of the soil of Milly-la-forêt
gives it its famous properties and special virtues. Amélie, the only one, is special to
medicinal plants because on one side we have the school marshes and on the other side the sands
of Fontainebleau which have come to our house. We have a mixture of sand and everything
that allows plants to proliferate peacefully in the soil. You should know that plants
grow through their roots and not through their leaves. So if the soil is softer,
plants grow more easily. These qualities promote an
essential component in the medicinal use of mint. It develops more
menthol than menthol. And what’s interesting
about mint is menthol. The coat doesn’t know. It’s not an interesting substance,
it’s a substance that’s rough, that’s not good. Whereas menthol
is a substance that is round. When you drink a mint infusion
or a peppermint syrup, you have a roundness in your mouth
that remains and makes you feel fresh. And that’s what’s interesting. To optimize the quality of its product. Alain remains attentive
to the growth of his plant. Normally it takes eight weeks
to grow, but it can take as little as seven weeks.
It can take only nine weeks. It depends on the weather. It depends on the heat,
it depends on a lot of things. For example, if we have very,
very cool nights, the mint grows less. To make it as rich
in menthol as possible, you need to give it time to grow. This means that instead of making three
or four cuts a year, we only make two cuts. The plant has time to charge
with menthol and then it rewards us with an extraordinary menthol. In the heart of the
Gâtinais Regional Natural Park. Thierry is getting ready to harvest his honey. The honey harvest. Equipment to protect
him from bee stings is obviously necessary. Here is the hat. The environment of this natural park is
rich and diverse and thus allows for the production of many varieties of honey. Honey. This is the time when a
given plant will produce plenty of nectar. Right now
I’m harvesting chestnut honey, but in the same place
there can be a lot of brambles and so there will be a mixture of brambles and chestnut. And that, I would call Forest Honey. It will not be the majority. In order to harvest the honey. Thierry has to retrieve the supers from inside
the hives. These honeycomb wooden frames
where bees deposit their nectar. Thierry smokes the workers. The latter,
thinking of a fire in the hive, become frightened and leave the frames. This, this frame with this honey there that we can
clearly see the beautiful amber color of chestnut honey. It was the bees who came
looking for him there, in the forest. Beautiful chestnut forest
just nearby. When the chestnut tree secreted nectar,
the bees returned to the hive, laden with nectar and nectar. They stored in the alveoli. They ventilated the excess water as much as possible
to obtain a sugar concentration that would ultimately produce
a sufficiently viscous honey. It looks like honey. The region is really well suited
to beekeeping as we have a really great plant environment. We have a good diversity of plants
which give like there is acacia, there is bramble there, there
are chestnut trees over there. So in the same place,
we can leave a hive to make honey. Hawthorn, I must have some,
look, that’s hawthorn. So here we make spring honey. Hawthorn followed by acacia honey, followed
by honey, chestnut and bramble. Without moving the hive. So that’s a lot of it, because there’s
no need to move. So there, I’m going to take the bees out, I’m
going to blow them away to keep only the honey. I don’t want the bees,
I just want the honey. So. So it’s quite energetic,
but they’ll all come back into the hive, no problem. So there it is, I extracted my OS. So I’m going to install all these
rises in the warm room to get rid of any excess humidity. And in a second step,
4 to 5 days later, we will extract all the honey which will be
there with a perfect humidity level. On the Milly-la-forêt side. Alain, accompanied by his grandson,
prepares his mint for the drying stage. Well, it’s okay, my Mathieu
is in good shape this morning. Yes, well, come on.
