AzurAlive

Treasured Chesnuts: La Fête de la Chataigne

Sweet Autumn Sun

It isn't easy to tell it's Autumn here on the eastern edge of Provence. It's warm. The sun rises a bit groggy in the mornings, but it still shines at least part of the day.

The sure giveaway is the aroma of roasted chestnuts at the open marchés. And the opening days of the Fêtes de la Chataigne festivities all over the French Riviera.

Sweet Chestnut Fun

Like every year, the slick maroon nuts pop out of their spiky covers like shiny balls of mahogany wood.To be honest, not many sweet chestnuts grow around the French Riviera. Many roll in from Italy. But many towns with even a few chestnut trees love to celebrate the nuts. After all, they were once an important food staple especially in regions where wheat and potatoes did not grow plentiful.

One region on the French Riviera, the Maures Mountains, still harvests the fruit-bearing sweet chestnut trees.

During the last 3 weekends of October, the towns of Collobrières, la Garde-Freinet, les Mayons, Pignans and Gonfaron in the Maures Mountains organize a "Fête de la Chataigne" or Chestnut Festival. They're fun and a great chance to taste the chestnut in many of its creative preparations. Try the daube de sanglier à la chataigne dish of wild boar followed by a chestnut ice cream.

Where?

Collobrières: October 12, 19 and 26.
La Garde-Freinet: October 19 and 26.

For more information on what to expect during these feasts & where to buy the best marrons glacés, see here.

Good Honey is Hard to Find

It's sweet and syrupy. It drips with the taste of sunny days when flowers cover fields and bees buzz.

It's emotions in a golden jar.

Where do they come from?

In France, PACA (Provence Cote d'Azur and Alpes) is the country's leading apiary region.

Nothing too surprising if you think about it. It's warm and fuzzy half the year. It's full of romantic fields of lavender, thyme-strewn limestone fields, tender hills with sariette summer savory herbs in the Haute-Provence, tilleul or linden trees in the baronnies and the Alpes-Maritimes. In the Var, sweet chestnut trees (Maures) and strawberry trees (Estérel) cover parts of the Maures Mountains, the Estérel Mountains and the Tanneron hills.

While Paris may be the city of love and France a country for romance, it's in Provence that you'll find the largest numbers of professional beekeepers. Every year 350 beekeepers produce 2000 tons of honey here in Provence.

What are the better ones?

Provence's crown jewel honey? The lavender honey with its delicate tinge of lavender aroma.

But there's a honey for every taste.

On the south-eastern side of Provence, in pockets of land where the soil is acidic, bees are inspired and produce vintage honeys.

You won't find these at the mega-supermarkets. For the most part, they pop up only at local markets, brought by bee lovers who aren't in it for the money.

What's your personal favorite?

My very favorite of these delicacies are the slightly offbeat, the one-of-a-kind, the memorable: the Miel de Chataigniers (Sweet Chestnut Tree Honey) and the Miel d'Arbousier (Strawberry Tree Honey).The first is deep brown like the freshly waxed oak wood floors at an old French library. It's nutty and a touch bitter. The second is chunkier and lies somewhere between raspberry jam and honey.

To be honest, I enjoy the lavender kind too but I can't find enough quirkiness about it for a life-long thing.

Where can I find me one?

With 350 professionals in Provence, the picking is still generous. This isn't so across the world. According to recent BBC news, the UK has witnessed a dizzying drop in local honey production and has to rely almost entirely on imports.

Here are some of my favorite local honey producers in the Var and in the Alpes-Maritimes. This isn't exhaustive by any means. It's a select list from personal tastings. Half the fun will be in finding new ones on your own. If they're tasty, unique and available, please drop us a line.

Les Ruchers du Bessillon, Lou Camp d'Andiou, 83570 Cotignac. Tél: 04 94 04 69 39. Email: ruchersdubessillon@free.fr

Les Ruchers des Maures, Quartier des Jardins, 83340 Les Mayons. Tél: 04 98 11 49 52. Email: lucien.lamoine@wanadoo.fr

Rucher de la Bouverie, 83520 Roquebrune-sur-Argens. Tél: 04 94 40 01 69.

Le Rucher de Saint Cézaire
82 Chemin de CHautard, Saint-Cézaire. Tél: 04 93 60 20 81. Email: lerucherdestcesaire@free.fr

Les Ruchers des Baous
143 Chemin des Vergers, 06140 Tourrettes-sur-Loup. Tél: 04 93 24 39 54; EMail: payenjerome@wanadoo.fr

Restaurants in Provence Côte d'Azur

It's out!

The Guide Gantié to fine food establishments (and hotels too) celebrated its 17th birthday this year with the launch of its new 2008 guide for the region.

The guide reviews 800 restaurants and bistrots and 500 specialty food outlets in PACA (Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur) and in northern Italy.

