Douce France : entre maquis, vergers d’été et fromages d’antan | Trésors du Patrimoine

Douce France : entre maquis, vergers d’été et fromages d’antan | Trésors du Patrimoine

A few kilometers from Marseille,
close to the sea, the Aubagne region is located in the heart of Provence. This region, which stretches from the Etang de Berre
to the Marseille basin, is mainly made up
of rocky massifs and plateaus. In the hot and dry climate,
the scrubland spreads out for the most part, giving way to a few pines and oaks. Bordered to the north by the mountainous oaks
of Estac and Étoile, this region owes its fame to Marcel Pagnol, who lived there throughout his childhood. Protected and nestled in a basin around
the mountains, Cuges-les-Pins is considered the capital of Capre. Its culture made this
small village famous in the 19th century. But when wine
and vinegar production fell under the yoke of filoxera at the end of the 19th century,
it gradually disappeared. Today, a few diehards
like Yves and Monique Cornille are keeping the artisanal production of this
very local condiment going, from its harvest to its bottling. The Aubagne region has many
other gastronomic attractions. A few kilometers away,
Luc Falco raises goats to make the famous rove brousse. The brusses of the rove. It was in the Provençal language
that merchants once offered this goat’s cheese in
the streets of Marseille. It is also in the Phocaean city,
on the farmers’ market of Cours Julien, that Luc now goes to sell this
artisanal and very local product. We are located in the heart of
Marseille’s old town, and it is the oldest
and largest farmers’ market in the region. There are only local producers there. The advantage of producers’ markets. There really is a completely different atmosphere. How are you ? Well and you ?
How are you ? I’m fine, I’m fine, thank you. Good morning. Visitors to this market
come mainly to get used to it. The clientele is also very particular. They are connoisseurs,
people who are willing to take the time to queue, chat with each other, and
exchange recipes. There is a friendly aspect too. 2.50 euros, please. We produce two main products:
goat cheese and the famous and highly regarded Bruss du Rove cheese. The old Marseillais, they know
the Rove brussels as soon as you speak. Before, we shouted it in the streets,
women passed through the streets shouting: The rum brussels. It is burnt goat’s milk,
drained and sold in small cones. And here are the famous rum brusses. It’s a little delicate taste, a little taste
of It’s a little taste of goat, a little taste of goat. With a little sugar, a little jam,
a little cream. You have a wonderful dessert. About 50 percent of the
production is sold on this market. There are cautious people
who book them, week after week, to be sure of having some. It’s a product that is so highly
sought after, that it sells out very quickly. And here is De Brux. And there you have it. Thank you so much.
Good day. Near the village of Cuges, Yves,
helped by his wife, is preparing to harvest his famous capers. It was his aunt who gave him his first
trees, although the Capri tree grows naturally
in the wild around the Mediterranean. The cape is the flower of a Capri. It is a flower bud that
serves as a condiment that is put in veneer and which is eaten,
let’s say, in several dishes. These are spinoza plants,
that is, stems that grow a leaf, a caper, a thorn. This is repeated all along the stem. When we start cooking the plant at
20 or 30 cm, from there, we have the first capers arriving. We pick the capers, we pick, say,
three, four per stem. And when it’s hot,
the stem lengthens, of course, and then capers come out at any moment. They are capers all the way. There’s no wind, which is good
because they have the mistral. Now that’s another
story to pick it up. Caper cultivation requires
very specific climatic conditions. Capers need a
Mediterranean climate, that is to say, a warm one. And on top of that, the caper doesn’t like
the mistral or the cold. When the mistral blows, it stops
the stem from growing, it no longer grows. So there is no caper. As soon as the sun comes out again,
it’s warm, it starts again. We harvest by hand, one after the other,
taking care not to break the end of the stem. Otherwise when it’s screwed up, there
are no more cables coming out. But to harvest the cables,
you have to have free tomorrows. And to have free tomorrows,
we have this kind of pocket that we call, that we can put cables
in, that we call barjaquette. So in the Provincial language,
barjaquer means to speak. It’s that more people,
when they pick, to pass the time, talk to each other, to tell
stories of the village or of life. It’s good ?
Are we moving out of there? Harvesting manually is
therefore the only method. At 82, Yves continues
mainly for his pleasure. It’s getting very, very,
very expensive to pick. I made some for my
own consumption. Some friends come to get some,
we bought some more, but I don’t make a large quantity. I have about twenty
whims, that’s all. Tell me if you see that it’s overflowing,
you’re still a little flattened. I’ll do 1.3 kg like that, it will be remembered for the weight. On the mountain slopes, Luc prepares to milk these goats, a breed
typical of the region. Here is the famous Rauve goat. So here, in this case, it’s
a goat that’s a bit old, since it’s about ten years old. These goats are almost chamois. It’s escalating everywhere. It is the only one capable of
feeding itself self-sufficiently on our Mediterranean hills. It has been present in Provence for 2,600 years. And 2,600 years ago,
Marseille was founded. Now we can
bring them in to milk them. Come on. And there you have it. THANKS. Here is this morning’s milk
that I am going to filter. After this first filtration,
Magali must heat the milk to the precise temperature of 89 degrees. I’ll have to wait until
the temperature drops about twenty degrees. Only then
could I add the white vinegar and start making the brousse. There, it’s correct. For now,
it has gone down enough to put the vinegar. The vinegar, gently poured in fine rain, will allow the milk to thicken. There, the step seems good to me
to recover the material. So, in my colander,
I’m going to filter all the material that has been brushed in order to really recover only
the white part, in fact, which will constitute the brush. So, we are here on whole milk. Very important.
Rove brousse is made with whole milk. Magali receives a visit from Raoul Michel,
local representative of the international Slow Food movement. This organization, keen to defend
local products, is thus seeking to obtain a quality label for them.
Hello Raoul. Hi Magali.
How are you ? How are you. So, how are they in this novel? They have less milk there, right? I wish you a good appetite.
There is less milk. It begins.
