A SHORT HISTORY OF THE DROPT VALLEY ASPARAGUS TRADE
Things to do on an unusually cold Saturday in May (part 1)....
We were invited by friends to attend a 'degustation' of wine and asparagus in our neighbouring village. It sounds an unusal combination, but the reason behind it was that the father and mother grow asparagus commercially while their daughter and her husband are winemakers. Traditionally the French prefer white asparagus, which is what is grown by the family, while the incoming British prefer green. Our hosts decided that they should market their produce to us incomers by telling us more about the history of locally grown asparagus and that the best way to do it was by hosting a lunch where they would serve an asparagus omelette together with their rosé wine. The lunch was delicious and hugely convivial, but of even more interest was the story behind the asparagus grown in the vallee du Dropt.
Widescale production began at the beginning of the 20th century when the local railway line (since pulled up) would transport the white asparagus grown along the southern section of the Dropt river valley (which runs along the edge of the Entre Deux Mers region of the Gironde) to Bordeaux to market. There was a series of middle men between the producer and ultimate consumer who would market the asparagus, each one adding a little bit to the cost of the final product. This continued for decades until (and now it gets political) Greece joined the European Union. At this point, due to the internal market, Greek asparagus flooded France because it was much cheaper than the local product. Greek labour costs were in the region of 1€ per hour compared to 10€ - 13€ per hour in France (take note Mr Hollande). The local French asparagus industry faced devastation.
French producers fought back by cutting out the layers of middle-men and by appealing to consumers in the immediate locality rather than further afield. Now asparagus grown in this region is sold to local consumers directly, reducing both the costs of distribution and marketing and - something which chimes with modern ideology - food miles. However, this, in turn, presented two new problems.
1. The French prefer white asparagus, while the British incomers - a significant part of the new market - prefer what our host insisted on calling 'American style' asparagus (i.e.green). As he grows white asparagus, which is not what appeals to our tastes, our host recognised that he does have a problem. The lunch was an attempt to convert us to white asparagus, while at the same time alerting us to the fact that he is starting to grow the green type as well. As anyone in business realises you have to evolve to suit your consumers' changing tastes in order to hold onto your share of the market.
2. The reduced food miles idea is great - they now sell to consumers within a 30 kilometre radius of the farm - but the asparagus producers will always be small businesses. If you are happy with that, then there is no problem, but France does seem to have a difficulty at the moment with sowing the seeds of future big employers - no-body has the incentive to employ people and grow their business because it is so complex and so expensive to do so. So productivity in France cannot increase and the country's future wealth appears to be compromised.
All that notwithstanding; we had a great lunch and it was a fine example of entente cordiale as our French hosts explained their business and cooked us lunch and we became converted to both their asparagus and the wine they produce.
Before the meal Mr Giraudel, our host and the owner of the asparagus farm, gave a short talk, which was translated by Matt, one of his English speaking neighbours (who also helped cook the omelette). He showed us an asparagus crown and explained how it grows, when you harvest it, the difference between white and green and how long a crown remains productive (in theory up to 20 years, but after 8 years production of asparagus spears slows down and commerically the plant becomes less viable).
There are two types of white asparagus - one is more fibrous and tougher. This is the one which is commercially produced on a big scale. It withstands the rigours of transportation and is easier to process. It is grown for texture at the expense of flavour. Mr Giraudel grows a different variety - called Larac in fact a violet asparagus, rather than white, which is more fragile and lacks the fibrous characteristics of the true white, but which is better for flavour. This is what he was recommending to us. We Brits, of course, still plump for the green....so he is diversifying and growing green asparagus for his growing Anglophone market which is to be found within 30 kilometres of where the vegetable is grown. What you would call a win-win situation I suppose!
More asparagus facts provided by Mr Giraudel and his family are:
The wine was also delicious - we bought half a dozen bottles of rosé to bring home. The asparagus season here is from 15th March to 1st June (weather permitting), so we have only a few days left to enjoy it this year, whereas rosé is available all year round!
Useful contacts:
Asparagus available seasonally from E.A.R.L. Giraudel, tel 05 56 61 68 02
For the rosé wine visit Chateau La Rambauliere, Martineau, 33580 Dieulivol tel 05 56 61 65 29
We were invited by friends to attend a 'degustation' of wine and asparagus in our neighbouring village. It sounds an unusal combination, but the reason behind it was that the father and mother grow asparagus commercially while their daughter and her husband are winemakers. Traditionally the French prefer white asparagus, which is what is grown by the family, while the incoming British prefer green. Our hosts decided that they should market their produce to us incomers by telling us more about the history of locally grown asparagus and that the best way to do it was by hosting a lunch where they would serve an asparagus omelette together with their rosé wine. The lunch was delicious and hugely convivial, but of even more interest was the story behind the asparagus grown in the vallee du Dropt.
