Délices d’altitude : fromages fins, liqueurs et douceurs d’alpages | Trésors du Patrimoine

Délices d’altitude : fromages fins, liqueurs et douceurs d’alpages | Trésors du Patrimoine

The Vercors and
Chartreuse massifs emerge timidly in the heart of Isère,
in the northern pre-Alps. This group of mid-altitude mountains
offers a taste of the Alps mountain range, where Mont Blanc rises to 4,809 metres. The mountain ranges and
wooded valleys form landscapes as mysterious as they are majestic, in a strange
marriage between sky and earth. Since the 11th century,
the calm of these remote lands has attracted monks seeking asylum
for prayer, but also men seeking land suitable
for grazing their cattle. History thus gave birth
to the products that would make this region famous. The great liqueur of the monks,
Chartreuse, and a Dauphinois cheese called Saint-Marselin by Louis XI,
and which legend has it was discovered by two woodcutters, the scientist from the claws of a bear. Faithful to the production of this close
cousin of Saint-Félicien, Matthieu Esinjard is the third
generation of his family to continue the production of Saint-Marselin. The season ends in February and begins in March, and the
cows will start grazing. It’s a very good season because
the cows will eat 80 percent of their ration in grass for six months. It will affect the taste of the milk,
the texture of the cheese, and the creaminess of the cheese as well. The discharge book for the
Saint-Marslin at the dairy herd level is 120 days of grazing. All food must
come from the Saint Mars area. Twice a day, Matthew brings
his 40 cows in for milking. The farm raises three different breeds of cows
, which makes its milk unique. We have a Gerseyeize type breed. It’s a very rustic little cow
that doesn’t produce much milk. But on the other hand, it is a milk that is very
rich in fat. We also have the Primochetan breed,
which produces much more milk, but is
less rich in everything. There, we are going to trigger
a Montbéliarde cow. The Montbéillarde is a mixed cow that produces milk and tuna. The know-how is specific
to each operation. Each farm has
its milk, for its herd. There is no Saint-Marslin that will
taste the same as all the others. We are the third generation
to make Saint-Marslin. I think I’m doing the net with
the agricultural fiber. Because I never
thought of doing anything else. And probably my children will make Saint-Marslin too. According to Matthew, Saint-Marslin owes its flavor to the seasonal pasture grass,
which, thanks to the mysterious alchemy of nature, allows it to obtain
the elixir of life that it is. Other herbs, other elixirs. A little further on, at the foot of the Grand Somme,
the Carthusian monks also produce noble liqueurs,
but this time, according to a very precise and extremely secret recipe, involving
130 medicinal and aromatic plants. It would be hard to imagine the Carthusian monks in the middle of a
bustling city. Nicolas Diederich knows
the monastery and its discreet inhabitants well. He works as an intermediary
between the monks and the outside world and introduces
visitors to their history. A majestic place,
this monastery of the Grande Chartreuse, with a birth that was born
around 1084, when Bruno, the first Carthusian,
decided to establish here simple hermitages, that is to say simple small
wooden huts in which the monks will live with the rule
of silence and solitude. The monks’ goal is
not to live in silence and solitude,
but rather these are two formidable tools that will allow this community to
pray, to meditate, to contemplate. Bruno, from the outset,
asked the Carthusians not to be a mendicant order, that is to say, they
should not reach out to provide for their needs. And so, throughout time, they have sought
different economic activities. They were first breeders,
then farmers. And since 1605, they have been called master
liqueur makers, since it was this famous Marshal d’Estrée
who gave them the recipe for the Elixir of Long Life in 1605. A recipe that they will therefore use,
and it is still the case today, and it is the means of subsistence,
both here, at Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse,
but which allows the order of Chartres as a whole,
that is to say today around 350 monks and nuns,
to be able to live solely on prayers and contemplations. From these 130 plants composing
the elixir of life, the monks developed new
secret formulas and gave birth to the liqueur that we
know today under the names of Green Chartreuse and Yellow Chartreuse. They are the ones who receive,
prepare and sort the plants which will then be
regularly taken down to Voiron where the entire manufacturing process takes place. And only
this father and this brother really master this manufacturing process. There are of course lay people who are there to help with production,
bottling, and marketing. But the whole process,
really the whole secret part around this famous liqueur,
is really held only by Don Benoît and Brother Jean-Jacques. Mathieu is also preparing to apply a magic formula. Well, almost. Using rennet,
he transforms the milk he has just collected from his cows into curd. 24
hours later, the result is ready to be put
into the mold by his employee, Lionel. Here, it’s been 14 years with Mathieu. Otherwise, I worked 10 years before with
my father who also had a cheese dairy. That’s years of cheese. You have to try not to go too fast
so as not to damage it too much. That’s right. That’s right.
That’s right. That’s right.
That’s right. That’s right.
That’s right. That’s right.
That’s right. That’s right.
That’s right. That’s right.
That’s right. It’s good. If you break it up too much, the cheeses won’t take
long to drain. We
‘ll wait until they drain by about three-quarters of what
‘s there now. And then after, we can
turn them the first time. For a uniform formation of the cheese,
it is necessary to turn them once or twice a day throughout
their maturation process. Lionel applies a little salt spray
to the Saint-Marsolin grapes in the making. But just because the rituals
are always the same doesn’t mean the cheeses will be identical from one round to the next. Every day, milk can
be a little different. So sometimes the cheeses will be
much creamier and sometimes they will be less creamy. When you put it in a mold,
you can see it. The ones we molded this morning
will be creamy, they will be good. After just 24 hours,
the future Saint-Marsolin is already beginning to take its final form. Once removed from the mold, it then goes into the
drying room for a period of 12 to 24 hours. At the end of this stage,
the formation of its small surface flora begins to flourish
in the maturing cellar. Each maturing cellar has its own
particularities, both in terms of humidity,
temperature and the ambient flora present
in the cheese dairy. It is a flora that already comes from the milk,
which will give a certain flora to the atmosphere of the cheese dairy. It all starts with
the milk entering the cheese dairy. So, it’s a Saint-Marcellin which is
good, which is white, which is starting to be creamy, with a nice surface flora. So these are cheeses that are about a
dozen days old, which will be ready to eat
in four or five days and which will really
taste very good between 20 and 25 days. Nature creates the
taste variations of Saint-Marcellin. The composition and flavor of milk
vary with the seasons. In the region, a local recipe
also plays with the flavors of Saint-Marselin, called Marceline. In his restaurant,
Carlos has made it his specialty in his starter menu. For me, La Marcyne
is a product that is a little over 20 years old because it was for the first
Saint-Marcellin festival. The CISM, the Interprofessional Committee
for Saint-Marcellin, had asked restaurateurs
and people who wanted to create recipes using Saint-Marcellin. And so, the Marceline was
awarded this day. And then, what’s more, it was a joy,
because it launched a recipe and it sold. The aim was to
also sell Saint-Marsin. We ate Saint-Marsin
in different ways. We used to eat
Saint-Marsin only at the end of meals. There we have it as an entry. I’ll split it down the middle. I’m going to take this Saint-Marsin and
lard it. I’ll lard it in two batches. Bacon and Saint-Marsin
go very well together. Afterwards, now we can derive it. There are variations
that are magnificent. You can very well take half a
Saint-Marsin, preferably with bacon, add paprika, cumin,
always. You want to put it in a piece of puff pastry. In any case, Saint-Marsin
can be eaten in all its forms. You close it,
you close it, and you close it again. You’re not afraid to hit her. She’s not going to hurt herself. This is what a marcine should look like. Finished. The marcine is finished.