Yes, that’s it. We
defend products that we call sentinel products,
which are products that risk disappearing. And we defend the product
for its taste and its quality. There is a slow-food motto which is:
The good, the clean and the fair. Why is it good? The organoleptic qualities. Clean, environmentally friendly, with
fewer pesticides or none at all, which is even better. And fair is fair remuneration
for producers for the work they do. Was she to your liking? It’s still good. Is she natural?
Yes. What do you accompany it with?
Raspberry mail. It’s at Mignon’s. The typical case in the region
is the Rove bush, which has now been a
sentinel product for almost 10 years. We helped producers try to
obtain the AOC, which is very important to
avoid counterfeits. Because there were people
who rushed into the term “brousse du rhum” (rhum bush), which is
known in Marseille, who made products that were not
of good quality, since they even went so far as to use cow’s milk
to make it, even though it is absolutely reprehensible. And so, we hope, this will allow us
to obtain the AOC. See you soon.
Hi. Back at Cuge, Yves begins preparing his capers. I bring the capers back here to rest them for 24 hours so that the water father can suggest that we can put them
in the vinegar in 24 hours. I put my vinegar in
so that the caper that has wilted absorbs the vinegar to give it the right
taste and it cooks the caper a little in the vinegar. Capers should be
cooked a bit like condiments. To macerate the capers,
it takes at least three to four months, that is to say, in principle, we take
them out, say, at Christmas to be able to sell them the following year. After three or four months,
we put them in jars and replace the old vinegar with new. Once this maceration is complete, the condiment is ready to be put in a jar. Accompanied by his wife,
Yves carries out a taste test between his traditional capers and those found
in stores in order to identify the main differences. Vinegar is alcohol vinegar, it is stronger. They are saltier. Afterwards, in texture, they are
still quite firm, I find. For store-bought capers, that’s true. We feel that… But I find that it’s
the salt that dominates the most. Dirty. Even if Yves doesn’t add any,
adding salt before macerating in vinegar or alcohol is
one of the common methods. It’s a very small spoon too. It’s a real spoon…
Taste the others. This is the house. It doesn’t taste the same. There, we can smell the vinegar better. There, we feel that the vinegar is
not at all the same. And then, there is no
taste of salt like there. The flesh is not the same. There, we smell the vinegar better
compared to that one. So the salt, I think it still covers
even this kind of vinegar a little more acidic than that one? Yes, it makes all the difference
because with white vinegar, they are much stronger. They soften it, I think,
faster because it burns them a little bit, if you will. And that wine vinegar
is sweeter and more natural. Because when they say
spirit vinegar, there’s a little bit of everything in there. And that’s why they stay
firmer and, in our opinion, taste better. So.
With his expertise,
Yves enjoys passing on his techniques. Anne Jean-Jean is one of those
farmers who seeks to diversify while respecting
appropriate methods. How are we doing?
It’s going very well. And you ?
How are you ? Are you here for…
? I’m here to take stock,
because I planted the cuttings you gave me in March. And then there are quite a few… They have almost all taken back. So that, I’m happy, that’s good. I think spring was good,
the weather was good this year. For watering, what do
you think I should do? How often do I water them? For cuttings. Yes, to water them
once a week. It’s just half a liter, not too much.
Half a liter of water. Half a liter of water to keep
the roots a little fresh. For six years I have been producing saffron
on a plot of land in the municipality of Cluj. The goal is to expand
into other productions, other products, other crops. So, the Capre, as I know that it is
a crop that has been grown since the dawn of time in the commune,
I knew that it would be a crop that would work
because it is adapted to the land and the climate, to the region and that we
had a very high quality product. Since the caper was exported throughout
Europe and Cuge was the first national producer of capers. I may not be able
to harvest this year, but maybe… Small jar, at best? You’re going to pick this up there.
I think it’s not profitable. Too small. They met through
the local chamber of agriculture. Mr. Cormier really wanted
to pass on his know-how and knowledge of capre,
since he is one of the… To my knowledge,
one of the last people who makes capre in any significant quantity
in the commune and who has been interested in it for years. Is that the catch you
picked up yesterday? This morning.
This morning. These capers, we keep them, let’s say,
I put them in the house in the cool, in the shade, and they have to wilt, they have to
lose water. How much ?
24 hours? 24 hours, even 48 hours,
we can leave them. In This is the base of the tank. For Luc, the quality of the milk
and therefore of the cheeses also depends on respecting a
very natural technique: pastoralism. Pastoralism is about
feeding these animals on the hillside and taking this pastoral resource,
this fodder resource, which we can say is free, a natural consequence of
the hillside. In the hill, they will eat
various plant species. And what will make the milk taste. A goat likes to collect herbs.
It’s like us. They don’t want to always
eat the same thing. So they will move from one
plant essence to another. My role is to bring them
to places that ensure this dietary diversity. 365 days a year, the herd
is fed this way. There is the environmental aspect. You should know that our land
tends to close up, that the wooded area,
despite land pressure, is increasing,
that no one really has the means to maintain the hill anymore. And it’s a good thing
there are herds like ours to maintain it, because otherwise,
these are environments that would completely close up. There is the aspect of strengthening
biodiversity, since it will eat the dominant species. Allow the sun to penetrate. And with the sun shining through, there is
a plant diversity that occurs. And to balance plant biodiversity,
quickly says animal biodiversity. In addition to its many benefits,
pastoralism has proven very effective in fire prevention
in this highly exposed region. A fire never starts in a trunk,
it starts in the brush and then spreads to the bottom. And the goat,
eating all the brush up to 1.50 meters high,
provides a natural, ecological and economical prevention
against forest fires. So here, I’m going to leave you
with a good example since it was one of the so-called DFCI programs,
therefore forest fire defenses, that I have in progress. There, I was tasked with
maintaining the strip of brushwood on either side of the track. We are in
the business of sustainable and free development. Well, after that, it takes a lot of time
since we are grazing at the moment, this period,
more than seven hours a day in the hills and we are on average over the year,
at six hours a day. In order to preserve the quality of their
regional products and further develop
their exploitation, Luc, Yves and his son Frédéric plan
to extend the ZAP, protected agricultural zone. The sustainability of cultures
is their watchword. Hello everyone. How are you ?