Come on, come on! The whole plant is harvested and
cut into small pieces of three by four so that it
dries more quickly. The mint is passed through a
mechanical cutter to speed up and facilitate its drying. There we have it, we have a little more
and it must be said that before, to do that, we cut it with
Boulanger’s cleaver and it was 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. every morning. The mint is then
sent to the dryer. So we put spearmint on top. It’s a rather delicate maneuver because you
have to place the fine on the grids, but in such a way that it is
not compacted. It needs to be aired. That’s why you
need a pitchfork. The hot air sleeve needs to be given some aerobatics
. They pass through the small islands
and below it is put under pressure. And when there’s mint everywhere,
it’s like a film and the hot air passes through the tiny
holes that you see there. So it puts pressure on. That’s why there are tiny
holes, because if there were big holes, when the mint is
dry, it would fly away. It’s a bit like steam passing
through a pressure cooker. But the method remains
very important to respect. It’s drying at ten degrees,
at 50 degrees, at ten degrees, at 50 degrees. Mint turns black. Whereas when you dry mint at 50 degrees
all the time, you saw, it’s green, it stays green. There it is green, it is green,
it is fresh, but when it is dry, it remains green. And if we didn’t dry it properly,
it would be all brown. Thus maintained at a constant temperature. The mint will then be collected
in large bales. A ball is a big bag
because as mint is very bulky, dry plants in general
are very bulky and so we do n’t have to squeeze
to avoid breaking the mint. You can see it clearly when you drink
the infusion. If you buy infusions
with crushed mint, it hardly smells like mint. If you buy infusions with
whole plants, whole mint leaves,
it smells twice as minty. With a dryer like this,
thanks to the heat, we are sure that the plants are
always green and well dried. Look at this drying quality. It’s green, it’s beautiful, it’s clean,
no problem. So.
Come on! Finally, they transport the
mint bales to a final and important resting stage
before packaging. There, the watch, it is in stock condition. It was dried and piled up
so that it would throw off its fire. You cannot condition a plant
that is outside and has accumulated heat. It is absolutely necessary that it throws its fire,
that it returns to room temperature and that it returns to 15% humidity
because sometimes there is fourteen percent humidity, sometimes there is sixteen. So putting it in a pile
homogenizes the humidity and we have a humidity that should normally be there
for it to keep well, which should be fourteen or 15%. There you go,
the leaves always have to crack a little. You hear this noise there, the leaves,
the leaves that cracked and there we have a product that is super dry. The mint is then ready to be
packaged for several types of customers. Alain and his nephew
also ensure this part of the chain. Mint is sold in boxes
of 50 50 gram infusions. To individuals,
to organizations like La Ruche qui dit oui or to shops, boutiques,
even herbalists or shops that sell regional products. Then we move on to the five-kilo box
which is sold to herbalists or pharmacists
and then we move straight on to the ten-kilo box which is sold to the wholesaler. Back at his honey house,
Thierry also has to carry out a drying step before
getting down to extracting his honey. There, I have just brought back all the increases
from the harvest and I have installed them Installed
in this room which is a hot room, that is to say that there is a radiator,
there is a minimum temperature. When you take out a frame,
you see that there is honey at the bottom. But this honey has not been
sealed by the bees. If I extract it as is,
well this honey ferments after a while and that’s not what I want to be
able to get the humidity out of this frame which still has honey. There’s at least a kilo and a half there. Well I put it in this warm room
and the moisture extractor will pull the excess moisture out of this honey. And after four or five days,
even in the cells that are not closed, I know that my humidity level
is good, so I can extract everything without any problem, it will not ferment. Drying complete. Thierry cleans the frames. So now it’s time
to uncap all these frames, that is to say remove the lids
where the humidity level was good. The bees have put on a wax cover.