This is what she looks like. It is a product that I receive by right. I mean, I have two passions:
coming to work on a beautiful product like this and making it a success. A
quick and easy recipe that everyone can enjoy. Which is not the case with the
secret formulas of Chartreuse liqueurs. The monks regularly receive
130 plants in their monastery, mostly
from the Alpine region. Dried and assembled by the care
of fathers and brothers, the plants are in This is the cooking
passed on to Bertrand Deneuve, master distiller, at the Distillerie
de la Chartreuse in Voiron. So here I am,
bringing back one of the links that unites us with the monastery, apart from all the other
abstract things, it is the plants. There, we are on very vegetal aromas,
but we also have the impression of hanging out in the fields in autumn. This is actually the work that
the monks did at the beginning, working with this dry plant,
grinding it, distributing it into different bags, and the fairly
precise dosage of the recipe. This recipe is still secret,
and even I don’t know it. It’s really a big complexity
in terms of manufacturing. And then we come and collect these
famous bags with a coded label system. And on top of that, we will apply
a certain distillation recipe depending on the plants that we will
put inside the still. Once the plants are dried and loaded into stills, Bertrand sets
up a hydroalcoholic preparation. There,
the pipe that we use to pour the plants. Then, we are on a still with
a double bottom, where steam circulates at very low pressure. The vapors will begin to rise
in the capital and then we will switch to the coil which will
then be used to condense and recover the distillate
in liquid form. Depending on the recipe,
the manufacturing process can last between 5 and 7 hours
and requires several distillations based on different mixtures of plants
which will be assembled at the end of their maceration to give
rise to Chartreuse liqueur. Let’s say we are their
little physical hand on site. The Chartreuses are there at
all the key stages of production. I will bring them in regularly
when there are blends of distillates to be made, when there is a production,
really the blending of all the distillates, therefore the creation of a
liqueur before its aging. It is a real team effort and also
a real work of trust that they have learned to have with
the lay people who work for them. There is training,
I would say, on the job. I learned from someone who had been there
for 35 years, who had worked with the Carthusians for 35 years. And you don’t
necessarily learn that from books. The whole recipe for manufacturing
is oral knowledge that delivers in a homeopathic way. The
Carthusians, we must respect their know-how, indeed, but we must
also respect their rhythm of prayer. I go back to the very beginning,
when I arrived, he said to me: Listen, this week,
we’re not going to be able to come to Voiron to make corrections because…
What are we celebrating? I thought to myself: Hey, they’re having a
party, that’s still nice. But in fact, the celebrations
were a celebration of the Carthusian calendar. And for them, it was
five days of abstinence. And indeed, they
had to stay at the monastery and they
couldn’t come there. Throughout history,
others have gained the trust of the monks to handle
the Chartreuse liqueur. Stéphane Bonna, chocolatier,
is one of these privileged few. We have always made chocolates
with Chartreuse or alcohol. They’ve been exporting Porton to us since 1888. We needed products that
could be shipped to the other side of the world,
while still being edible after a month and a half on the boat. And in the 1930s,
if I remember correctly, the Chartreuse, tired of seeing products coming out with the ball and the cross, which are the symbol of the order,
launched a national consultation with a blind tasting of all
the chocolatiers who wanted to make Chartreuse chocolates. And after a blind tasting,
we won the right to be the only ones to use
the ball and the crust. There we made a sugar. The special Chartreuse preparation was mixed into it
. As it cools, the alcohol and sugar will separate, and the sugar
will harden, forming a small sugar shell. Then the sugar layer
separated from the Chartreuse. We have a product that is solid,
but very fragile. And inside,
we still have the liquid alcohol, although we will have
reduced the volume. The sugar candy,
the well-set Chartreuse, will then pass through a curtain of chocolate
which will coat it not only for the indulgence,
but also to protect its fragility. He can then dress in the habit
of the ball and the cross of the Grande Chartreuse, before enticing the customers of Stéphane’s chocolate shop. Matthieu also welcomes
a loyal customer to his small cheese shop today: Sébastien Mautcarré,
manager of a delicatessen and trained sommelier, an expert
in deciphering aromas. Refining style,
still semi-tender. And then we start
to have beautiful flora there. There, it’s very creamy. Yes, that’s pretty. In fact, what the customer expects
is always this creamy side with the lactic side that comes behind,
the milk that expresses itself. The advantage is that we are dealing with a
farm product, we have the really herbaceous side which will stand out. You see, you’re always outside
practically three- quarters of the year in pasture. So, in this way, you really have
the sincerity of the milk that comes behind it. That’s the cheese.
You just have to cut. People… Well, you know, you cut it
in half and just spread it. The toasted bread shovel is
extraordinary, by the way. There, we have a nice texture,
we have freshness inside. Still that creamy
outside that’s going to be great. We have the salt on the outside,
there is a little bit on the inside, but we see that it is the infusion of the
external salt that has been infused inside. The taste of milk comes back behind. We really have this creamy side. You have the particularity of having
cheeses that still have a cream content that is… Very high. Very high, and what is becoming
increasingly rare. These are cheeses that are not
forgiving in fact. These are cheeses that are very
sincere in the sense that there is very little processing. We start with a milk base,
and it is this milk base that will make practically all the cheese. For cheese lovers
like Sébastien, there are three aging categories for Saint-Marselin:
creamy, dry, and then the surprising blue. So, a lot of people don’t like that
little blue tint, which is what we call penicillium dinobilis. When tasted,
this penicillium will revive and completely exhaust the strength of the cheese. We have hazelnut aromas
that will start to appear. It’s interesting, to the point of
saying to yourself: I’m going to taste three Saint-Mars. One that is fresh, creamy, one that is all
cream and one that will go on dry. And to think that with the same life at the start, we have three different eyelashes. Come on. See you later, Mathieu. Bye. Like the great variety of Saint-Marsolin,
obtained through different refinements, Chartreuse liqueurs must
also undergo a long aging process. The Yellow Chartreuse V.E.P. is at 42 degrees. In the large
Chartreuse distillery in Voiron, we find the largest liqueur cellar in the world. With its 164 meters in length, it attracts
many visitors every year. Besides, if you go a little
bit to this side of the cellar, do you really realize the 164 meters? So, on average, over a year,
we have around 70,000 visitors. And what they really like about this
visit is the fact of entering these cellars which are
ultimately majestic. And it’s true that it’s quite
impressive to be able to enter the heart of the secret, ultimately. Somewhere in this immense cellar, hidden from view, others are more at the heart of the secret. What are your little samples? Well, here it is, a little green one that
might be able to be eaten soon?
Soon. I tasted it,
surrounded by all that oak, that liqueur. There is the environment that is there.
Great, what. There is history behind us. We are immediately
charmed by this plant-based side. These peppers, a little bit of Sichuan, of
this whole palette of varied aromatics, but which is concentrated a little bit
in the woods, in the meadows, the fields, this very floral side. There is an aroma a little bit like wet wood
in the forest, the slightly wet pontoons, where you smell after a warm rain,
where you smell all this variety of aromas. And then there is our intellect
which works with everything we have experienced. Visitors are asked
to close their eyes and imagine. Every day we have surprises
on the imagination, in fact, that the charteuse, she develops 130 plants. I would say there are 130 responses
each time for one person. That’s it. There, there’s a chance we’ll find it.
Yeah, maybe on end-of-year meals, on tables. Or maybe in a bar
in Australia, who knows? Afterwards, we don’t know where it will end up. A little further on, visitors can
also taste bottled Chartreuse. With the yellow Chartreuse,
we will have aromas and flavors of honey, flowers, and spices. Something much sweeter. The yellow one, I prefer the green one.