How are you ? How are you ?
How are you ? How are you ?
How are you? Yeah, yeah. What’s wrong with you?
THANKS. So, as you know, a EUSAP, a
protected agricultural zone, is being created. And the public inquiry
will begin on June 19. So, here we are, we are also meeting
today to give the association’s opinion during the public inquiry. In view of the progress of urbanization
on agricultural land in the commune of Cuges,
the creation of an EUSAP was imposed. A zaps is a protected agricultural zone that will make it possible to protect these
lands for the purpose of farming, and especially
production agriculture. The last major agricultural production
in Cuges was intensive monoculture of vines,
which did not survive the last wine crisis of the 1970s. We suffered a double whammy. We had the end of a generation,
that is to say a generation that was not replaced. And we also had a drop in sales of
the big red, we’ll call it that, which meant that little by little,
from 360 hectares, we went to around forty hectares today. And we are trying to rediscover old
crops to diversify our production on the cuge,
to revive historical crops: saffron, and other crops. This is the famous area where we tried
to fight to reintegrate it into an agricultural zone. I think we
can still try. We can try. The big problem
is what we call the Cujoie plot, which is
relatively small and very fragmented. We need to gain
control over the land. That is to say, we have people who do not want to
part with the land because there is pressure,
we will say what we call land retention here, since So,
a square meter of agricultural land varies between 2 and 5 euros. And a square meter of land to build on
costs between 150 and 200 euros. Everyone will have understood where the stakes are. Defending these ancestral cultivation techniques at all costs
also helps to make local productions more widely known
. This ambitious project above all demonstrates
Luc and Yves’ determination to perpetuate their know-how and to leave it
more than ever to this region rich in diverse and varied heritage. Poitou, also called Poitou, is located in the Vienne department, near Poitiers. The local heritage is strongly marked
by an agricultural tradition which shapes these rolling plains. The story goes that 150 years ago,
a gardener had the idea of ​​planting a melon in the ground of Haut-Poitou. A terroir that proved ideal,
giving it a sweet and juicy firmness. Having settled on these lands in 2003,
Axel Berge now cultivates 25 hectares of melons. Here, the region’s clay-limestone soils
soak up water during the rains and slowly release it
to the melons, which ripen in optimal conditions under the Poitevin sun. Poitou is also famous for its
goat cheese, Shabi, better known as Shabi-Chou. The origin of its name dates back to the 8th
century, following the defeat of the Arab armies pushed back
by Charles Martel at Poitiers. Because if the Saracens abandoned their
land in 732, the goats which accompanied the troops
remained there. This is how this raw milk cheese was born,
benefiting from quality pastures. La Ferme du Marat is
a family business. Jean-Claude Gauvreau and his sister
Marie-Hélène started goat farming in the 1980s and are
now passing the baton to their respective children, Emmanuel and Arnaud. Three times a day,
Arnaud feeds his 160 goats with fodder made from cocksfoot
and clover produced on the farm. Cheese begins in the meadow,
it is really the work of the soil that is important. There is no good cheese
without good grazing, let’s say. So, this requires
excellent fodder quality. We are not going to play not only
on the quantity of milk we are going to produce, but also on the quality of this milk. So, with different rates, the
fat rate, the protein. And that depends on the quality of the hay. In addition, Arnaud gives his goats
cereals that will provide them with plenty of protein: corn,
barley and sunflower, mostly from their field. Because in the Gauvreau family,
food autonomy is essential. And Arnaud, who has just taken over
the business with his cousin Emmanuelle, intends to perpetuate his parents’ know-how
and high standards. I really grew up there, since I was a kid,
and I didn’t see the farm going into someone else’s hands. I said to myself: No,
it’s not possible, it has to stay in the family heritage. And I think of Emmanuelle too,
then one day, she and I
left our respective professions to embark on the adventure. For four days now, we
have been farming with our respective parents who are always there to
help us, because we need them. You can’t replace two people with
35 years of experience like that. We still have a lot to learn. Then it allows them to cut
calmly and not stop suddenly. Arnaud, the former salesman,
is now in charge of a herd made up of two
different breeds: the brown ones, which are the Alpines, and the white ones, the Sahanènes. These two breeds represent 99% of the
French livestock and are prized for their dairy performance. At the Gauvreau’s,
they are separated into three buildings in which space, light
and ventilation ensure their well-being. The point, for me,
is to really consider the animal as a partner,
or rather even a work colleague, rather than a production tool
that eats and produces milk, period. We’re really going to try to have this
sharing with the animal, to do everything by hand, manually,
to spend as much time as possible in the buildings with them to
observe them, to see what’s going well, what can be improved, and from there, to have the
most serene animals possible. At the other end of the department, Axel Berge is a melon producer. It’s crazy how many melons there are. Planted at the beginning of April,
the fruits will flourish for three months in this chalky soil. There is a plastic film, mulch,
and that will help keep the soil cool. Above all, it will prevent weeds
from growing and competing with the plant. If you have weeds,
the plant, instead of being alone to feed itself,
will have a competitor and it will have half as much to eat and drink. But in dry periods, it is very
important that it has humidity. And then there will be all
the nutrients that are in the soil. And if there are people with her,
if she is not alone, she will be much weaker
and much less productive. Today the weather is
not great. Melon needs warmth
and sun to grow. Axel practices sustainable agriculture
and uses very few phytosanitary products. So, it depends 90 percent on
the climate and nature. A melon starts out as a small flower
that will be fertilized by bees, pollinating insects. A very small melon comes out and
will take about 40 days to reach maturity before being picked. Afterwards, it will be more or less large
depending on the climate and the variety too. You can have a melon that ranges from, let’s
say, 500 grams to 2 kilos. Three-quarters of French melons are