This is the operculum. So. So you have to uncap
both sides so that, after this frame, you can put it in the extractor. It’s actually a centrifuge that will
spin very, very quickly and with the speed, with the centrifugal force,
all the cells will extract the honey and at the end we will have frames that will be
completely empty and the honey will go into the chain
that will purify this honey. So there, it begins to crystallize,
we can see it clearly. So the characteristic of this
chestnut honey is that, in taste, it is a taste, a little of caramel,
but above all sweet, soft, warm in the mouth and with a
bitter aftertaste for people who do not like the taste too sweet. This is perfect honey. But Thierry’s work does not stop
at harvesting and packaging his honey. He is in fact one of the only ones in Île
de France to prepare and market royal jelly in the hive. The production of royal jelly is ensured
by a very specific caste of bees , the nurse bees. To raise new queens,
workers build larger-than-usual cells for
the queens to lay their eggs in. The nurse bees then feed their
larvae only royal jelly to produce future queens. Thierry’s job is to imitate
this natural behavior of the hive. The bees will then produce
a large quantity of royal jelly which can be harvested. We see the larva bathing in water
with a little bit of jelly. This is to keep it moist
throughout the picking process. I’m going to put all these bars
on frames like this, but on which there is a bar holder. We can insert them
and then we will proceed with the harvest, that is to say we will look for the same
bars that we put in three days ago and we will put this one in their place. So. We come back to the lab afterward. We remove the small larvae,
we suck up the royal jelly and with a small vacuum cleaner and after freezing
in a pot, in a jar. And then Camille will
package it in a small jar. The packaging carried out by his wife
Camille must be delicate as this jelly is so precious. We never make
tons of royal jelly. We produce between five and 20 kilos of royal jelly per year. A lot of work, a lot of attention,
a lot of energy to get those few kilos. Few of us have this know-how. It is an investment
that is not negligible. Bees are specific,
hives are not identical to others. The work is very
meticulous and very regular. And it’s also a game of patience. Because we handle very
small larvae, because we harvest very
small quantities, it’s not easy. So a lot of time, a huge amount
of time to produce royal jelly. Attention will be paid to the
packaging of this rare jelly, known since Antiquity for its
essential nutrients, royal jelly is renowned
for its many beneficial effects. It is a real stimulant
and fortifier for the immune system and also prevents
certain digestive disorders. It is in Milly-la-forêt,
at his sister’s herbalist’s, that Alain sells some
of his mint to individuals. This is an opportunity for customers who
stop by to discover and taste mint-based products. Hello Séverine, how are you? Yes and you ? Well listen, perfect, you’re in luck,
I’m going to taste all the mint products.
You don’t know them very well. No, not all of them.
I’m going to taste the syrup. Yes, great, thank you! My syrup doesn’t taste like any
other syrup you can find. Because I
mainly highlight the menthol in this mint and it appears immediately in the mouth. You could say it’s raw.
Oh yeah, that’s really good. And then good, sweet,
but just right. So it’s very refreshing. The first reaction is the freshness,
the freshness of the syrup and then this length in the mouth
which persists and which is one of the major qualities of this syrup. And I’ll let you taste the liqueur,
mint liqueur, which is taken as a digestif at the end of a meal. Yes, and we can
also use an aperitif. I can see that
on a small ice cream too. So the main virtues of almonds,
of course, are only the infusion, whether it’s syrups or liqueurs,
it’s only pleasure, it brings a little taste all the same,
but it’s only pleasure, if you want to digest well. It’s a mint infusion,
it’s water and mint leaves, that’s all. You do use this as an infusion,
but I also use it in winter to add to my salads. It rehydrates itself
in salads, that’s good. He does well. Compared to
industrial mint, Alain’s mint has undeniable virtues. If you make an infusion with an
industrial method that has been pushed, it necessarily has less menthol. So obviously, less
menthol means less action. Incidentally, we, our world,
it is richer in menthol and twice as rich as
industrial plants, so it has twice the medicinal value. Back at the honey house,
Camille and Thierry organize tours of their farms to better