You are welcome. It is more peppery. Yeah, me too. This is the one too. Thanks to these living plants,
the aromas of Chartreuse continue to develop in the bottle. Its history continues,
just as the history of the region endures through products and men like Matthew and the Carthusian monks. At the far east of the Pyrenees mountain range, in the heart of Roussillon, lies the small natural region of Aspres. Made up of typical villages surrounding
the Canigou massif, this tiny territory is
bathed in sunshine all year round. The
Aspres, which means arid in Catalan, take their name
from their rocky soil. Going back up towards the plain,
the scrubland then flirts with the holm oak forests
and the schist hills. In the capital of Aspres, Carole Denejar and her husband Michel make their own cheese and, above all,
one of the local specialties, matos. Come on. They started 17
years ago with a few sheep. Today they have 150 of them on more
than 40 hectares of land. The Aspres, like Roussillon,
are also renowned for their vineyards. Grenache is by far the most well-
known grape variety, but it also makes up some
much lesser-known beverages such as dry Ranciot. In Fourques, on the La Rourède estate,
Jean-Luc Pujol works these vines with care in order to meet the
requirements of this very special wine. We produce a whole range
of typical Roussillon wines. And then the famous dry Ranciot
from Roussillon, which is a specificity, a quality particularity,
both of the domain, because we have been making Ranciot for a very, very long time
, and then of Roussillon, since it is truly a product
specific to our department. Dry Ranciot wines have spanned
centuries of winemaking history before falling into oblivion. It is thanks to the work of winemakers, and
then of the Slow Food association, that they now hold a
protected geographical indication and that around thirty winemakers like Jean-Luc
continue to produce it. At this time of year, it
is in full disbudding. The vines are pruned
in the Mediterranean goblet style. Cup means there is no
wire support to hold them, so the stumps stand on their own. And so this
Mediterranean cup has arms. And in fact, there are a lot of shoots
on certain grape varieties, and in particular on this one,
which must be removed to free the arms and heads which carry the grapes,
so as not to weaken the vine and so that the grapes we
see here can then develop. If
we didn’t do it, it would take away a lot of vigor
from the vine and it would prevent the grapes from developing and having the quality
that we ask of these grapes, that is to say to produce a lot of sugar,
a lot of aroma, to be This disbudding is complicated because in fact,
the shoots come out a little everywhere on the old wood. Each strain is different,
therefore extremely complex. It is a practice that cannot be
mechanized and that requires a lot of time and labor. Not too much know-how in terms
of size, since we remove everything that is on the old wood. It’s relatively simple, but it’s
relatively time-consuming. As we had a very dry summer,
but this year there are fewer grape harvests than usual. This is also why
the budding must be more careful. Because there will be a
lot of competition. For this essential step,
Jean-Luc’s son, Loïc, came to lend his father a hand. There aren’t many releases,
but if it’s well-developed, if it comes well, there won’t be any problems.
There is no disease, it’s clean. This makes it possible to lighten the treatments. Organic farming is important,
so that there is not a lot of disease and that we do not use a lot of products. We
are on a vignette of white Grenache which is intended in particular to make
Rantio and natural wines. We carry out an operation that we do at the end
of winter and in spring, that is to say we are in the process
of uprooting the stump. To remove the stump,
you need a device that passes very close to the stump, called
a stump plow. We scrape the edge of the stump
to remove the weeds growing at the foot of the stump. Jean-Luc therefore uses machines
for this work which, originally, was long and tedious to do by hand. Removing shoes is a
delicate operation that requires great care. One wrong move by
the driver and a 50-year-old vine could be uprooted. Carole and Michel also take great care of their flock of sheep. Breeding has become
a real passion for them and allows them to honor a traditional local product. Among our products, I make Matur, which is a very specific fresh cheese from the Catalan region. The weather is not good, so the
sheep cannot stay in the pasture. Michel therefore takes care of
feeding them differently. We’re going to take care of the sheep,
that is, give them something to eat. I gave them alfalfa in the meantime,
and now we’re going to give them some hay. We’re going to load up their workshop
so they have enough to eat until tomorrow morning. Since we’re not taking the sheep out
today because the weather is n’t good, the grass is wet,
and so the sheep don’t like it very much. We can see that the hay is very green. That’s what they like. Unlike other sheep
that only have lambs for three months, they, given that they produce milk for
six months, have a great need for grass and hay
to cover their needs and then produce quality milk. It was an unlikely encounter with
a shepherd that made Michel and Carole fall under the spell of this
activity and decided them to get started. You are not born in Berger. We become one because one day
we had a moving encounter with someone who told us
about their job, or because we saw happy , fulfilled animals,
or because we ate a good cheese. It is this trigger that will make us
switch to the local side and to the side of people who like to get up early and
go to bed late. Even if it is difficult,
which can tire us out, it sometimes gives us a lot of pleasure. Hello, how are you?
How are you. Do you need anything?
No, that’s it. Has everyone eaten? That’s it, the racks are full. Carole and I are so connected. We work in pairs. So when I’m in the sheepfold and she
‘s around, she comes by to ask me if everything is okay. When she sees that I’m tired,
she asks me if I want a hand and vice versa. THANKS. The sun comes out. Back at the estate,
Jean-Luc and Loïc bring back a precious object to the production of their wine. In fact, it’s a barrel that contained
calvados, calvados, which we recovered, which is well
seasoned, which has a good smell. And we will use it to put ranciau. The dry rancio is thus stored
and brought to maturity in these barrels. This is an opportunity for Jean-Luc to
give us a little tip. You can tell how much wine is in it by tapping it. So, the level is roughly here. If the barrels are not filled,
it is to allow the wine to oxidize and give it a unique aroma. Dry ranciot,
long used as a table wine, could well become a wine for the initiated. It is both a wine for meditation and
a wine for reflection. It is a wine that crosses the years,
that crosses the centuries, that we always drink sparingly,
that we always taste sparingly. And even if we allow ourselves to use it
as a condiment, that is to say to enhance a sauce, we must always
use very little. It’s just a touch of ranciot
that modifies this sauce. In ranciot, there are flavors of nuts,
toast, and also flavors of great chocolate and great coffee. You know, those roasted,
coffee, chocolate flavors. At the same time, from time to time,
we also find plants there. We can find garrigue there,
we can find notes of rockrose there. You know,
when it’s very hot in the scrubland in the afternoon, you can smell the cistus
which has a very persistent essence. Well, it’s very complex, the ranciau. We could talk about it for hours. Just like Jean-Luc,
some wine merchants in the region are trying to help as many
people as possible rediscover this locally sold wine. Jean-Pierre Rudel also organizes
tasting sessions based around dry ranciau. I will try to introduce you a
little to the Ranciau wine which is a real particularity of the
Roussillon wines, which we will find in Roussillon. It’s a bit complicated to put in all
the glasses, because there are so many personalities in
these wines, that we completely move away from formatted wines and the tastes
that are generally specific to wines. It is an oxidized wine, it is a maderized wine. In some wines, most wines,
this problem is considered a fault, while for rancials it is a virtue.
What I have just said must be concretely verified. I don’t know what you think about it. The nose is reminiscent of marre, a little. It feels like you’re smelling
a very old eau de vie, cognac or Armagnac. Jean-Pierre
introduces the palates to highlight all the taste characteristics of this wine
in association with different dishes, starting with another regional product,
the anchovy. Well, let’s see if the
anchovy pairing works. Laurentio, the only wine
that works with anchovies. Ah, cabbage.