What restaurants are included? Mostly those in the upper echelon in quality and in price. It's unique in that it provides actually commentary (not all flattering), not just stars for ratings. Guide is updated once a year which keeps it fresh.

That said, we would love to see more smaller truly home-made style tables included, where food is exquisite and prices reasonable. True, these are few in the more popular spots of Provence Côte d'Azur, but they do exist!

The guide is available in English as well as in French.

We love its online version. After all, online seems like a fine way to go for up-to-date info in an industry that changes so quickly. Click on the icon below to visit the site. Nice web design, with nifty 360" video sweeps of the restaurants and hotels.

 

Cocoa on the Côte d'Azur

Cocoa on the Côte d'Azur:

"Chocolate... is above all helpful to people who must do a great deal of mental work, to those who labor in the pulpit or the courtroom, and especially to travelers." - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Chocolate ranks as an essential food group here in France. According to the International Cocoa Organization (tasty name), France consumes 6.7 kg (14 lbs) of chocolate per person per year. In the US, for example, it's 4.5 kg (10 lbs) per person/year.

French chocolate wears many disguises. It's in truffes around New Year's. During the Spring, it melts in  the shape of hens, chicks, rabbits, sardine fish wrapped in blue aluminum and lined up in cans and even plain eggs. It wears red, pink, blue bows. On Easter morning, some children here on the Côte d'Azur will be foraging through bushes of rosemary and pots of geraniums looking for the chocolat.

"People who habitually drink chocolate enjoy unvarying health..." - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Given the criticality of chocolate, we feel it's essential for visitors to know where to find it on the Côte d'Azur. So we went through the arduous task of hunting for great chocolates on the French Riviera. We found many expert chocolatiers sprinkled around the region. Here's a small selection for your enjoyment.

"If any Man has drunk a little too deeply from the cup of physical pleasure; if he has spent too much time at his desk that should have been spent asleep; if he fine spirits have temporarily become dulled; if he finds the air too damp, the minutes too slow, and the atmosphere too heavy to withstand... let him be given a good pint of amber-flavored chocolate" - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

In Nice:

Maison Auer, has been melting and shaping chocolates as well as candied fruit since 1820. The treats are made the old-fashion way, and the store claims that some of the best old cauldrons are still used. "Princess" almonds and hazelnuts are especially delectable: roasted nut, caramel coating, chocolate
second coating and a sprinkle of cocoa powder that wakes up the palate.

What:  Maison Auer, 7 rue St-François-de-Paule, near the opera house (tel. 04-93-85-77-98)
Where: In front of the Opera House, 7 rue Saint-François de Paule, one of the old streets that lead you to Cours Saleya. 
Web:   http://www.maison-auer.com/

In Nice and Pont du Loup:

Confiserie Florian concocts perfumes for the palate: fruit sweets and chocolates from family traditions
dating back almost sixty years. Candied petals of violets, roses, verveine, mimosa, but also jams, chocolates, sirups, candied fruit, and free factory tours.
Where: In Nice: 14 quai Papacino, in the Old Nice. Phone: 04-93-55-43-50,
is near the Old Port.
Web:   http://www.confiserieflorian.com

Antibes:

Patissier Cottard creates an edible "Fort Carré", a chocolate ganache version of the town's fort.
Where: 49 rue République; Antibes; Phone: 04.93.34.09.92.
Web:    http://www.patisseriecottard.com/

Cannes:

Schies makes chocolates of all sorts (honey infused, pralined, flowered) in their chocolate lab just above the store. A dream for kids of all ages.
Where: 125 rue d'Antibes, Cannes - 06400, Phone: 04.93.39.01.03.

Saint-Raphael:

Tiny cubic store Calderon makes creative macarons, bite-sized cakes that are works of art for the eyes and the palate, and chocolate creations too. There's usually a line-up of gourmets in the little shop.
Where: 89, place Sadi Carnot, Saint-Raphael, Phone: 04 94 83 63 08.

Fréjus:

Le Provençal's specialty may be the Cloister of Frejus Paves (hard candies) but their candied fruit and chocolates are just as tasty.
Where: 44 rue Jean-Jaurès, Fréjus

Roquebrune-sur-Argens:

Bite into the emblematic rock that stands behind the village of Roquebrune-sur-Argens (not to be confused with Roquebrune, the perched village east of Nice).
Confiserie Courreau, master Chocolatier Gérard Courreau.
Where: 2, Montee Saint Michel; Roquebrune-sur-Argens; Phone: 04 94 45 31 56

To enjoy these delights without guilt, consider a hike or two on the Côte d'Azur!  Click below to see our latest hiking guide: 26 Gorgeous Hikes on the Western Côte d'Azur.