explain the environment in which the bees live. Hello children,
hello to the adults. We will begin the visit
with a short visit to my garden. Camille first presents them with the
resources available in the natural environment. We chose to put plants in this garden
that will attract this or that insect so that we can observe them. So it evolves throughout the seasons. She can live in a house. But the message also
addresses prejudices and apprehensions, particularly among children, when it comes to bees. You have to be careful with bees. I pay attention to the bees,
but I hope you do too. Do you want to
go near a bee nest? I didn’t tell you
it was very dangerous. If we have observed
people’s reaction to insects. It’s often fear, often screams. Often, we crush everything immediately. What we would like to do with these visits
is to ensure that children, especially children. We do it with adults too,
but we don’t believe in it anymore with children. So avoid the fear reaction which is
quick and which makes them do anything and destroy around them. The best thing is to observe, to understand. And when we understand, we find
solutions to live with it. The bumblebee, what does it do? Is he shopping or
eating right away? Where does he shop? The bumblebee is the bumblebee. Since your father says that bumblebees do
n’t sting, do you know what you’re going to tell your dad? You tell him, “Daddy, go catch me a bumblebee,” and
he won’t say the same thing afterward. There are some very
interesting observations, even for adults, which allow children to observe and discover evil with great astonishment,
except for mating with it. Camille then explains to them all
the stages of honey production from the hive to packaging. Everything in its own time. It was very good. But yes, it smells good. We believe it is very important that the child
knows what he is eating and knows how to choose what to eat afterwards. So first, he needs to understand how
honey is made, what work is done by man and by the insect
to be able to have this honey in the jar. And then, how to choose it? How good it is to know, for example,
that there is not just one honey, there are many kinds of honey,
many tastes for runny honey. The most convenient way is to eat it
with the honey spoon. Do you know how it works? Yes, yes. No, we don’t start by shooting. We start by dipping
the spoon into the honey. Then we take out the spoon, then we
turn it and the honey stops flowing. All our hope, all our work,
is to allow them to understand that there are interesting things
happening, that there are… There are relationships between plants
and insects that we discover every day, every day. Even we scientists are
still discovering what is happening between plants,
between these two worlds. Camille, Thierry and Alain have chosen
to defend artisanal know-how with a view to sustainable development
and to transmit the different exploitation techniques to new
generations in order to help them better understand the riches
that surround us. Certainly the best philosophy
for maintaining the quality of a natural product and preserving a
precious local agricultural heritage. Contrasting puzzle of
agricultural plateaus and vast forests. Auxerrois is dotted
with towns and villages. In the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region,
it brings together 29 communes and has its headquarters in Auxerre, an old medieval city. Entwined by the meandering course of the Yonne
and the Nivernais Canal, this urban community is
cut through by valleys whose best-exposed slopes serve as the many
vineyards that make Burgundy world-famous. To the east of Auxerrois, the Chablis region,
rounded by hills and extending on either side of the Serein valley
and strewn with flowering vines emerging from a mineral and limestone soil. On one of its slopes best exposed to the
sun, Vincent Dampt is a producer of Chablis. This white wine with a mineral and salty taste
is produced and aged by him. He offers it in all its forms,
from Petit Chablis to Grand Cru Chablis. On another type of crop,
Henri Janequin also takes advantage of rich soil to grow gherkins. A cucurbit close to the cucumber
with a crunchy texture and tangy taste. A know-how that he is now
one of the only ones to preserve in France. Overlooking the village of Chablis
in Millie, Vincent, accompanied by his father,
is today ploughing the soil of one of his
classified plots facing due west. The quality of the soil is essential in
the creation of Chablis grands crus. Here it is made of clay limestone
and is called Kimmeridgian, a remnant dating from the Jurassic era. You have to imagine that Chablis, before,
a few million years ago, was underwater.