Well, I prefer it with ham. Ralcio wine is a wine that is
produced in Roussillon in an almost anecdotal way,
while it is a wine that is traditionally
used for cooking. It is an essential ingredient
for Roussillon cuisine. I hope it will spread,
but we have a very small harvest that is practically self-consumed. But the winegrowers would love to sell more. In the early morning, Michel takes care of milking his sheep and collects the milk to store it
at room temperature, before Carole intervenes to prepare the equipment. To
have good milk and produce good material, it is essential that the sheep
eat food that is as natural and healthy as possible,
that is to say grass. It also means grain,
quality grain, a mixture of different cereals. This is what will provide energy, protein, and fat. Water, of course, quality water. So, with all these qualities,
we obtain very good milk which will subsequently give very,
very good quality material. I’m going to collect the milk from my milking this morning to cream it,
to make the stuff. Now we will add the ferments and the rennet. That’s for measuring. We use very little rennet. Stir well so that the rennet is well mixed with the milk. And now, head to the room at 20 degrees for 24 hours. The
next day, Carole can drain the preparation
to finish making the equipment. This cheese is only eaten fresh. It will therefore have to be sold very
quickly after its production. Let’s see this one. Once it is drained, we have several possibilities. Either we’ll put it in small pots
like this where there are 250 grams of material which will go to the shops. Or the large one-kilogram trays
for processors, including restaurateurs and
caterers. And then, for the market, on
Saturday morning, I will have my beautiful earthenware jar which will be full of equipment and which my customers will come and collect. Carole now goes with her family to Nicolas’s, a client and friend who is a restaurateur. That’s cool.
It’s good and you ? The latter tests new
recipes based on equipment. How are you ?
How are you ? How are you ?
How are you ? Alright. I brought you the equipment and another
cheese, as you asked. Stand there. I’ll prepare it for you
and come back right away. Okay, come on, see you later.
See you soon. So, the stuff. I’m going to work with Carole’s stuff, mixing a little of this Catalan terroir with
all the produce that surrounds us in the region. So, I’m going to work it into Méli Matto,
the traditional Catalan recipe which is miel Matto. I’m going to add a little grass,
a red fruit and some crunch. I’m just reworking it to blend it
a little bit, to give it just a little bit of smoothing. I made sponge fingers with
a little chopped hazelnut to give them a little crunch,
which I’m going to dip in raspberry juice to soak them up a little. We’ll leave it for just a minute,
just so it takes on a little bit of that sweet, very soft side. I’m going to get the stuff,
I’m going to put it in a soft pocket. I’m going to make a few stitches all
around a beautiful corolla so that it ‘s always a little more elegant. I’m going to put in there And traditionally,
that’s what we did with the meli matos, a little bit of honey. These are called melba. It’s a sourdough country bread to which
I added honey and olive oil. Mato is this slightly acidic, creamy side, which can be mixed between salty and sweet. This panel is really interesting. And this unique taste and this typicality
that we find in the Aspres. Each sheep eats
different things. We find plants and herbs
that we don’t find in other regions. So, there is a typicality
about this product. Wow.
I hope you like it. It’s beautiful.
It’s beautiful. This is the right thing. Stunning. We take the raspberry with the maton.
The biscuit underneath. And here, we have a honey that is not too strong,
we have a fairly mild orange blossom honey. There you go, that’s great. Ah, it’s a marvel, huh? But hey, coming from Nicolas,
I had no doubts. But with my cheese, it’s even better. You better have your
cheese to do this. It works like this.
Oh yes. Always with a concern for quality, and in order to enhance the value of his dry ranciau, Jean-Luc has an appointment with Delphine
to take samples to check compliance with the
appellation’s specifications. Hello Delphine, how are you?
How are you? Alright.
Well, I’m here to get this future rancid. Listen, no problem, I’m ready. We take samples wherever you want. Well listen, we’ll take this one.
This one? If that’s okay with you.
Come on, okay. Come on. Well, I checked at the
analytical level, everything is perfect. This corresponds well to the
specifications of the appellation. All right.
So already one step past. Come on. Come on, I need a liter. Well, the color,
the color doesn’t seem bad, already. That suits me.
Yeah, yeah, we’re on a dark amber. The grape variety, there, you are on… There, we are on Grenache and a little bit
of Muscat, but we are essentially on Grenache.
I agree. If you can sign me. Alright. Come on. If Jean-Luc can sell his
rancid dry today, it is thanks to the constant work of Brigitte Verdaguet,
Delphine’s mother. Oh, there you go. Good morning.
Hello, hello. How are you ?
Hi. It was she who relaunched
the production of this wine. To obtain the famous GIp,
she fought alongside Jean L’Héritier of Slow Food,
an association that defends products from forgotten regions. He is very coffee. Very coffee-like, with old wood in the mouth. But it’s still… There’s a bit of alcohol, but it’s
quite rounded in terms of aromas. Yes, yes, yes, yes, there is fat. We only just started making
red wines in 2001. And we had to sell them. I went to see the IENAO,
I went to see customs to find out how we could sell this wine
which was only sold in bulk. We started out as a
table wine, a wine made from overripe grapes, and in 2011 we reached
the IGP Le Ranccio-Sec. Ranccio-Sec
is a story of generational transmission and we have
always believed in these wines. I never understood why we could
n’t sell these wines, why we weren’t proud of these
products that we only find here. Today, we’ve
had it for more than ten years. Nobody talks about it because
it’s too diluted. We need to redo some little things. In Catalan, we say: Bon, it’s beautiful. That is to say, the smaller
and more confidential it is, the more notoriety we have. For Carole But for her too,
the equipment is a family affair. Accompanied by her father, she
goes to the bakery market on Saturday mornings to sell her cheese. Direct contact with customers,
essential in his opinion to promote the equipment. It’s much milder in taste. And that’s some stuff. So. Come on, 3.80. Regulars each have their own preference
for tasting this fresh cheese. Personally, I like it
with anything fried red. And it fits very well. So not too sweet,
just a little tangy. And it goes very well with
this kind of cheese. Do you taste? It’s fresh, salty, creamy. A little grainy side. A little grainy, yes. I generally
have a fairly regular clientele, but from time to time,
we have a few passing customers. Good morning. Even without knowing them,
we manage to create connections. How are you ? What I love about the market
is my customers, actually. It’s seeing customers every Saturday morning, chatting, asking for news. That’s really the human relationship. Thanks anyway. Have a nice weekend. Bye. I love it. Half-salt is my favorite. See you Saturday. Mato and Rantiosec,
two products that rarely go beyond the borders of this small
region on the edge of the Pyrenees. However,
it is not only this confidential nature that makes them exceptional,
but also and above all the commitment of their producers and their daily struggle. It is a land of a thousand faces, both gentle and wild, with strong and changing colors. The Jura and Three Lakes region,
located in Switzerland, encompasses the Jura massif and majestic
lakes offering a diversity of landscapes between land and water. While these cities are known for their
watchmaking heritage, it is the space that attracts visitors every year. In this green and blue paradise where the horizon stretches as far as the eye can see. From the heights,
it is possible to observe the Three Lakes, Neuchâtel, Bienne and Mora. In summer, tourism is at its peak,
but boat trips are n’t the only thing that stirs these waters. On Lake Neuchâtel,
which is over 38 kilometers long, Jean-Philippe Arme fishes for Bondelle. It is a salmonid typical of the area,
appreciated in dishes, which can be picked ten months a year. A few kilometers away,
in the Villeret cheese dairy, Franz von Buren makes a cheese that
dates back to the 12th century: tête de moine. Rich in history, it is distinguished by its
mode of consumption in the form of corollas. Made with milk from local farmers,
this is where it all begins. Stéphane Berger is a breeder
in the commune of Villeret. He owns 22 cows,
Holsteins and Montbéliardes, whose 150,000 liters of milk produced
each year are used to make the famous cheese. It is in the green setting
of the pastures that these cows feed on clover
and fresh grass. They get 50 percent of their food
from outside and the other 50 percent from
inside, at the nursery. So we take them out in the morning at 7:00 a.m.,
then we come and pick them up at 4:30 a.m. We have a lot of contact with them,
especially during milking. That’s why they calm down,
because they’re used to us always being with them. The cheese dairy belongs to us, in Villeray. She belongs to a producer. And the cheese maker is heavy. The cheese shop is local. They pay us for the milk. This is a common practice
in Switzerland, as is working with family, apparently. With the help of his wife and daughters,
he brings the cattle back to the farm, because it is time for the second meal
and the second milking of the day. Stéphane has his
milk tested every month. The higher the fat
and protein content, the higher the milk price and the
higher the yield. It all depends on the diet,
but also on the welfare of the animals. When we bring the milk
from the breast into the pencils. Because the machine should never
extract what comes from the milk. It can hurt them. The pencils come red,
they shouldn’t change color when you finish the fruit. It’s really the little
things that make the most difference. For the cheesemaker to make good
cheese, he really needs to bring in good milk. It’s all these details that make… We have to bring good milk to it. That’s it. Hi, Stéphane.