Porquerolles' Bio-Diversified Cauldron

If you've read our hiking guide to the Côte d'Azur, you already know about Porquerolles' many footpaths over rocks and pine needles, the island's forts and its delicious beaches. To read the new guidebook on Côte d'Azur hikes, click below.

In addition to great hikes, the island of Porquerolles fosters smart ideas.

On the Ferme de l'Oustaou de Diou farm, Marie-Claude Cano simmers local fruit into thick syrupy paste in her giant cauldron. In the old-fashioned cauldron bubble in turn summer figs, may blackberries, grapefruit, mandarins and many more plump fruit.

What's special about Marie-Claude's jams? They're simmered in small quantities, with great care. More unique, Marie-Claude harvests the fruit of the island's Conservatoire Botanique de Porquerolles. Many of these fruit are ancient varieties grown here to help preserve regional biodiversity.

"We tend to many of the orchards on Porquerolles' Botanical Conservatory," explains Marie-Claude Cano.
"We also take care of the conservatory's olive trees. In return, we're allowed to harvest some of the fruit trees."

Marie-Claude spreads a little homemade fig jam over a slice of crusty bread. She concocted the fig chutney from the island's figs simmered with onions, vinegar, raisins and tangy spices. She tops the jam-dripping bread with a piece of goat cheese.

"Goutez-moi ça," she says with a smile, handing me the bread slice. It oozes with a tangy sweet and sour taste cooled by the creamy cheese.

On Porquerolles, Marie-Claude also picks olives from the Conservatory's 30 varieties of olive trees. From these insular olives, the mill at La Farlède extracts a thick oil. With this many varieties of olives crushed in the press' millstones, the olive oil must be the only of its kind on the globe. I'm told only about 300 liters are sold.

Got my little 20cl of olive nectar. Too bad the internet won't let you taste it (yet)...

      
                         

Who:          Saveurs des Vergers, by Marie-Claude Cano, Ferme de l'Oustaou de Diou, Porquerolles. Phone: 04 98 04 60 78           Where:       Marie-Claude travels to some of the local food festivals. You can also find her goodies at at Cathy Legumes and Pisani Traiteur on Porquerolles

Something Fishy on a Côte d'Azur Menu

Talking to restaurant by the beach in St Raphael a few weeks ago, we noticed that their menu had been translated into English. Bravo! Not everyone who visits St Raphael and Fréjus speaks French.

Their English translation for the popular fish "Loup de Mer" was "Wolf of the Sea". Needless to say, this wasn't their most popular dish... Well, we had a good laugh and ended up re-writing their menu together.

Enjoy pictures of some of the fish that hang around the Côte d'Azur, along with their French and English names:

Interested in taking a few gently adventurous hikes on the Côte d'Azur? Read our latest hiking guidebook below.

Les Vendanges on a Human-Scaled Domaine

Last week was another wine-picking week for many folks across the Var region, and for a few innocent adopted locals also.

The Vendanges were early this year since 2007 brought warm weather to our region and to all of Provence.

We moseyed on across the rounded fields of the Dracénie region, by the old town of les Arcs, by Taradeau, and into Lorgues. Between Les Arcs and Lorgues, narrow little tractors bounced on the country road, pulling bènes (large metal containers) filled with freshly harvested grapes. The tractors are narrow to squeeze between rows of vines without damaging them.

We began the arduous work of grape picking in the wee hours of the morning, at 10 a.m. sharp. The Domaine St. Marc des Omèdes was the perfect place to vendange for a couple of reasons:

• It's owned by a wonderful couple, Lindsay and Anne Marguerite Phillips, who generously welcomed grape picking newbies;
• Lindsay and Anne paid needed help in bottles of wine, a currency we enjoy being pegged to;
• Domaine St. Marc des Omèdes is the self-proclaimed smallest British-owned vineyard in Provence - les Vendanges, we deducted, couldn't be all that difficult on such a human-scaled Domaine;

Armed with a bucket per hand, and a set of rustic clippers, we squatted over the rows of tightly bunched carignan grapes and snipped.

"Carignan," said Lindsay, "used to be widely harvested around here but it was associated with bad acidic red wine."
A decade ago, the carignan vines were plugged out of many local vineyards and replaced with more fashionable varieties.
"Only a few old Carignan vines remain here today," said Lindsay. "We trim them to have them produce less quantity and higher quality, but we keep these ancient vines preciously."

We snipped, rather silently at first and soon with good banter.

"Don't tug at the grapes," said Lindsay, "just snip along."

After a row of snipping, I learned to nudge my bucket right under the grapes to have them plop into the bucket in a thump. It was a thrilling thump.

"Don't go so fast," said the French expert picker who also raced back and forth between pickers and the bène, emptying buckets into the fast-filling bène.