We were. We were under the sea. And the proof is there, we find
oyster fossils and we like to imagine that it is this side under the sea which brings this iodized, mineral side. These are soils that are
quite complicated to work due to the presence
of fossils like here. So this is really what we
call the Kimmeridgian. On both sides of the Serein Valley. Chablis is cultivated on 5,400 hectares
and is produced from a single grape variety, Chardonnay. The north of Auxerrois,
colder than the south, has experienced severe frosts during the winter for two years. To overcome this problem, which had not
occurred since 2003, Vincent had to light and scatter
paraffin candles among his vines. A single night last year was enough
to destroy a large part of the vineyard. And this year, ten nights in a row with
temperatures down to -5 -6. A rather stressful period which,
well before the harvest, can make us lose
all of our winter work. So this year,
halfway through the cold spell, our entire stock of
paraffin candles was sold out. So the only solution we found
was to look in our great-grandparents’ antiques. So we found some old
oil heaters from the 1950s. We can thank our
grandparents again for not throwing away all their old tools. This heritage, which has enabled him to survive
the green winter, comes from his ancestors who have been cultivating
his 35 hectares of vines for four generations. In 2002, Vincent decided to take over
the estate where he still works with his entire family. It’s part
of the family’s wealth. It is, I would say, it is the memory and
the vines that my grandfather worked. It’s true that when we work
in it now, we say to ourselves, “He, already, look, we don’t have the same tools.” But it’s true that it’s
still a pleasure. This family business is found less
than 30 kilometers from here, in Chemillé sur Yonne, on this
fourteen-hectare farm. Henri and his father Florent grow
another typical product of the region: gherkins. Originally from India. There are ten different varieties
in France, accompanied by 27 seasonal workers. He lifts each plant to pick
the fruits before they are ripe. It’s all the same plant,
except we let the gherkin grow and when you look at it, it’s a gherkin. When you break it in two,
it breaks well, it crunches. And that’s good because you
don’t have many problems. Well, there’s a bit of sand there that we can
feel because they haven’t been washed. Once it’s washed,
it will be very good. These gherkins of different sizes
require loose, well-fertilized soil to grow. They are sown around May 15
in his previously plowed fields. Each plot of land is changed
every three or four years, while Henri enriches
the soil with other crops. We start harvesting at the beginning of July. It depends on the weather. If the weather is very favorable,
it is the beginning of July and if the weather is normal,
we harvest around July 10 and the harvest lasts about 50 days. But on pickles,
we don’t use chemicals, herbicides, or insecticides. And during processing,
no preservatives are used to try to keep the pickle as natural and
healthy as possible. In the past, Auxerrois was a region that
produced a lot of this cucurbit and 25 farmers like Daniel
sold to the Amora Maille cannery. In 2009, faced with globalization,
major pickle specialist brands decided to source their products
from Asia and closed French canneries. Farmers therefore stop their
production out of necessity, no longer knowing where to sell their crops. Since I was little,
I was born in tractors, I took my naps in tractors. I never took my naps
in a bed and I was born in one. And it is a calling. It is not because
it is a vocation that I decided to continue to take over the farm,
but I decided to improve it. The weather is changing. The times are changing and so
I decided to adapt to the demand. The demand for local products has continued
to increase in recent years. In 2012, Henri created Maison Marc,
a cannery that allows him to continue his work. Started in 1950 by his
grandfather and continued by his father. Now independent, he applies
the teachings of his ancestors. We work for ourselves and when we run out
of stock, which is what happened last year,
it hurts because we ca n’t satisfy our customers. But in any case,
I try to produce quality. So if I run out of pickles,
there will be stock shortages. I prefer to produce little,
but quality. This concern to produce qualitatively
and to respond to growing demand also fuels Vincent’s ambitions. He vinifies all
of his production himself. A considerable amount of work. But it was this richness of the profession
that really appealed to me from the start. We cultivate, we see our grapes ripen and
then, afterwards, we also produce our wine. And when you offer the bottle to the customer
and you see them smile, it simply makes you happy. This is for him as it is for us. So it’s something that we, that
we, that we love, that we love. Even. 70% of Chablis vineyards mainly use stainless steel vats to age their wines. Vincent only has oak barrels
for a few fine wines. The stainless steel vat is a neutral container
that will allow us to preserve
both the fruity side of the wines and the mineral side,
to preserve the identities specific to each premier cru, whatever
the level of appellation of the wine. We will always have the
Chablis typicality which will be expressed because we used stainless steel vats. It is really our vines that will
make the wine and not the container. Chablis wines are distinguished
by their purity, freshness and minerality. Each vintage behaves differently
and requires adapted aging despite last year’s poor harvest. The 2016 premier cru
already presents the typical aromas of Chablis. So we already have all
the characteristics of the 2016 vintage in Chablis, that is to say lovely fruit,
great balance, a good attack with well-balanced acidity. Due to the small 2016
Half-harvest harvest, the grapes were still
at a good stage of maturity and we have a nice concentration of wines and we
still have a lot of minerality in this premier cru. So who says minerality
generally says this premier cru, we will be able to age it for a very long time. Each winemaker will have
a different house style. Afterwards, the difficulty
is managing to do it again every year. Each vintage is different. So to manage to maintain our style,
it is sometimes difficult. Having consistently high quality
allows it to retain its customers. Today he goes to Arnaud Valour,
a wine merchant in Chablis to whom he regularly sells his wines. Are
you doing well ? And you ?
