The Eel
Eel has been trapped in Haute-Somme since 1383.
Round fish with a long body, it can weigh up to two kilogrammes. It is caught with a net or an anguillière. There are nine wooden traps, made by " fresh water fishmongers " from Haute-Somme. They are located at sluice-gates. You can see them from Saint-Christ-Briost to Bray-sur-Somme.
Eeel is eaten fresh or smoked and can be served with a lot of sauces.
Beer
Beer is now one of the most popular beverages in the world; there are nearly 20,000 different sorts. Beer has been present in Picardy since the 16th century.
In the second half of the 20th century, traditional beers began to get a market share again, thanks to the rediscovery of high fermentation beers.
So there are now three breweries in Picardy, producing high- and low-fermentation beers.
Picardy beer is made from malted barley, hops, and good-quality water.
The Mallard duck
For centuries the Baie de Somme has been an extraordinary nature reserve for waterfowl, in which there has been local trade since the renaissance period.
The Picardy Coast Mallard duck is descended from wild duck stock (Anas platyrhynchos). They are raised in natural conditions near Rue, in the Somme department, which is why they have access to a stretch of water from the age of three weeks.
From the age of two months onwards, their feed is wheat-based.
They are killed at 13 to 15 weeks of age, and their meat is very tender and full of flavour and of character.
Because of the characteristics of this type of production, the ducks are on sale from the end of June to mid-October, in two sizes : 0,8 to 1 kg and 1 to 1,2 kg.
Champagne
With the vineyards of Aisne, Picardy owns 2 600 ha of vineyards of Champagne. This invaluable drink benefiting from a Protected designation of origin(AOC), finds in this soil, the elements which confer it its incomparable texture and taste.
For a long time considered as a defect, the fermentation of this wine was able to be mastered by Dom Pérignon and Brother Jean Oudart de Piery.
The wine growers and cellar masters’ know how has continued in the course of the generations for the consumers’ biggest pleasure. Raw, dry, half-dry or pinkish, Champagne is to be sampled.
Traders, manipulators and producers are ready to make you discover their production.
As Jean de la Fontaine liked to do, you can also walk through the vineyards of Aisne.
Paris mushrooms
Today, Picardy is the leading region in France for the production of fresh cultivated mushrooms.
The cultivation of mushrooms started in the 16th century, in Paris, but its cultivation in quarries only started at the beginning of the 19th century.At that point, production volumes became very large.
Little by little, the mushroom beds are leaving Paris (the quarries are being filled in, and there is a shortage of horse manure) to reappear in Picardy, in the same quarries that provided the stone for building in Paris..
Cider
Picardy cider has come down to us from the Middle Ages, and has been renowned since the beginning of the 17th century.
Produced all over Picardy, cider is made from different varieties of apples; but each producer keeps the varieties he uses a secret.
The apples are harvested at the beginning of Autumn, then sorted, and finish the ripening process indoors. Once fully ripened (end of October to early November), the apples are pressed and stirred. The must obtained in this way is then left to settle and decant, and a " brown hat " is formed on the surface. Then the clear liquid is extracted and transferred to a fermentation vat.The fermentation can last from 40 days for a sweet cider to 6 months for a dry cider.
Then the cider can be bottled, and finish acquiring its natural fizz.
Some figures :
To make 600 litres of cider, you need about a metric ton of apples.There are several agricultural businesses producing cider in Picardy, but only one small non-agricultural business.
The jam of milk
According to the legend of the XIXth century, we attribute the discovery of the jam of milk to a mistake of a cook in the Napoleon’army. In this time, the soldiers had a bowl of sweet milk by meal.
During a battle, the mixture would have longer warmed, but the result was more delicious.
The obtained mixture had been transformed into a smooth dough charmingly caramelized.
Elaborated from selected milk and sugar, the jam of milk “Flavours of Picardy” is a smooth dough with a consistency like heavy cream.
Its taste is the one of a soft toffy with the flavour of milk. The jam of milk is obtained by cooking with prolonged boiling.
The Bean of Soissons
In 1590, a monk consigned the story of the "street of broad beans", name given to a street in Soissons where the beans proliferated spontaneously, saving thus miraculously the inhabitants from famine.
In the 17th century, the bean of Soissons is quoted in an encyclopaedia as being the best species. In 1789, an English book quoted the large bean plantations of the area of Soissons and in the 19th century, Brillat Savarin praised its properties.
The bean of Soissons is characterized by a very fine skin and a pleasant taste, and is traditionally cultivated on bean-sticks. There are many ways to cook it.
The Maroilles cheese
Picardie has one of the most famous cheeses in France : Maroilles cheese. The only cellars in Thiérache allow the development of the particular flora which gives it its taste.
Since the 19th century, historians and scholars have agreed to attribute the creation of this cheese to the monks from the Abbey in Maroilles. Its millenary origin isn't proved by any document. We don't know when exactly the method of making of Maroilles cheese was finalized but it is supposed to be improved with the passing years. The cheesemakers' know-how is recognized thanks to the guaranteed designation of origin, which has been crowning this cheese since 1986.