Asparagus in our kitchen - with the ingredients of Hollandaise sauce
Widescale production began at the beginning of the 20th century when the local railway line (since pulled up) would transport the white asparagus grown along the southern section of the Dropt river valley (which runs along the edge of the Entre Deux Mers region of the Gironde) to Bordeaux to market. There was a series of middle men between the producer and ultimate consumer who would market the asparagus, each one adding a little bit to the cost of the final product. This continued for decades until (and now it gets political) Greece joined the European Union. At this point, due to the internal market, Greek asparagus flooded France because it was much cheaper than the local product. Greek labour costs were in the region of 1€ per hour compared to 10€ - 13€ per hour in France (take note Mr Hollande). The local French asparagus industry faced devastation.
French producers fought back by cutting out the layers of middle-men and by appealing to consumers in the immediate locality rather than further afield. Now asparagus grown in this region is sold to local consumers directly, reducing both the costs of distribution and marketing and - something which chimes with modern ideology - food miles. However, this, in turn, presented two new problems.
1. The French prefer white asparagus, while the British incomers - a significant part of the new market - prefer what our host insisted on calling 'American style' asparagus (i.e.green). As he grows white asparagus, which is not what appeals to our tastes, our host recognised that he does have a problem. The lunch was an attempt to convert us to white asparagus, while at the same time alerting us to the fact that he is starting to grow the green type as well. As anyone in business realises you have to evolve to suit your consumers' changing tastes in order to hold onto your share of the market.
2. The reduced food miles idea is great - they now sell to consumers within a 30 kilometre radius of the farm - but the asparagus producers will always be small businesses. If you are happy with that, then there is no problem, but France does seem to have a difficulty at the moment with sowing the seeds of future big employers - no-body has the incentive to employ people and grow their business because it is so complex and so expensive to do so. So productivity in France cannot increase and the country's future wealth appears to be compromised.
All that notwithstanding; we had a great lunch and it was a fine example of entente cordiale as our French hosts explained their business and cooked us lunch and we became converted to both their asparagus and the wine they produce.
Before the meal Mr Giraudel, our host and the owner of the asparagus farm, gave a short talk, which was translated by Matt, one of his English speaking neighbours (who also helped cook the omelette). He showed us an asparagus crown and explained how it grows, when you harvest it, the difference between white and green and how long a crown remains productive (in theory up to 20 years, but after 8 years production of asparagus spears slows down and commerically the plant becomes less viable).
Mr Giraudel and some of his asparagus
There are two types of white asparagus - one is more fibrous and tougher. This is the one which is commercially produced on a big scale. It withstands the rigours of transportation and is easier to process. It is grown for texture at the expense of flavour. Mr Giraudel grows a different variety - called Larac in fact a violet asparagus, rather than white, which is more fragile and lacks the fibrous characteristics of the true white, but which is better for flavour. This is what he was recommending to us. We Brits, of course, still plump for the green....so he is diversifying and growing green asparagus for his growing Anglophone market which is to be found within 30 kilometres of where the vegetable is grown. What you would call a win-win situation I suppose!
More asparagus facts provided by Mr Giraudel and his family are:
- It is picked by hand, guaranteeing quality
- It is part of our region's heritage and by buying it locally we are contributing to the survival of our community
- Its cultivation is in balance with the environment
- It cannot be cloned so is not genetically modified
- It is ia natural diuretic so can be used as a natural cure for water retention
- It can easily be bottled or frozen - in which case the best time to do this is between the first and 20th of May as it is then cheapest and of best quality
The wine was also delicious - we bought half a dozen bottles of rosé to bring home. The asparagus season here is from 15th March to 1st June (weather permitting), so we have only a few days left to enjoy it this year, whereas rosé is available all year round!
Useful contacts:
Asparagus available seasonally from E.A.R.L. Giraudel, tel 05 56 61 68 02
For the rosé wine visit Chateau La Rambauliere, Martineau, 33580 Dieulivol tel 05 56 61 65 29
Comments
Post a Comment