Very good, thank you. I’m here to introduce you to
the estate’s 2015 vintage. Great ! Do you want to come over?
We’re settling in. Come on, come on. Today, he offers wine merchants his range
of wines, which includes all the Chablis appellations: Petit
Chablis, Chablis Village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru. He begins by tasting the Petit Chablis,
a wine not intended to be kept. A typical Chardonnay product,
the Petit Chablis is small only in name. So for me, in principle,
on a small Chablis, we are a little bit. If I had to caricature an aroma,
we would find the citrus side for example, or the slightly more apple side.
And that’s it. And it will die down quite quickly
in the mouth, while the vintage and the winemaker make
it explode in all directions. It’s really a very very very
good level. The aromatic palette is perhaps
a little more limited than on other levels of appellation,
but when it is well done, it remains an immediate pleasure. And as you said,
we are already in Chablis. Next comes the tasting
of the premier and grands crus. The classification of the different appellations
is done in relation to the terroir, each of the plots having
its own characteristics both in terms of soil and
sun exposure, particularities that winegrowers group together
under the name of climates. And here we enter the most
complex, most intense, most dense level of the appellation. Just from the nose, we can tell that there
will be some length in the mouth. On the Chablisian, in fact, has. There are 40 different climates
which are grouped under 17 climates. Standard bearer, let’s say. And each of its first vintages will
have its own identity. That’s really what matters. The word identity, since each premier
cru will really have its specificities. Each terroir, each plot,
each climate has its own identity and each winegrower will have their own style. And this is MAYBE where we start
to lose a taster or two. Make them understand that whether you buy
here or from another winemaker, these will potentially be
wines that are very different. Pairs very well with
seafood, oysters or even andouillette. Annual production of Chablis
in France amounts to tens of millions of bottles. Marketing is of
crucial importance in any type of agriculture and of course, in the gherkin industry. After harvesting this fruit,
comes the preparation phase. Florent accompanies
seasonal workers during calibration. As the days go by,
more and more pickled gherkins pass over this carpet so that it is
pretty, well-chosen, and well-selected. This kind of work
takes us four to five hours a day. Yes, it’s long, especially when
it comes to endings. We go a little faster,
but when we are on the extra fine and there are small pickles like that
, there are no more gestures to make and we spend more time. It is an exceptional product
that we seek to make. And there you have it, it has to be done well,
conscientiously. The sorted pickles are then
sent to the laboratory where Henri takes care of bottling them. It starts with boiling
the pickles in hot water. When people come to buy
pickles from us, they never make the same recipe and we find that it is
the most suitable for our production. And after two years,
the pickles remain green, they remain crunchy and we have done tests. This is what we think is best for us. And now we have to break. There it is hot. Now we can remove
the tray from the water because the pickle is very hot. The pickles cooled
and the spices added. The jars are filled with vinegar,
an ingredient that is essential to the taste of the product. And then. In two months we will be able to
do the labeling and verification. Check if any jar that has not taken
the lot is removed to be sure that
all the jars in the stores are good for sale. Henry offers different types
of pickles: the classic fine and extra fine, but also the spicier sweet and
sour, and the sweeter malossol. They were picked yesterday, sorted yesterday
and there are even some that we are going to package today. So it’s a fact,
that means they don’t even have 24 hours. Pickles. Once collected, they are quickly packaged
in the jar without preservatives. This way, we keep
the product fresh and crisp. We keep all the flavor of the pickle. Standing out thanks to
natural and artisanal production allows Henry to promote his product
when marketing it. This is what attracted Martin Aubé. She runs the Arômes et Doux grocery store
in the center of Auxerre, where she has many regional products.