By row three, I started to look up at the rest of the bushy rows. There were many.

By row six of the low-lying, old knotted Carignan vines, the vineyard seemed like the largest-owned of any nationality.

"Care for a nice cup of tea?" asked Lindsay around four o'clock. As we slumped to the side of the path, clippers on the ground by our sides, with a well-fed bène behind us and a cool breeze whooshing over our heads, the parcel looked friendly again. It looked like a little parcel of vines we could clip and comb by hand until the sun began to dip towards the hills.

Domaine St. Marc des Omèdes
83510 Lorgues France
Tel (33)94.67.69.17
email: winephil@aol.com

Madame De La Truffe Noire

When I heard that the black truffle, "la vrai", sold for 800 euros a kilo, "non, c'est pas vrai!", I had to find out for myself what the fuss was about. After all, we are talking about a mushroom that looks like an under-sized shriveled dirt-crusted potato.

Oui, mais... did you ever taste le petit delice?
Err, well yeah, tiny dark cubes of it in patés...
C'est pas vrai!

And thus we were off last Sunday to the annual Truffle Festival in lovely Aups, in the upper Var region.

We drove up from Draguignan, five of us swerving with the curves in the road, by parcels of olives trees and wines, by a few knotted green oak trees, stocky and vigorous. I imagined their roots, running like neurones through this musty limestone soil.

We arrived in Aups and vendors had spread under the little town's platanus trees.

At a stand, a treasure chest overfilled with fungi.  "Looks like dog caca," said the youngest among us.
I spotted a little Tuber Melanosporum, round, dark, looking pitiful among its plump sisters.

We touched it, we smelled it, we scratched its skin, rugged and thick, and saw that its flesh was black throughout with a touch of burgundy.
"C'est la vrai!" exclaimed the handsome truffier.
Then we heard about its history. It was born on the root of a green
oak tree planted fifteen years ago by the owner's father on their truffle farm (few are wild).
Black truffles love the roots of green and white oaks best, though they can also develop on hazlenut and pine trees. They need limestone soils.
With a very gentle scratch of the earth, the family dog, a black Labrador (always our hero) dug it up along with many of the ones now displayed in the treasure chest.

The little thing weighted 25 grams and cost 20 euros.

"Can I feed a family of 5 with it," I asked the handsome truffier?
Oui, he answered with assurance. Make a brouillade with 3-4 eggs, 20 cl of crème fraiche, a pinch of salt and pepper. Take care to leave the truffe sliced in the egg batter for at least 2-3 hours in the refrigérateur so the scrambled eggs soak up the truffle flavor.

And so we took our little one home. Please forgive us, we stuck it in the trunk of the car, in my backpack, for the hour's drive back.

When I opened the trunk, I smelled a sweet, rusty, pungent fragrance with a dash of nutmeg.
We scrambled the truffle infused eggs in a pan with a tremble in the wrist, cleared a whole tray in the fridge and set it in the middle.

Monday evening, we all sat down for dinner. We starred at the yellow mesh of scrambled eggs, and its dozen dark slices of truffles the size of daisy petals.

It could have been our taste buds' anticipation, or the news coverage, but a delicate taste of mossy earth embalmed the room. Silence fell over the table. We listened to each morsel of truffle talk to
our palates.

Yuck! screamed the 5-year-old. I won't touch it said another. It tastes like fish said the eldest. And then someone said it could possibly get better the more you taste it.

And the grown-ups had another sip of wine.
 

Le Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé

We may be in Provence Azur here, land of famed Rosés that taste of peaches and blackberries, but the Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived. 

At my neighborhood grocery store, bottles were arranged in pyramid formation by the entrance. Bottle labels were in primary reds and yellows, all festive.  There wasn't a person at the counter without at least one bottle on the counter.

"Non vraiment, c'est mon dernier verre," echoed the café next door. 

Around the corner, my favorite wine seller had a long table with glasses and bottles and slices of saucisson.  Passer-by's took a sip.  Some twinged.  "Frankly," the wine store owner told me on the sly, "Beaujolais Nouveau is not my favorite."  The evening was cool and our glasses filled. "Well," she added, "this year is pas mal, pas mal du tout..."

Earlier in the day, in Fayence, the church's door displayed a large advertisement hailing its Beaujolais Nouveau wine tasting.  It was to be held pronto that evening at the Presbytery.  I love France.

A votre santé!

Le Beaujolais Nouveau Va Arriver

November 16, 2006 is coming up... it is Beaujolais Nouveau day.

Soon, most of our neighborhood will sip, chat,  comment about fruiteness and color, sip some more, babble about acidity and eventually dance in the streets in good cheer.

We'll be posting about the experience the next morning, or thereabouts... 

You can read Beaujolais Nouveau stories from a variety of participating web sites on BlueVicar.com