Hello, Franz. How are you ?
How’s it going? How are you?
I’ll take a little sample. A sample. For a little bit, Stéphane
is paid by the liter. Franz tells him the amount recovered. So, 159.6 is a little
less, but it’s hot. That’s a price. This is crazy. It is at 4:00 a.m.
that Jean-Philippe Harme begins his activity on Lake Neuchâtel. He works with his sister, Marie Laure, the first female fisherman on the lake. Jean-Philippe uses a GPS
to locate his nets. He first picks other fish,
whitefish or palatials, because to catch the bondelle, you have to go
further, into deeper waters. The law requires it. The day is breaking. Jean-Philippe and Marie-Laure traveled
a few kilometers to reach Les Bondelles. The nets are placed on the bottom of the lake
and others are stretched a few meters above it, using spikes. The nets are 18 meters deep. The peak is 100 meters
long and 10 meters high. A 33 millimeter mesh. So we’ll see if there are any. We are currently picking up
the spikes at the anchored mess. These are threads that will
only pass through the machine. They are lifted on one side and then
directly flipped over the other side. It’s called reverscher. We unmesh the fish
as they arrive. So of course it doesn’t happen very
quickly, but there is still a little bit. Once the fish is caught,
we put it in the boxes when we arrive from behind. And then we leave it like that
until we return to the shore. That’s why you have to
be quick between each net. It will be fine for tomorrow. Bye. The Bondelle, from the Salmonidae family,
is recognizable by its silver and olive green colors. This fisherman’s bread,
as Pélassier says, has supported
professional families for decades. It is a fish that is called pelagic,
therefore an elongated fish. It has, at the end of It has a small
point against in front. It also has adiposity,
which means it is a noble fish like salmon, trout, and char. Now it has changed because before
it was a fish that was being cooked, not very appetizing. There was a lot of
old oil taste, actually. And then there, now, maybe having
the waters a little cleaner and everything. Frankly, now it’s a
very edible fish and it tastes very good. People love it, quite fine flesh,
few bones. So it’s true that there is
everything to be well. And then when smoking,
it’s really excellent. We
have the meshes which are calculated according to the size
of the fish we want. It is normally a fish that is four
years old or older so that it has already reproduced
at least twice before being caught. This is to preserve the livestock
and the continuity of our profession and diversity at the lake. In the 1950s,
the democratization of nylon thread, which made fishing easier,
caused the baskets to overflow, with the risk of seeing this good bread lost. But this has not prevented nature
from regulating stocks, nor generations of fishermen from continuing. The proof is that
Jean-Philippe has had his license for 20 years, his sister for 8 years,
and they are the fifth generation of fishermen in the family. Before, there was my great-grandfather,
my great-uncle, then my father’s uncle who worked together. Once you get into it,
you have to keep going. We still like it, we like
this freedom, we like doing this. I’m not saying that maybe when you’re
retired you have freedom, but still, you’re sure you
can do something. I have a lot of groups of fellow
fishermen who are old, who are more than seven years old and
who are still fishing. I would say they are doing well. After four hours of fishing,
it’s time for Jean-Philippe and Marie Laure to go home. Despite the noise of the engine,
the enchanting body of the lake offers them a moment of respite. Franz
has worked with his wife Suzanne for 27 years in this cheese dairy
renowned for its Tête de Moine cheese. Hop, let’s empty Arti a little. There we go, we stop. A cheese protected by a PDO which was
formerly produced within the Belleleais Abbey and used as a means
of payment by the Tête de moine. I learned that this cheese shop is
looking for a new cheesemaker. Then I applied with
my friend Suzanne at the time. And then we were appointed by the company. To make tête de moine,
the milk is heated to 31 degrees. Franz adds rennet,
an enzyme present in the calf’s stomach that will cause it to curdle. I let it run for 5 minutes. Then I’m going to stop the mixer and
then we’re going to rest the milk, let it calm. At each stage,
Franz takes samples to check the quality of the product
and the quantity of fat. His work depends on his results. We have milk every day. It seems, it is said: He is white. Okay, but it changes. From one day to the next, it changes. And then, you always have to correct
to have a good product. That’s really the point. And then, I like that. There you go, it cuts well. After checking the texture of the
curdled milk, Franz moves on to the curdling process, which consists of cutting it. A particularly physical stage. It’s already hard enough. Oh my! We should go there. I always say I do
n’t go to the gym. I’m quite fit at work. For hard cheeses
like Tate de Moanne, the pieces should be small and regular. Once the curdling is complete, the whole thing
is stirred for 35 minutes while heating. Then the grains are pumped
and sent into molds. They are finally pressed by this great
machine, a modern technology that Franz has not always known. We had 300 canvases,
300 on his small canvas. For each cheese, we had a canvas. For each cheese,
we had a weight that we put inside and then had to take out. So we saved a lot of time. So, really. Yes.
Half an hour a day, minimum. The cheeses are therefore pressed before
being turned over, then pressed again. A step that will be repeated three times. After
a good salt bath, a large part of these cheeses goes to a refiner. The rest can be found here,
in the cellars of the Bilret cheese dairy. There you go, that’s good. He makes the sun go there. This period of monkhood will enter a
period of maturation, which requires special care. At least once a week,
you should remove any yeast and mold that begins to form. Moistened with salt water,
the cheeses are brushed in this semi-automatic machine.
Technical. This is also a modern technique,
because until recently, everything was done by hand with a brush. It is during this ripening period
that the cheeses will evolve in texture, taste and color. This is the cheese that comes out of the
salt bread, a 24-hour cheese. This is the cheese that has already been rubbed
several times, which is about two months old. There’s already a bit of a crust. And this is a cheese that is good
to eat, that is 100 days old, a classic, so
classic as we call it. And the reserve. It is 130 days old,
well matured for connoisseurs. Drier, less creamy,
with a stronger taste. But according to Franz, the flavors of tête
de moine are limited in time. You have to imagine a flower
or a bouquet of flowers. Here, the bouquet of flowers,
the flowers begin to open. And there, it’s full or green,
really all the colors come out. Gorgeous. And if we leave it too long, for too long,
but for a short while, the flowers too. So I say, there is a limit. We shouldn’t leave it for six months. At some point, there is no better. This and that are smoking. After fishing, Marilor
starts smoking the bondels. She doesn’t smoke them whole,
but in fillets, to stand out from the competition. First, the heads
and tails of the bondels must be cut off before being put through this machine
where they will be cut into fillets. They then go into brine,
meaning they are salted for about four hours. We’re always going to have a bit of the same taste. I weigh the salt. Rinsed and drained,
the fillets are finally ready to be placed in the smoker. What you want next. In my job,
I’m lucky that it’s varied. I can smoke,
prepare food, do catering, and just focus on fishing. I am very lucky.