It’s going very well. I’ve come to bring you pickles
from Marc’s house. As I know you were able to. This is the break. Henry and his father’s annual production
amounts to 50 zero zero zero pots each year. It is intended for delicatessens
or supermarkets, but also for specific clients such
as the Elysée or major restaurateurs. At first unknown. It was in this shop that he
started selling. At first, we made small
quantities, we weren’t known. And it is true that I still thank
Rome and sweetness for having helped. And today,
are you selling much more than in the first years?
Yes of course. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So the product
is recognized and acknowledged. And then customers now
come looking. I know that when people come
to your store, it has nothing to do with mass distribution.
They trust us. We don’t know if
the product is good or bad, and that’s what makes me happy.
Yes. It is by selling in small
grocery stores that Henri can best showcase his production and
attract new customers. What do you
think about the label? Yes, there you go, look at that.
Flash. It’s good because we noticed that
in department stores, we stood out more, we blended into the crowd. Product enhancement is also
important in wine marketing. It is on his estate that Vincent sells
and practices Chablis tastings. Today he welcomes two
foreign press specialists who come every year to taste the new vintage. So we’ll start
with a little Chablis 2016. So Daniel. These two English
and American journalists represent an important market for Vincent and his father
since they export three quarters of their production to the United States,
England and Japan. I should have this vintage
left anyway. There must be about 600
bottles left out of the 35 Hectos. And it all went
to the United States, to New York. This tasting is an opportunity
for Vincent to share his love of wine, but also of his region. The appellation area for Petit
Chablis over 12 hours is very restricted. We are in urban areas, so above
the Beauroy in this area. This production of wine with flavors that have
conquered the international stage constitutes the heritage passed on to him by his father. His grandfather was already storing
bottles in this cellar more than 40 years ago. Daniel and Vincent come to taste one
of these bottles, a 1979 vintage premier cru,
an exceptional heirloom with sentimental value for these
two vine lovers. We try to keep
a small quantity of bottles from each vintage, which allows us
to see their evolution later. And it’s also to have a little bit
of experience on how a warm vintage behaves,
what could we implement to preserve the
freshness of our wines? So it’s, it’s always,
it’s always interesting to compare with what has already been done. It’s always an emotional moment
to open an old bottle and generally, we
rarely come across bad ones. On the nose, there are notes of
mushroom undergrowth, but we find 79. It was still a
rather remarkable year. It was a lot of sun. It does n’t feel like you’re tasting
a wine that’s more than 35 years old. We are really sure of freshness. We still have this minerality
characteristic of Chablis wines. By continuing to improve production
while keeping the mark left by their grandfather on the estate,
father and son are committed to perpetuating these Chablis wines, which are too
little known for their long conservation. I think that from their earliest childhood,
it was always quite natural for them to take
over from their Grandfather and Father. But there has been no
fundamental change in either the style of the wines or the method of making them. We have the same style of wine,
but it’s the little touches that will make us arrive
at a truly great wine. Henri and his father are also
looking to develop their product range so that it
lasts over time. Always striving for perfection
and attentive to consumer opinions, they often participate
in trade fairs where they target their customers’ expectations. We taste it. Today they are testing a new
recipe based on Banyuls vinegar from the south of France. It has aromas of
honey nuts and vanilla. An aftertaste that’s not bad,
but that’s vinegar. Vinegar is super good.