yellow Charentais, or Axel cultivates around ten varieties selected
according to criteria of resistance and taste. He remains very vigilant about his enemies:
rain, cold and crows. There you have what is called
a cannon to scare away crows. It works with a gas bottle. It’s just a detonation that
goes off roughly every half hour. The crows peck at the melon and
make a hole the size of my thumb. And then the fruit, afterwards, is lost. They come to peck at the melon
because often it’s a dry season and they’re thirsty. There
is a protected designation of origin for Haut-Poitou melon,
but Axel Berge is not part of it. Indeed, for small farmers
like him, it is not always easy to pay the
membership fees for such a label. This is also the case for the Gauvreau family,
who chose not to work under the Chabichou AOP. In Chauvigny, the goats ruminated on
the hay and cereals distributed by Arnaud. And it is his father, Jean-Claude Gauvreau,
who takes care of the milking twice a day. When you milk goats,
you’ll look, they’re all in… Look at this one, there it is,
starting to ruminate. This
corresponds to the moment when they are suckled by the horses, because there,
we replace that artificially with the sleeves. And it’s a moment
of tranquility for them. The goat is an animal that adapts
well to breeding in general. It is one of the first to be
tamed by man along with sheep. They are animals,
I gave birth to them all, so there is still an attachment. We are coming to the end of our activity
and we are currently in a period of transmission. It’s a
bit of an emotional moment for us. Come on. It’s an interesting job
because it’s very comprehensive. We start from culture. So, there is a cultivation part,
a breeding part with transformation of hay by the goats into milk. Then we transform this milk
into cheese and we market it. So, it affects a lot of areas. On the other side of the milking parlor, the
milk is stored in a tank at 22 degrees. Jean-Claude’s sister, Marie-Hélène,
trains her daughter Emmanuelle in the secret of making the chapter. First step, renneting. This is what will allow the milk to
change from a liquid state to a solid state. That will make 200 chaps. 24 hours later, it is molded
with a ladle and four hands. I try to make the most
of my mother’s experience. That’s still 35 years of experience. So, I have quite a few things to learn. It’s like passing on
cooking recipes. It’s the same,
it’s about practicing together, I think. Right now, I’m trying
to learn as much as I can. When the first ladle
is done, we start again. And so we will continue to fill all our
molds, gradually adding more to the molds. Our ladle-filled molds
allow you to have the same amount in each mold from the start. May our children, behind us,
Arnaud and Emmanuel, take up this way of working and
want to perpetuate it. This is obvious to us, it is
a great source of pride, of course. The young cheeses are turned over
the next day, then removed from the mold and salted two days after their production. When the geotrichum develops,
the chabi is ready to go into the cheese cellar. So, geotricum
is the yeast that allows the cheese to go from being truly white,
with nothing on it, to this wrinkled appearance, which is therefore the characteristic
of lactic cheese. Then there may be
some blue that sets in. It will give another taste,
a little taste of cellar, a little taste of undergrowth that we like to
find in Cheyre cheese. It is this smell and the mold, already,
molds which are the yeasts, which are the bacteria which are already
in the environment, which will colonize the other cheeses and
which will give a taste which will be particular to our cheese dairy,
which will not be the same as that of another cheese dairy either. The Gauvreau family’s cheeses are
sold at the farm, but also in the heart of Poitiers, at Jérémy Chauson’s. This winemaker trained
alongside the great Parisian cheesemakers, before opening his cheese shop in 2015. Passionate about cheese, he also enjoys
telling the stories that go with it. At the etymological level of the word
chhabi, we have the word chebli, which means goat in Arabic. And Poitou has a history with
the Arab invasions of the 8th century. The Arabs who arrived in the region
and were pushed back around Poitiers settled there, developed
goat farming and the word chebli was transformed over the years into chhabi,
into chabichou from Poitou. And then, there is really a
historical story around the goat, goat farming in Poitou. And an expression that is often
used, which is to say that it is a bit like the cow of the That is to say that it is
the animal that hangs around the farm and that the women use
to make a little bit of cheese. Historically, Chabilles cheese
was eaten fresh on the farm, within the family. There were no
businesses being done. The manufacture of the chahabille is not
governed by specifications, but remains similar to that of the chabichou. In terms of taste, the two
cheeses are very similar. And to enhance their flavor,
Jérémy suggests a rather unusual pairing. There, on the chef’s cheese,
on cheeses which are a little delicate, very sweet,
if we use a red which is too strong, unfortunately, we won’t enjoy it. So, white wine is fine. There, a beer like that,
I find that it allows a little bit of precision to all the aromas. And we’ll enjoy both
beer and cheese. I think that the beer
is really something fruity, thirst-quenching.
You really need to go for something quite fresh, a
little creamy, and very smooth. There, we are on
something a little melting. Under the crust, there is this
very small cream which is quite pleasant. And after that, it’s all smooth sailing. There is a slight hint of acidity
that is still present and which disappears
as the wine ages. It is also interesting when eating a small
piece of cheese to take the time to raise
the temperature in the palate. No, I was already eating
the cheese too cold. It’s important to take it out of
the refrigerator a little beforehand. And to raise
the temperature in the mouth a little. I think that’s what makes
an interesting combination, when you can feel a little bit, enjoy both products. Early this morning, Axel arranged to meet
these seasonal workers in the mill. Hello Ursula, do you know how to pick? I’ll show you quickly. Today, he is training Ursula,
a new recruit in picking. Look, you only pick melons
that are peeled off like this. The tail cracks.
None of that, there, it’s green. And then there is that famous
leaf that is starting to turn yellow. That’s another sign of maturity. And then there you go, so we
cut it and then we… To know if the melon is ripe,
the farmer refers to its yellow color, but not only that. When a melon is ripe,
the stem begins to peel off. It is dense, it is heavy. And then behind, I manage
to push my fingers in a little. I feel like it’s a little bit soft,
so it’s a maturity criterion. It must be ripe.