I can do as I please… Basically, I do as I please,
I am my boss. Being free for me,
I think that’s the most important thing. So, it’s been cooking and smoking for 45 minutes
. And yeah! All ready, all beautiful. I’m
sure that’s done cooking. Already at the level of the juice that came out of it. Then, secondly, now, in terms
of color, it’s appetizing. So I quit smoking. Then, we will remove the skin and all
the caterpillars that are on it. And then
we package them in trays which are vacuum-packed
in a protective atmosphere. That’s it. Otherwise, break them and
they are stored in kilos while waiting to be made into rillettes. Meanwhile,
his brother receives potential clients like Raphaël Lamblet, a restaurateur. I’m coming to pick up my order.
Is it playing for How are you? I am very ready.
Beautiful, great. Okay. They’re beautiful, aren’t they? The goal of my work is to work
with local artisans. It’s extremely important
to work with the land. And then there you have it, the Harnes family
is a well-known family in the region, due to their activity. And also, they are people who are a little out of
the ordinary and who stand out from the crowd. So, these are the people
who also attracted me. Maria Louisa Wenger is
a former cook. She is also interested in
local products and offers walks to discover the wild plants
that she uses to prepare traditional meals cooked over a wood fire. The seeds can also be eaten. It’s a little tangy. With nettle, you can
make good soups. You can also put this
in apple tarts. It changes the taste a little bit. Today, Maria Louisa invites her
group to cook bondelle and tête de moine with the bounty they
have under their feet. Because here, in the frank mountains,
the mountain pastures are full of flowers and aromatic plants. Where we are born, we find what we need to maintain our health. Because health is simply
a balance between discomfort and well-being. And if we can put a little bit of these
little plants in our food, there is no need to exaggerate. With a handful, you can
already do a lot of things. Here in the French mountains,
we still have quite a few plants and flowers in the fields. And people say to me: Oh dear,
we don’t dare set foot there anymore, people are walking on our food. Once the baskets are full,
it’s time to create original recipes using our
two local products. It all happens here,
in this cabin in the forest. Here is the monk’s head. For the record,
why do we scrape the monk’s head? This is because in the monastery
where the cheese was made, when the monks were hungry at night,
they would go to the pantry. And so that no one would notice
that they had eaten the cheese, they scraped it off with a knife. Then we couldn’t see. Maria Louisa stuffed the monk’s head with
fresh cheese and freshly picked flowers. She garnishes the blondelles with thyme,
rosehip petals, daisy and sorrel
to bring out the flavors. I like to serve local products
because there is less gray energy,
it doesn’t come from far away. We know a little about who produces,
and how it is produced, and that it is not too advanced. Because today, everything has to go
fast and then we do anything. So here in Franche-Montagne,
we’re off to a good start and we love to eat. It’s beautiful. The fish is really subtle,
the herbs are very distinct. We can tell them apart, but they
don’t dominate the fish. There is acidity, floral notes. And all these flavors come from what
we found while walking. It’s fantastic. While the group enjoys the
local flavors, Suzanne Von Buren, the woman from France, manages the shop. The star cheese is Tête de Moine,
which won them an award this year. Only a few producers
sell it in the region. This is why
adventurers of new flavors and repeat offenders know where to go. We have the normal Tête de Moine,
which has been around for three months. And then we have the Tête de Moine Reserve. The normal Tête de Moine. Half or whole. Our customers
come from French-speaking Switzerland and German-speaking Switzerland.
We also sometimes have tourists. My goal is really when he arrives
and then when he leaves, he has seen something and then he
says to himself when he leaves: Wow, that was good. I am proud of us because we are
truly a small cheese company with only five farmers. And it’s unique in this world,
the Tate O’Moyne. And then we do everything for it. It remains a specialty. If cheese is so
successful today, it is partly thanks to the invention of the famous chanterelle mushroom. The story, he tells,
was about a father with several children who said to himself: He always had
the head scraped at least by hand, very fine like that, it took a long time. And then he said to himself:
Why not make a machine? And then he had this famous idea:
to make a hole in the cheese. And then, from there,
he invented the chanterelle. The monks’ head
really increased sales. We see that customers are increasingly asking for
a ready-to-eat product. Direct, prepared flowers
, that will have a big future. I also believe that a small cheese shop
like ours will have a future because people will not only talk about
the price, but they will talk about the product, where it comes from, a story. Jean-Philippe and Marie-Laure not
only work as brothers and sisters, but also with their father. He taught them everything very
naturally, just as his great-grandfather had done. In general, fishermen come from
families in the trade, because the investment in equipment is
significant when it is not, beyond knowledge, passed down
from generation to generation. So I saw the whole evolution
of fishing, from fishing with natural fiber nets
, cotton, milk, hemp. We had the first synthetic nets in the 1950s and 1960s. And then, I got to know fishing at the beginning with
sailing, oars, and the first motors. It was two horses,
three horses, it was all over the place. And then the evolution of the mechanics
to pull the net over. I’m lucky enough to have seen it all,
I can’t say otherwise. Over time, material advances
have made it possible to improve the living conditions of fishermen. But Jean-Philippe and Marie-Laure know
that in this evolution, knowledge is lost and no longer finds its
place in current techniques. My father continues with his
50 years of fishing experience, where he knows the lake like the back of his hand. He knows all the little corners, and the
little things that we no longer know. Because nowadays we
have a lot of electronic devices, as many fishfinders, GPS,
maps and everything we want. While for them, it was all in their heads. They knew exactly that between this tree
and that tree there was such and such a depth, in its limits, in its
things, they knew everything by heart. My dad, I think he knows
his lake extremely well, he knows his job really well. He has a nose, he smells things. When suddenly we were there,
drinking coffee, he looked at me and said: I’d like to put two fillets on.