It’s the vinegar that does it all. They are crunchy. They are crunchy
but they are less sweet. Banyuls vinegar is really… A quality vinegar.
There. It’s sure.
That’s what people tell me. We watch TV, we open the jar,
we finish it like a bag of sweets. That’s it, that’s it. It’s sweet, it’s crunchy. It is and it pleases well. Without reinventing themselves or trying to restore the
nobility of gherkins made in France, they could not
both work in this company which has remained totally independent. There is a small niche in
delicatessens, but hey, you have to believe in it, you have to organize it, you have to.
It was. It was a different job
than canning. It’s another job in addition to being a
farmer, to process and market. It’s a second job. And to make the deliveries ourselves. It’s important because we talk with
the delicatessen, we tell the story of the pickle, the season,
how did it go? There you go, that’s all there is to it. There’s a whole story
in the jar too. Thanks to Daniel’s desire to maintain
this culture at a time when many have turned away from it for other
types of market gardening. Henri now owns the only
French pickle farm with its own cannery. If I am happy
that there is someone who continues behind and even consumer,
they asked me. They told me it’s good, you do this,
it’s very good, but after that, what will do it?
I delayed. No, but there is the son.
Henry Ah well that’s good. So that’s good. If that’s it, I say yes, there’s
no problem. There are still several years to
come when there will be good pickles. Ha! These crops, born on French soil
and which are the glory of our country’s agriculture, are still possible thanks
to men and their daily work. Henry and Vincent were fortunate
to benefit from the transmission of know-how. Their desire to improve and enhance
their products sounds like a tribute to their ancestors.
Secrets de terroirs : entre Loire, Gâtinais et Bourgogne 🌾
Amoureux de la France et du patrimoine, ses trésors n’auront plus de secrets pour vous 👉https://bit.ly/4dnI1h1
Au cœur du Val de Loire, l’Anjou cultive la douceur d’un climat propice aux cultures innovantes. Jason et Maude y développent la première filière française de quinoa, une graine subtile et sans gluten, tandis que Thierry perpétue, à la main, la culture ancestrale de l’échalote traditionnelle, récemment reconnue par une IGP. Un travail patient, enraciné dans les terres légères et fertiles des bords de Loire.
Dans le parc naturel du Gâtinais, Alain soigne avec minutie la menthe poivrée de Milly-la-Forêt. Séchée à basse température pour préserver son vert éclatant, cette herbe médicinale rare embaume les infusions et les sirops artisanaux. Non loin, Thierry, apiculteur engagé, récolte le miel de forêt et la précieuse gelée royale, fruits d’un équilibre fragile entre floraison et pollinisation.
Plus au nord, dans l’Auxerrois, Henri défend le cornichon français, cueilli à la main et transformé sans conservateurs dans sa propre conserverie. Un engagement pour la qualité et le goût, partagé par Vincent, vigneron à Chablis. Sur les sols calcaires du Kimméridgien, il élève des crus lumineux, fidèles à l’esprit bourguignon, entre mémoire familiale et finesse minérale.
Épicerie Fine – Terroirs Gourmands (Saison7) :
E22 – Quinoa et échalote d’Anjou
E23 – Menthe de Milly-la-Forêt et miel du Gâtinais
E24 – Cornichon et Chablis de l’Auxerrois
© Tout droits réservés – AMP
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#patrimoine #france #documentaire #épicerie #terroirs #quinoa #bourgogne #burgundy #anjou #Gâtinais #Auxerrois #madeinfrance #frenchlanguage #frenchwine #oenologie #gastronomia #french