Now, is it any good? I don’t know. And I hope. It smells like melon, but that’s normal. They all smell like melon. I prioritize quality for my
customers and therefore I pick at the right time. All melons are picked by hand,
using pruning shears and a bucket. For Axel, the secret of being a good
picker is to be curious. And today, other
curious little ones are joining the plantation. Exceptionally, because it’s
a weekend, I get help from my children,
who enjoy coming to give me a hand. And there we have Augustin, who is seven years old,
and who would also like to continue later. So here we are, who is
happy to come and help us. I am very proud. These three children, Baptiste,
Clotilde and Augustin, love chasing their father around the melon patch. And to please her whole team,
Axelle makes them taste a yellow Charentais straight from the field. Beautiful, huh? Oh, that’s great.
Well, well, the melon. Yeah, it’s orange, it’s perfect. They are excellent. This is the reward after an hour. Girls, do you want some? Its sweet yellow flesh is a unanimous favorite,
but other melons will not be so lucky. There is a crow that came to
peck at the melon to feed. It started to rot. We have a fruit that risks
eliminating the plant. So we try to eliminate it. Once harvested,
the melons are taken to a grading station where they will
be sorted according to their weight. The melons are placed on a carpet. Then they are cleaned using
a brush with water and then dried. Each bucket contains a melon and is individually weighed by a scale. And depending on the weight of the melon,
it is assigned to a well- defined output and this corresponds to the caliber. And there we come to the
calibers of the large distribution which are the 12 wings and Douze Cus,
and it goes from 850 to 1200. So, one kilo on average. There are eight sizes in total,
from 500 grams for babies to two kilos for large melons. Taste has nothing
to do with caliber. You can have a very large,
very good melon and a very small, very good one. Really, it doesn’t change anything. The melons are divided into crates according to
their size and placed on pallets before being stored in a cold room
awaiting delivery to the points of sale. Once in the fridge, it
essentially goes to supermarkets and then, therefore,
they get a little bigger. It’s mainly what we ca
n’t sell or what we have in excess. But it remains the same product,
the same quality. And then after that, a bit of direct sales,
like what we do there, small quantities, it’s for
local markets and roadsides. Axelle Berge also sells her
production on certain markets, just like the Gauvreau family. Hello Mrs.
What did you need? Tell me. I’ll take some chamis, one with a
slightly drier effect, please. But the latter
also favors direct sales at the farm which allows them to have
a link with their customers. I have been buying
cheeses from Ferme du Marat for years. It’s important to buy them
from the producers, that’s for sure. This way, we also know who makes
the cheese and how it is made. Emmanuelle and her mother receive a visit
from Annabelle Shag, facilitator of the Bienvenue à la Ferme network,
which is the first national network for direct sales and farm hospitality. I’ll bring you
the tractors then. That’s good.
Perfect. The network organizes large producers’ markets
throughout the department. Its aim is to promote
local products. Local and short supply chains are
really important. They need to be developed. So, when we go to the producer, we
eat local, farm-fresh and direct. And so the savings go
directly to the producer. And then there is also
the whole social aspect. People create social bonds. It’s interesting to know
how the producer works. It also means reassuring yourself about the approach and
the production method. And it’s really knowing what we
eat and it’s a real approach. Especially since at the beginning,
when the network put us all in touch, we weren’t talking about
short circuits yet. It was not a word that was
used, that was known. There was very little
farm sales. We were all starting out a little bit
on these activities. It wasn’t easy to get
people to come to our house. Today, we are
trying to perpetuate and set up other activities which always go
in the direction of the closest
possible relationship between the consumer and the producer, ultimately. People want to know where the
products they eat come from, anyway. They need to know how
our goats are raised, how the cheeses are made. That’s what ‘s interesting too. We think it’s nice to be able to open
our doors and explain to them a little bit about how we work. La Ferme du Marat strictly adheres to
the 100% local principle and does not sell its cheeses more than 30 km from Chauvigny. 70 percent of their sales are made
at markets, the rest directly from the farm. If
we produce a cheese and people are happy, the most
interesting recognition is when people tell us that they like the product and
that they are happy. And it’s when we do
direct sales that we get this recognition, you know.
It’s really the most… We have a direct link with the customer,
in fact, without going through an intermediary, whoever it may be. For her part, Axelle is going to Louzain
for the regional cycle tourism week. The event also organizes
a local producers’ market, where Axelle and her family sell their melons. I always have my children with me.
Exceptional. They are the best in all of France.
No, that’s not true. On the other hand, they smell good. It makes you want to taste it. The Centre region and Poitou Charentes
are one of the largest production areas in France.
All right. Ca n’t we taste it? Yes.
Thank you. He’s not bad, eh? He’s good, your mother is good.
He is good. It is
also an opportunity for him to promote his terroir and share his passion
for the fruit, while giving some tasting tips. Axel’s melons are better. They are the best. Obviously they are the best. It’s true ?
They are too good. It’s crunchy because I took it, it
was crunchy, but we’re not in it. No, we’re not in it.
We must leave them. They were picked yesterday.
It’s true ? You have to leave them for two or three days. Yes yes. And open them a little in advance,
that’s not so bad. Ah good ?
Yes. We work mainly
with the weather. If the weather is nice, we can sell quite a lot
of products if the weather is not with us. Which is the case right now. It is true that sales are almost
halved, or even divided by three. It is a summer product and is
particularly appreciated when it is hot. Everything is nice. Its freshness, its good taste. It quenches your thirst. A little gift for the girl. So.