He will put two nets. We say to ourselves: Anyway, you won’t get
anything, and then all that comes back is fish. My brother and I didn’t invent anything. We just picked up, continued,
maybe improved. But inventing is not our job. As long as the transmission of knowledge
continues, between families or enthusiasts, the Jura and Three Lakes region
will continue to enhance the richness of the elements that compose it. Even though Bontel habitats change
over time, fishermen have always managed to adapt. As for the Tête de Moine,
the cows of the Franches Montagnes will always give it the best of their milk, as long as the grass grows. Located in the Aube region, the Côte des Barres is a limestone land formed by rolling hills
and large expanses of vineyards. A southern region of Champagne,
this territory is also home to a rich cultural heritage. Several churches classified as
historic monuments from the 16th century stand on the horizon. The city of Troy is also
renowned for its countless architectural gems that are the pride of its residents. Swept by winds and rains
in a temperate oceanic climate, the Côte des Barres is the cradle
of the production of bear cats and snails called gros gris. Between the villages of bear cats
and Évry-le-Châtel, Lionel Daune repeats the gestures of the elders. Know-how dating back to the 14th century
for making a legendary cheese, Chat-Ource. Although the techniques have been modernized,
the manufacturing stages remain identical to those used
by monks in the Middle Ages in the many abbeys in the region. In the neighboring village,
Jennifer and Jérémie decided to start breeding snails
to then cook them in Chablis. A recipe that has made
the region famous. Come on, go my darling. Come on, go ahead, Grandma. Come on. Lionel
raises his 150 Holstein cows in the open air. He makes sure that his cattle have
everything they need when they come to feed on the rich grass in his fields. He continues the legacy of his parents,
themselves breeders and cheese producers. My father retired,
he still worked a little and from being a milk producer,
I also became a cheese producer in 1994. So my dear,
that’s how you see it. Lionel
started producing chahours by chance,
following an order error. We received it ten days later, and the fresh cheese was no longer fresh, it had bloomed, it was ripened. At that time, it wasn’t chahourse,
but later, a few months later, we asked for our chahourse approval,
and we bought chahourse molds. We became the first producers
of farmhouse chahourse in the appellation. There you go, that’s good. Come on, move on, girls. The farm operates
completely autonomously. Lionel regulates the feeding of these animals
in pasture all summer long with supplements from the farm’s crops. We have this autonomy here
at Tourrelle, thanks to four plants, four plants. Grass, pasture,
alfalfa, corn and barley. It is important that they have
a balanced diet with rich fodder. That is to say, to make good
cheeses, they make good milk. And to have good milk,
you need well-fed cows. Feeding these cows well requires
work, but Lionel didn’t shy away from anything. It’s a whole package. We have a highly complex profession that is made up
of a multitude of details in each area. Plants, animals, milk,
cheese, commerce. All of this is
complex every day. There is a great satisfaction in
producing, in finding our cheese, in finding people who are
happy to consume this cheese. While waiting to be milked,
Lionel’s cows peacefully enjoy their playground. A freedom that will affect the taste and quality of the milk and therefore the chawource. So, Loulou, what is it? What is this ? It’s a completely different type of breeding that
Jennifer and Jérémy have been working on for three years, just a few kilometers
from the Lyonnelle farm. Patience is essential here
and there is no point in rushing when raising snails. Every morning, their 300,000 or so
snails are comfortably dozing under the feeders. When evening comes, they finally show the tips
of their antennae to come and taste the carefully placed flour
and the planted herbs. There, we also sowed a little
alfalfa at the start of the season. And at the beginning of the season,
we also sow mustard. Mustard looks
a lot like rapeseed. It produces large yellow flowers. And when they are small,
at the birth stage, so very small, very small babies, they like to
nibble on mustard. Mustard, in fact, is
part of the cabbage family. So the snail is scary. Ouch, nettles. It got the blood flowing, but still. On their farm,
Jennifer and Jérémy raise snails called gros gris, or Elix Aspersa maxima,
and not Burgundy snails. The Burgundy snail,
why don’t we breed it? Because it is
much wilder, it cannot tolerate the conditions. The community, having a lot
of snails grouped together, he likes to be solitary,
so that already doesn’t suit him. It will take two seasons for it to fatten up. The big gray one will only take one
season, so it takes about five months to reach maturity. In terms of reproduction,
the large grey also reproduces more easily and, unlike the Burgundy, it no longer lays eggs
. So, for all these conditions,
that’s why we decided to raise the big gray. There are no Burgundy snail farms
in France, and all those found on the shelves are
imported from Eastern Europe. The so-called Burgundy snail takes its
name from an anecdote dating from the 18th century. The idea would be He came from here, at
the end of 1700, in Burgundy. Monsieur Carême ran
an inn and received the Tsar of Russia, a little by chance,
and then nothing to eat. And then he said to himself: Oh dear, we
have to feed the Tsar anyway, we can only give him bread. And he has the idea of ​​going to find
a snail in the garden and cooking it in the famous
traditional way, Burgundy style. That is to say, he thinks of adding garlic
to hide the taste a little just in case, because we don’t really know about snails. And a little bit of parsley
to hide the texture. And there, bingo, the tsar loves it. And back in Russia,
he asks his cooks: I want you to cook me
some Burgundy snail. Snails raised since
March are ready to be collected in October. It’s starting to get chubby, huh? The holiday season is approaching,
and that’s when demand is highest. Come on, girls. Come on. Here we go. At Lionel’s, the cows
are milked morning and evening. Here, we check by hand
whether the milk is of good quality. When we draw the first jets,
we will have milk that is clean, white, clear. Whereas if the cow is not healthy
and infected, we can have a kind of mash texture or
lumpy water in the milk. Between 2,500 and 4,000 liters of milk are
extracted each day and stored at 25 degrees. Lionel’s son-in-law, assisted by his employees,
then took over the transformation of the milk into cheese, respecting the
specifications of the controlled designation of origin. To obtain good curdled milk,
one first step is crucial: renneting. When the milk comes into contact with the rennet,
in about twenty minutes, we can already observe a
setting time on the surface of the milk. So there’s roughly that, above
the milk that’s going to start being taken. And then afterwards, it will acidify
for at least 12 hours. Curdled, poured into tall molds,
salted 24 hours later, the cheese is then drained for a day. Once formed, it is stored
in a drying cellar at 12 or 13 degrees. It will then be stored in the
ripening room for at least 14 days, during which time Lionel will
closely monitor the proper development of the penicillium candidium fungus,
which will give the chahource its distinctive appearance and nutty taste. It is he who matures the cheese,
who matures the chahource, who will transform the proteins
contained in the paste into this material which is underneath the
rind, which is a little more liquid. In the section, we always have three
more or less thick layers. The crust, the protein-rich part,
that is to say, we will say liquid, more liquid, and the core dough. The cheeses will remain
in the ripening room for a maximum of seven weeks before being distributed,
mainly to supermarkets throughout France and internationally. The rest at the local level. Like every Friday,
Lionel’s employee, Alain, comes to drop off the choirs ordered
by customers online. We deliver before 4 p.m. to put in the fridge, since after that,
there are people on duty who do the distribution and customers come to
pick up their parcels that they ordered for the week. But apparently,
it works well in our region because people know that these are
local products. Producers from the region come together voluntarily to offer their products
at a single point of sale. Around a hundred orders are listed
on the Internet each week before being distributed. In turn, the producers provide
a permanent presence to manage sales. Hello, Veronique Concile. Do we have the bear cat? The president of the association hopes
that everyone can benefit from better visibility. The aim was to bring producers from
all over the department
closer to the consumer. The possibility, if I take my example,
I am 45 km from Troyes, the possibility of selling at my place is
clearly more reduced than if you approach a built-up area. So the idea
was to provide a service, to get closer to the consumer
in order to develop sales of local products. The concept seems to satisfy everyone
since the farm drive has grown from around ten producers to 31 in three years. The express basket and the white radish. Customers are delighted to be able to
boost local businesses while eating better. It’s good to prioritize proximity
and support the people who work the land and
make good products. We have eggs, we have cheese, we have
jam. It’s very varied, it’s perfect. So, my grèche, flesh and chahourst, therefore. It is certain that if we had to go around
all the producers who are present here. I wouldn’t do it because it would
actually take me around the region, but the fact that they are grouped together
is extremely practical. We are the ones who thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. For the snails,
it is the end of the fattening period and the beginning of the collection. Look, everything misses, everything misses. And to avoid crushing them,
you have to do it at the right time. So we do it during the day,
mainly, because the snail is asleep, so it doesn’t move. So it’s much
easier to pick up. We avoid doing it in the evening
because the snail will wake up, since it is nocturnal.