Honey
Picardie is a production area of honey, quoted like a reference for its yellow honey. The harvest can be done once for a "all flowers" honey or after each flowering (unifloral honeys such as lime, acacia, lavender, etc...).
In spring, supplementary frames, in which bees lay down their surplus of honey is put on the bee-hive !
The single harvest often takes place in August : bees are driven out of the supplementary frames by smoke or repulsive products. The disoperculated frames of the supplementary ones are put into an extractor and the honey which flows out of it is left a few days at rest before being potted.
Today, honey is appreciated for its softening properties, and is used to replace sugar in tea, herbal tea or is spread on bread.It is also used for a great production of mead in Picardie, distributed all over the area.
Finally, and this use is not the least, the use of honey is one of the characteristics of the composition of the macaroons of Amiens.
Handmade mustard
Made with cider or beer, our handmade mustard "Saveurs de Picardie" has for advantage to have been kneaded with a grindstone.
This technique, in use since the 15th century, allows to our mustard to surpass in quality all the mustards of its generation.
Containing cider and cider vinegar in its typically "Picarde" version, it has produced the consistence and the smoothness which are well-known. Finely "old" way grainy, it owes to only beer this nice, amber-coloured taste which is its main characteristic.
Soft or slightly bitter this astonishing handmade mustard will emphasize with subtlety your best dishes.
The Potatoes
The potato was born in the Great Cordillera 9 centuries B.C. It was introduced in Europe by Spain in the 16th century and arrived in France at the beginning of the 17th century.
French people stayed resistant to its consumption until Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (from Montdidier in Somme) has popularized this tuber.
To succeed, he used a subtle stratagem : French people didn't want to hear of potatoes so their curiosity had to be stired up and their covetousness to be caused. He had a field planted with potatoes, this field was kept during the day but deserted at night. The stealings multiply and the consumption of potatoes develops.
Today, the potato is one of the basic consumption products. There are two kinds of potatoes. The potatoes with a firm flesh (Charlotte, Pompadour, Ratte, Roseval) recommended for salads, steamed potatoes, grated potatoes and sauté potatoes. Consumption potatoes (Bintje, Samba) which are used for soups, potatoes cooked in oven, stews, purées.
In addition to those potatoes, there are special varieties such as the "Vitelote", a potato with a purple flesh.
Some figures :
Picardie is the second producing area of potatoes just behind the North-Pas-de-Calais. It represents 20% of the French production with 21850 ha and 954845 tons.
The "Porc d'Antan"
Perfectly natural, the "porc d'antan" has been raised in straw and fed up with grain, just like it was done in the past. That's why it has this delicately coloured flesh, this fondant, this recognizable taste.
You should also know that the "porc d'antan" is a specifically Picard product, and that it offers you the guarantee of a "traced" meat which has been produced, moreover, in the greatest respect of the environment.
The rhubarb
Imported by English gardeners, rhubarb appeared in Picardie, especially in private persons' kitchen gardens at the very beginning of the last century.
Rhubarb is a perennial plant, with a great development, which likes fresh and deep grounds. Its very large and green leaves are hold on strong and long petioles which represent the eatable part of the plant.
The reproduction of rhubarb can be done by sowing but the most used way of cultivation is the multiplication by splinters of root stocks planted in the open ground either in March or in October.
First of all the ground has to be ploughed more than 50 cm deep and a basic manuring is brought. The maintenance works consist only in a manual weeding and a manuring in winter. During the summer, the ground has to remain fresh. The harvest of petioles lasts from mid-April to September.
Very sour, the petiole is cooked with its weight of sugar. The obtained compote is used in jam and is part of the composition of many cakes.
Rhubarb is also transformed into wine or juice.
The salicornia
Salicornia (Salicornia europaea L), from the Chénopodiacées family, is a halophilous plant, i.e. able to live on salt grounds such as the mudholes of la Baie de Somme. Its main morphological characteristic shows its adaptation to the presence of salt: the accumulation of fresh water (90%) in its tissues gives it this pulpy and succulent aspect.
There are several kinds of salicornia which are divided into two main categories:
- the perennial salicornia : its woody stem excludes any exploitation;
- the annual salicornia. It is green and tender during the growing period, ideal moment for harvest ; in autumn, it becomes woody and takes a very pretty purple color which illuminates the shore.
Salicornia has the characteristic to accumulate a great quantity of mineral salts, which explains its wealth in vitamins A, C, D and trace elements.
Salicornia is also called "samphire"because of its shape : the main leaf is made up of bulges fitted into each other and ends into a prominent nipple or "salt horn".
The exploitation of this plant is old. It's used as well as industrial aims (soap, soda, glass) or food purposes (vegetables, canned food) or therapeutic views (Vitamin C).
In la Baie de Somme, salicornia is mainly harvested from the end of May to the end of July, between Le Hourdel and Saint-Valéry-sur Somme, primarily by fishermen on foot. La Baie de Somme, with 400 to 500 tons of picked salicornia every year, represents 90% of the national production.
Salicornia takes advantage from an image of a natural, biological and original product and is mainly eaten like condiment (with vinegar) or like vegetables (cooked like French beans).
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