So, please. Good day. What I like is its
sweet taste, its freshness. Even when you pick it in the
sun, in the middle of the afternoon in the fields,
it brings freshness to your mouth. There’s this sweet taste
and then a lot of water. And so it’s very refreshing. But I think the sun makes
the flesh more tender. And there we are on melons,
we still have a little cold and humidity for a week. So the flesh is a little crispier. Round and tasty, le long is one of
the French’s favorite summer vegetables. Although Axel Berge and the Gauvreau family have
chosen not to be part of the controlled designations of origin, these
enthusiasts are no less demanding. And while prioritizing the relationship with
their customers, they are keen to put all the taste and know-how of Poitou into their products. Legend has it that Corsica takes its name from Calistée, meaning the most beautiful. A nickname given to him
by the Greeks in Antiquity. It is true that the Isle of Beauty does
not lack charm to seduce more than one. Rocked by the Mediterranean and bathed
in sunshine, this island region is a true gem between sea and mountains. Here, agricultural activity is
mainly family-run. Production is divided
into two distinct sectors. One focused on the mountains where we find
traditional agriculture based on livestock farming,
the other focused on plant production and fruit growing which is
mainly located on the eastern Corsican plain. The eastern Corsican plain extends from the south of Bastia to the mouth of the Solenza. This long coastal bank is lined
with fine sandy beaches and long stretches of coastline. It offers fertile lands
that have been cultivated for centuries. Some say that in the past,
the eastern Corsican plain was called the granary of Rome. Today, kiwis,
vines and clementines are grown there. Charles Forzini has decided to
revive the cultivation of Servione hazelnuts. Although typical of the region,
it was about to disappear there. As a true lover of this fruit,
Charles takes care to produce quality hazelnuts. A few kilometers to the south, in Aléria,
Stéphane and Nicolas Venturini go into the scrubland to check
the progress of the Myrt berries. At the head of a family distillery,
they produce another product well known to Corsicans: myrtle liqueur. Myrtle can be found from the sea
up to about 300 meters above sea level. From this point you can see a panorama
that goes from, I think, linguit des têtes to almost Solenza, to Traves. So, on everything we see there,
we could find myrtle. Knowing that it is a wild plant,
we can find it… It can grow in hedges, or it can be
found anywhere in nature. Yeah, sometimes we find them
in eucalyptus and pine forests. And also, it is like a shrub
that often makes up the hedges separating fields,
the hedges along the roadside. The severe drought this summer worries
Stéphane and Nicolas, and announces that it will be a difficult year
for liqueur production. Here, look. It might be a little early
this year, though. It is very small, very dry. We’re really going to have to be careful,
in my opinion, because… If it doesn’t rain now,
it’s going to be complicated. The myrtle is picked
by hand, using combs, in order to harvest only the berries
without breaking the branches. A tedious technique
that requires a lot of labor. If we really do
n’t have enough, don’t remind more people to try to collect some,
otherwise there isn’t really any… We did it once,
we put an article in the daily newspaper asking people… We had people from other regions
of Corsica who brought us some. But hey, that’s not
going to change the situation. Today, it’s… But otherwise, we have no way of… We are dependent on the climate,
on nature, on a little bit of everything. Despite these constraints,
they are very attentive to the quality of their products and are keen to ensure
the reputation of the distillery. So the company was
founded in 96 by my father. We were lucky enough to win
national gold medals at the Paris Agricultural Show . This is what made us known,
and little by little, the typical fruits quickly arrived
: first the myrtle, then the chestnut, then the citron. We continued to try to make
quality products and we were lucky to receive a lot of recognition. Now we will have to wait
for the rains to arrive so that the myrtle berry will swell and
the harvest can begin. Further north, in Servione,
Charles begins his hazelnut harvest. It uses a blower to form
windrows to facilitate collection. Hazelnut production in Corsica
dates back to the 1920s. Except that in the 1920s and 1925s, there
was frost, two years in a row. All the citron trees have frozen. So they removed what was left and
planted hazelnut trees behind it. The soil is rich,
so it has acclimatized very, very well. They had very,
very cleverly chosen a variety at the time called mouth. It was the Fertile of Coutard. Or Cervione hazelnut. It benefited from the variety,
the climate and the hydrometry, because it was planted in the valley bottoms. It produces one of the best
hazelnuts in Europe. The Cervione hazelnut,
also called Fertile de Coutard, almost disappeared from Corsica. Unprofitable in the face of
European competition, hazelnut harvesting was stopped and the hazelnut groves abandoned. It took people like Charles
to get his production going again. Its taste qualities and its
production method have earned it a GIp,
Protected Geographical Indication. When I started collecting
hazelnuts in the 1980s, we found a way to sell them
organically, which is a little more profitable. This means there are no
fertilizers, no pesticides. Harvesting by hand is
not essential, but it is still better because there is still
another way to monitor the harvest. I tried everything, mechanical harvesting. Obviously, when you have
larger quantities, obviously, you have to because
you are threatened by rain, so you have to do it faster, you have to collect them. Today I have a little more time,
I have a little less hazelnuts and I prefer to do it by hand. In some way, it
comforts me to touch them. It’s a pleasure for me. It’s not a punishment. It is a meditation. There you go, they are ready to use. After harvesting the hazelnuts,
they are shelled and crushed to be sold to restaurants
and processors. In
the Venturini family distillery, the myrtle berries from the latest harvest have been
macerating for nine months to provide their flavor to the future liqueur. The latter has a taste that
alone represents the richness of the island’s terroir. Today, you should know that in Corsica, there are
two typical products. Let’s say that for the aperitif, it’s
the Cap Corse Matheil, red or white. And then as a digestif,
it’s generally myrtle. These are two products that we will
offer you, whether you are at a friend’s house or at a restaurant. It’s a product that’s
still not bad. We’ll say that there are herbal notes,
notes of eucalyptus, even a little bit of resinous notes at times. It stays on those notes. For city water, the liqueur,
it will have a bit of an astringent side. It’s a taste that lingers very
strongly on the tongue. It’s something powerful,
it’s something very powerful. There he is lowering
the sight berries which are on the sides, in the center of the tank, with water,
so that they can be pumped without being crushed.
They are mixed with water to send them. Because we put 200 kilos
of alcoholic berries in the still and 800 liters of water, so that these
berries do not burn or tear when they are not in the bomb. With the Mirthe berries,
Stéphane and Nicolas make two different alcohols: eau de vie
and liqueur, each with their own manufacturing process. From the maceration, we will extract the juice
which will serve as the base for the liqueur. We’re just going to add water and sugar. The berry
is distilled in the production and development of brandy. Nico, is it okay?