So he’s going to wake up. And there, the park is
not at all passable. Of the 300,000 gastropods raised,
only the bordered snails, whose shells have a small
upturn, are collected. The other half will be used for
breeding next season. So, in fact, on the boards,
there are all sizes, there are all ages and above all, there
are those who have eaten more or less well during the season. So, we will collect those that are adults
first, those that we say are bordered, simply because we will reuse
the shells and the shells are stronger when they are
bordered and the snail is an adult. Is that all? If you don’t steal any
from my basket, things will be better. After harvesting, the snails are
netted and then stored in a drying room. They are turned over every day
during the fasting period. So this is important,
they are fasting. So this allows the excrement to be evacuated
gradually with large fans. This will help them fall asleep. And that’s when
we boil the shell to remove the flesh from the shell. Once boiled, the snails
can now be cooked. When Jennifer has enough, she puts on her chef’s apron to begin the
so-called Bourguignonne preparation. The snail is then cured
in a bath of Chablis, with only good things
that give it flavor. Celery stalks, carrots,
thyme, bay leaf, cloves , salt, pepper. The snail will gently bathe
for at least an hour and a half, where it will be able to soak up all
these delicious flavors, before being stuffed. Courbouillon is important, so that’s
why we only put good things in. I get a whiff
of Chablis in my nose. I’m going to be drunk. While the snails soak up
the aromas of the famous white wine, Jennifer makes the stuffing
using only fresh produce. Butter, garlic, parsley,
shallot, salt and pepper. This is the recipe everyone is waiting for,
the famous Burgundy recipe. So it’s an
important step, obviously. It’s down to the grain. In the Bourguignonne preparation,
only butter is a fatty product. The snail itself is a delicacy that can
be eaten without moderation and in different forms. It is excellent, excellent for health. You can make it in a casserole dish,
you can make it in a cake, sauté it in a pan,
you can make it in a glass, you can also make it in an omelet. So it’s really what we’re going to put
around that’s a little bit fat. But the snail itself,
no, it’s not fat. The cooked snails are
returned to their shells and stuffed. They are then packaged
in small bags and vacuum-packed, ready to be sold. Jennifer does all of
these steps by hand. With the help of her husband,
she can sometimes repeat this gesture more than 1,200 times a day. A painstaking work that will make the difference once it’s on your plate. Hello Julien. Hello Lionel. Are
you doing well ? How are you? This morning, Lionel brings his chahourse
to Julien, a young cheesemaker and refiner based under the Halles de Troyes. These few samples are made
available to Badault tourists, once Julien
has refined them to his liking. We have a cheese that we mature differently. We each have our own taste. The ripening room gives them a
different taste and it allows me to sell them at the precise age, when I want,
when they are most ripe. It’s a sure cabbage. How are you.
He is really good. He is really good. It’s creamy, it’s
refined, it’s perfect. With that?
How many of you are there in total? 40 people. For me, there is enough. Julien sells 150 different cheeses,
including two types of bear cheese, the dairy and Lionel’s farmer’s cheese. Dairy milk is milk that has been
thermized, that has been heated, and is a mixture of several milks,
whereas farm milk is a single milk that comes from a farm. So the producer does it
from start to finish. The dairy, we’ll say that the taste is
always almost the same all year round , while the farmhouse,
it has slightly more different characteristics depending on
the cows when they are outside. And for me, the farmer’s is
more fragrant, more mellow. Three like that? Three farmers and two dairymen.
That works. Good morning.
Hello, you. Are you doing well ?
Good and you ? I just saw it. It’s
really chahours. The market is also an opportunity
to meet restaurateurs like Philippe, who has made chahource
a central element of his cuisine through various recipes. Regarding my dishes, do
you know how I make them? I configure them a little bit either
as a starter with farmhouse chahource, and then with hot dishes,
I use dairy chahource instead. The farmer is more suited
to salads than the dairyman. And so,
we will associate the milkman with his snails. This is excellent. And there, we can pair it with a Chablis,
the salad with a white beer. And then, we can also make cuts to
such a size for the chahours, which are excellent. Or also the local dish which is
andouillette de trois, with its chahource sauce. And we can pair it
with a good rosé. Lionel thus benefits from a
showcase and the additional expertise of the cheese and refiner
to sell his bear cat. In the end, we sold more
cheese exported than locally. So, at one point, we said,
it would also be good if we served customers locally. In some ways, it corresponds to the term
of being a prophet in one’s country. There you are in the park
where we work daily. To better promote their products,
Jennifer and Jérémy are happy to open the doors of their farm. It takes us five months to get
a snail to size. People who don’t know us,
when it’s the first time they come or have heard
about us, it’s systematic. Can we visit? That’s the sentence
I get every time. So during the breeding period, it’s
really important to be able to show people around since there are snails to see. Outside of the period
from October to June, there are no snails in the park,
but that’s not a problem. They want to see it anyway.
Since when do we eat snails? Since prehistory, in fact. Traces of snails
being eaten in the caves have been found. For nearly two hours,
visitors ask all the questions they want. From the youngest to the oldest,
everyone leaves with a wealth of information that they did not expect to find
when they arrived on site. That’s why
we hardly see any snails during the day. He is hidden to sleep. Where is it hidden?
Well, there you have it. Hop, under the boards. I didn’t know they were
snails, big gray ones. So, I would be careful
about buying, knowing that if it says Burgundy, it’s not French. Great, you found me a tiny one. It caught your attention. Well yes, that is natural spawning
because of course, snails will also lay their eggs
naturally in our park. And little Johanne seems to have
retained the main information well. Burgundy snails
aren’t French. The snails shouldn’t have been
put in the pan straight away. They have to wear a cap. Then the snails, they eat at night. The whites.
But yes. The famous snails. After the explanations, the tasting. In Provence-Alpes, at the Chat Ours,
on small snail-shaped wafers , so many recipes
delight visitors. An encouraging success
for Jennifer and Jérémy. We don’t want to expand and
develop, that is to say, grow enormously, since we want
it to remain a family business. We don’t want to get into
something too important. And really, it would be staying in the family. And then, indeed,
with the children behind us, it would be nice if we could, at some
point, pass this passion on to them. And the baby at the same time,
since it’s our baby. Under the shy sun of the Côte
des Barres, it will take hours of work and a little patience
for Jennifer
and Jérémy’s business to grow and prosper, at a snail’s pace. If this is the case, future generations will
be able to enjoy the famous Chablis recipe and thus perpetuate
a French tradition. As for Lionel,
he hopes to be able to pass on all his know-how to his daughter and son-in-law
so that the bear cat continues to sit proudly on the tables
of amateurs and connoisseurs.

🧀 Le Vercors et la Chartreuse comme vous ne les avez jamais goûtés !

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

Entre alpages paisibles, monastères silencieux et savoir-faire transmis depuis des siècles, ce nouvel épisode vous emmène au cœur d’un terroir d’exception, niché dans les Préalpes.

🌿 Dans le Vercors, Mathieu perpétue la tradition du Saint-Marcellin, un fromage à pâte molle affiné avec soin dans des caves vivantes.
🍾 Du côté de la Chartreuse, les moines distillent un secret bien gardé : une liqueur élaborée à partir de 130 plantes, selon un rituel immuable.
🍷 Dans les Aspres, Jean-Luc redonne vie au vin Rancio, breuvage rare aux arômes puissants.
🧀 Et entre Jura et Champagne, la tête de Moine et le chaource révèlent toute la richesse des fromages fermiers.

✨ Une immersion sensible dans un monde de goût et de patience, où chaque geste est une mémoire, et chaque produit une célébration.

📌 Au menu : fromage d’exception, liqueur mystique, vin rare, traditions montagnardes et douceurs locales.

#Vercors #Chartreuse #SaintMarcellin #LiqueurChartreuse #VinRancio #TêteDeMoine #Chaource #FranceGourmande #DocumentaireFrance #PatrimoineVivants

Épicerie Fine – Terroirs Gourmands (Saison 7) :
E05 – Chartreuse et Saint-Marcellin des Préalpes du Nord
E13 – Mato et Rancio sec des Aspres
E32 – Escargot et Chaource de la Côte des Bar
E17 – Tête de Moine et Blondelle de la Suisse – Jura et Trois Lacs

© Tout droits réservés – AMP
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