Yeah. The juice and macerated berries are pumped
into the still located in another room. For several hours,
the product is mixed and heated to provide an
alcoholic extract of these wild berries. We are pumping the
myrtle maceration directly into the maceration tank. The berries arrive through this pipe and are
poured directly into the kettle. Then, when you reach a certain level,
you close the window to prevent it from overflowing. And there we are off for
about 6 to 7 hours of distillation. When distilling myrtle
into brandy, care must be taken. Stéphane or Nicolas check
the temperature and the alcohol content of the preparation. The myrtle liqueur from the Mavela estate can be
found at Paul Foglia’s biscuit factory. Its processing laboratory is
located in a small village perched in the heart of the mountains. At the time, Paul ran a bakery,
then he started trying to make canistreli,
small traditional biscuits. Through hard work and research
into the best recipe, this is now his main activity. The ancients already made it with
white wine and anise. And now you find them with
chestnut, lemon, citron, hazelnut, clementine.
You have several flavors. Paul makes it a point of honor to work
with local, quality products. This is undoubtedly the reason for its success,
because it now offers 14 flavors of canistreli that it distributes
in 80 points of sale. For example, when it comes to canistreli with
white wine, we choose a white wine with a PDO. Then, a chestnut in AOP, the flour. There you go, and hazelnuts that are GIp. Then, there you have the myrtle liqueur
from the Mavé estate, which is still an excellent liqueur. That’s why we work with this
liqueur, because it’s very fruity. And with our biscuits,
we manage to produce a good product. You can really smell the shit in it. Canistreli from the Oupan
and Caldou biscuit factory are sold only to pastry chefs,
restaurateurs and delicatessens. Paul carefully selects
his points of sale. And he even refuses some of them,
because he does not particularly want to expand his production. It sells very well, yes. Then people, tourists,
when they arrive here, when they see that it’s
local products like myertle, citron or clementine, they buy them. They bring back… For them, it’s bringing back
a local product. This traditional shepherd’s cake
is historical to Corsica. Paul has managed to make it his own
and develop it for the greatest pleasure of gourmets. For
his part, Charles delivers the morning’s harvest to the premises
of the Anucciola association in Servione. This association pools
the harvests of many producers, but also of individuals, in order to
shell and grade the hazelnuts. This is a real added value
for producers, because it allows them to be paid a fair price.
Alain, hello. Good morning. The 2017 hazelnuts, picked this morning. Finally, the ones we can pick,
because many are on the tree. You noticed this year. There are even more on the tree. So there, we put them in the calibruse. It smells good. When we started,
all hazelnuts were abundant because those who took
the hazelnuts followed the world price. And the world market,
years ago it was going well, years ago it didn’t even pay
the worker who cleaned the hazelnut tree. So people had abandoned him. And the advantage of the association that plays,
that works a bit like a cooperative, it can
be a small contributor of 20 kilos. Even Even less.
Even less. He brings what he has. And an average producer who will
go from 3 tonnes to even 5 tonnes. So, our interest
was to bring together these producers and pay a fair and justified price,
while still taking on the structure and the machines. The association is equipped with a
dryer and a breaker’s shop. The dryer is only used in case
of rain during harvesting, as the preservation of the hazelnuts is
too wet and delicate. Before unshelling them, Alain and Charles
systematically measure the humidity. A hazelnut just
picked at 108. 108.
Between 8 and 9. A 9 is okay. A 9, she killed transformation,
he can still work on them already. What happens is,
if you keep it like that, it will take on all the humidity
and all the humidity that you have in the environment, in a room. So it’s going to go
further than 10 percent. So, it’s not good for preservation. So, the obligation to at least
roast them immediately and work them. In the micro-region,
around 80 tonnes of hazelnuts are produced each year,
half as much as 20 years ago. However, Charles’ work
greatly contributed to reviving hazelnut production. Demand is increasing sharply and the
quantities produced are no longer sufficient. In 2002, he created the Atelier
de la Noisette, where he creates
exceptional products that promote sales to consumers. So,
I remove the skin from the hazelnuts and sort the hazelnuts without the skin
so that I can make a praline. The fact that there is no skin
allows the caramel to coat the hazelnut well and not be brittle. Laurine Serrat, Charles’s niece,
worked with him for three years. She just bought the company. 116. And we will sand
the hazelnuts in the syrup. Now we mix. We only process hazelnuts,
we make several products from them. So this is still one of the strongest products, the caramelized hazelnut. But afterwards,
hazelnuts are also transformed into various salty and sweet products,
into oil and flour. And we make hazelnut chocolates,
hazelnut praline. So that’s the basis
of all our chocolates. The products made here are
not lacking in originality. For example, you can find
hazelnut paste with citron or a cocoa spread without palm oil
using fair trade products. There are n’t necessarily many of us
who process hazelnuts like that. Then there are other people
who process it, but in the form of ice cream,
in the form of pastries, also due to a problem with the
quantity of hazelnuts. Because we only work with
Cervione hazelnuts. It is a hazelnut that is quite rare. It has a slightly more
pronounced, slightly woodier taste. The hazelnut taste is much
more pronounced in Cervione hazelnuts than in other hazelnuts. We love craftsmanship, we love local produce. It’s a passion above all. So, from there, we
prefer to do a little less, but of better quality rather
than a lot of quantities with a little bit lower quality. Once cooked,
the hazelnuts are then left to cool on marble, then in bags. In
their distillery, Stéphane and Nicolas also work
in the most ethical and environmentally friendly way possible. They are constantly searching and do not
remain fixed on their achievements. Moreover, when Stéphane took over
the business, he had the estate redecorated
by a young Corsican artist with pop tendencies. Laurent Vigrou is a sommelier
for the Mathei company, creator of the famous aperitif, Cap Corse. A great connoisseur of myrtle liqueur,
he comes to taste that of the Mavela estate. I think this one is perfect. And the fact that it’s macerated,
that is to say that we really have all the aromas of the skin,
even of what has been deposited on the skin. That, at the end of a Mediterranean-themed meal
, and we have the whole meal coming back in retrospect. It’s really fabulous. There are two
different myrtle liqueurs here. The red, resulting from the maceration of
the fruit, the white, resulting from distillation and enhanced with sugar. Well, the myrtle that comes
from the maceration has a big taste influence on everything that comes from the skin. Because the skin has macerated, so it has
given its color As you can see. But in the skin,
we also have the tannins and everything that gives the myrtle this
special identity card in terms of bitterness, etc.
So, we find him. On the other hand,
when it is distilled, you have more of a photograph
of the inside of the berry, that is to say as if there was
an enlargement of the heart of the berry on the fruity side, a little minty. This is called white myrtle. Many people who have difficulty with
red myrtle will prefer white myrtle. Personally, I prefer it
whole, so the red myrtle. In 1999, the Pietra brewery and the
Mavela estate combined their skills to produce the first Corsican whisky. Their work allows them to create a whisky
with a different taste, which draws all these aromatic essences from the island. Today, all the products from the
Mavela estate are products that have their own unique characteristics, which may not please
everyone, but which please a large number of people,
but which bring something new, and which allow amateurs
to discover new aromas. This is the case with whiskey. It has a distinctive taste that is not
a copy or like any whisky that is already made. What we like is that,
going to discover, to test. Sometimes we make products that
we personally don’t like. We try, but at least we make progress. The distillery has been around since 1996,
so we know that whisky generally has several
generations behind it. For us, it’s been about twenty years. So there you have it, if we don’t do these tests
every year, we won’t evolve, we won’t move forward. That’s what we like,
that’s it, going to discover. And even for us,
for our general culture, for our palate, that’s what motivates us, in fact. This beverage is matured
in old barrels that have contained great Corsican wines. This whisky, like the Mavela estate
and the work of Stéphane Oùet, Nicolas, there, quickly convinced the finest
connoisseurs and succeeded in building an international reputation. Near Servione, a
few hundred meters from the sea, François-Xavier Sécoli
is a multi-cultivator. In his orchards he produces kiwis,
clementines, avocados and, more recently, hazelnuts. He decided to plant
5 hectares of them 4 years ago. The trees are bearing
their first hazelnuts today. Hello François-Xavier. Who does. How are you, Charles?
How are you ? SO ? We look at these hazelnuts. I say it’s beautiful
because trees like that… You see, you already have kittens.
Yes yes. It’s huge. There, it prepares the harvest
next year. There they have it all. They have water, they have
not suffered from the drought. We congratulate François-Xavier for having
thought of planting hazelnut trees. It wasn’t easy. It is out of love for his region and his
village that it is a little sentimental. Yes, and then it’s also the fact of having
seen the work that you accomplished, the fact of seeing that the transformation
worked well, that the clientele was there. So he is someone
who has bet on the future. For Charles,
it is essential that new noiserais see the light of day, especially
those in themselves which are modern. They are irrigated by a
drip system. Trees do
not suffer from drought. We are in areas where there is a
strong belief in the possibility of making a living from agriculture and processing. There is tourism in Corsica,
but there is more to it than that. So, anything that can help
promote an economy, and this economy goes from the producer
to the processor to the seller, is something very important. Thanks to the work of these pioneers
in promoting hazelnuts, we can now hope to make a living from them. A young person can hope to make a living from it. So that changes everything. Charles’s dedication
to hazelnut cultivation is truly beginning to bear fruit,
and now promises him a bright future. I was in love with this fruit,
I’m still in love with this fruit, and I would like to keep it that way. We do all this for. I think that without blowing our own trumpets,
we have succeeded, since there are new plantations. We can also talk about a nursery
that will start this year. The demand is very high. Even in Europe, there is a demand,
there is a deficit, and particularly in France, a deficit of hazelnuts. As François Zavier said, it is
perhaps a gamble for young people. There are still a few hectares left
to plant. Why not hazelnut? I will plant the hazelnut. Charles, a true
hazelnut enthusiast, is above all, like Stéphane or Nicolas,
in love with Corsica and its land. The respect for the products and the sincerity
of these committed producers perhaps also contribute to calling this
island land the Isle of Beauty.

🍈 La Provence gourmande entre mer et montagne, comme vous ne l’avez jamais goûtée ! 🧀🌿

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

Des collines d’Aubagne aux vergers du Haut-Poitou, ce documentaire vous entraîne dans un voyage sensoriel à la rencontre des saveurs les plus authentiques du sud de la France.

🐐 À Cuges, Luc perpétue la tradition de la brousse du Rove, un fromage rare, fabriqué à partir du lait d’une chèvre millénaire.
🌸 À L’Espigoulier, Yve cueille les câpres une à une à la main, selon une méthode ancestrale.
🍈 Dans les plaines du Poitou, Axel cultive des melons gorgés de soleil et de savoir-faire familial.
🧀 À Chauvinie, le chabichou de Marie-Hélène raconte une histoire transmise de génération en génération.
🌰 En Corse, Charles redonne vie à la noisette de Cervione, pendant que Stéphano distille la liqueur de myrte, emblème insulaire.

✨ Une ode au terroir, entre gestes simples, diversité paysanne et défense d’un patrimoine vivant.

📌 Un tour de France du goût : brousse du Rove, câpres sauvages, chabichou, melon du Haut-Poitou, noisette corse et myrte en liqueur.

#BrousseDuRove #Câpres #MelonDuPoitou #Chabichou #NoisetteDeCervione #LiqueurDeMyrte #DocumentaireFrance #FranceGourmande #TerroirsGourmands #PatrimoineVivants #slowfood

Épicerie Fine – Terroirs Gourmands (Saison 7) :
E18 – Brousse du Rove et câpre du Pays d’Aubagne
E20 – Melon et Chabi du Poitou
E27 – Noisette de Cervione et liqueur de myrte de la Plaine orientale (Corse)

© Tout droits réservés – AMP
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