Sud de France

A S UP P L E M E N T T O

Summer 2011

The deli buyer’s guide to

Languedoc-Roussillon Published in association with

www.sud-de-france.com

INCLUDES: • Regional specialities •Product guide • Key distributors & contacts PLUS: How to take part in this year’s Sud de France Festival retail promotion

WELCOME TO

Light

fantastic

If your customers still think French cuisine is all about pungent cheeses and rich sauces, maybe it’s time to introduce them to the cuisine of Languedoc-Roussillon. While the north and west of the region boast sturdier flavours like cassoulet, chestnuts and Lozère lamb, the Mediterranean fringes are all about lighter, healthier ‘lifestyle’ingredients – olives, anchovies, tapenades and more – to make the perfect aperitif.

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t’s the world’s largest single wineproducing region. It harvests a third of French rice from its freshwater lagoons.

It can boast peaches, nectarines, tomatoes and olives among its other prolific crops, and it’s a major producer of anchovies and sardines.

So while UK consumers have become accustomed to the light, fresh flavours of Spain and Italy, it seems that LanguedocRoussillon, in the south of France, can also claim a goodly slice of the famous Mediterranean diet.

Specialities of this region, which takes in around a half of France’s Mediterranean coastline, range from Collioure

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anchovies and Bouzigues oysters to the famous, vivid green, gently curving Lucques olive.

And while Languedoc-Roussillon is also home to some heartier French products such as cassoulet, which originated in Castelnaudary in the west of the region, it is those lighter, summery flavours that are particularly suited to the UK deli and farm shop market.

“The cassoulet is one of the few exceptions, in that it’s slightly ‘heavier’,” says Isabelle Kanaan, executive director of London’s Maison de la Région LanguedocRoussillon, one of four offices set up by the region in major export markets worldwide.

“The cuisine of Languedoc-Roussillon is very much about healthy products: fish, olives and olive oil, fruit and vegetables,” she says.

This translates into a host of ambient lines, mostly from small- to mediumsized producers, that can compete for taste with comparable lines from Spain, Italy or Greece.

Fitting firmly within the same ‘casual dining’ bracket as tapas and mezze, most

are also now available in contemporarystyle packaging that sits very comfortably alongside the best UK pack designs.

Examples include the Rue Traversette brand from St Pons de Mauchins in Hérault, with products such as leek fondue with pine kernel spread or carrot balls with cinnamon & honey, and the Présent Simple range from Parfums de Garrigue, that includes aubergine caviar and various flavoured salt mixes.

According to Kanaan, these are partly ‘lifestyle’ products that suit Mediterranean eating habits. “It’s that concept of the ‘aperitif time’ that doesn’t really exist here in Britain – sitting down with family and friends and having a drink with a bowl of Lucques olives, perhaps some little canapés with sun-dried tomato confit, tapanade or eggplant caviar.”

Alongside these sit quirkier products with engaging back-stories that are ideally suited to the deli. You’ll find examples in our product round-up over the next few pages.

This September, for the second time, Maison de la Région Languedoc-Roussillon in London will be running a nationwide trade and consumer festival to promote the region’s food & wine under the banner of Sud de France (see panel, right).

This umbrella brand was created by the region in 2006 to bring together the best and most interesting products from the south of France and promote them with a common identity.

It was partly a response to confusion on the part of consumers – particularly over wines. Shoppers the world over find the complex French system of classifying and labelling wines baffling, it reasoned, and there was no clear way of identifying top quality products from this part of France.

The distinctive red, white and blue Sud de France brand can be applied to all food and wine made in Languedoc-Roussillon, including fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, cheese, seafood, honey and processed products like olive oil, soups and biscuits.

Producers apply for inclusion under the brand and are granted the right to use it on a product by product basis.

The Maison de la Région LanguedocRoussillon, which has offices and a walk-in showroom in London’s Cavendish Square, a short walk from Oxford Circus, can provide deli, farm shop and food hall buyers with a comprehensive, illustrated directory of regional foods available from around 30 producers. Those that

hit the Sud de France criteria for quality and provenance are clearly highlighted.

The 100-page directory includes some producers whose products are already well known in the UK, such as Azaïs-Polito, whose fish soups are marketed here by London-based France Gourmet, and La Belle Chaurienne, whose cassoulet and duck confit are available through The Good Food Network.

But at the Cavendish Square office, Isabelle Kanaan says many of the region’s producers are still seeking distribution in the UK both within London and nationwide. “Our primary task at the moment is to find importers who want to import and sell some of these products,” she told FFD. Existing importers admit French food is not cheap. But a glance through the Sud de France list shows many products that

CREATE A WINNING IN-STORE FEATURE FOR THIS YEAR’S SUD DE FRANCE FESTIVAL • Free point-of-sale • Trade incentives • Shopper rewards • Prize draw • Marketing support About the Sud de France Festival From September 9-25 this year, the Maison de la Région LanguedocRoussillon in London will be spearheading the UK’s third Sud de France Festival – a mix of trade and consumer promotions, covering both supermarkets and the speciality food sector.

The Sud de France Festival is a chance to create a fresh point of interest in delis, food halls and farm shops, and to introduce shoppers to fine food products they might not have sampled before.

Point-of-sale pack for delis To encourage independents to stock and promote more food and wine from the south of France, the organisers have put together a full, free pointof-sale pack for delis that includes everything needed to engage shoppers and staff during the Festival fortnight. It includes shelf strips, shelf barkers and wobblers, posters and maps of the region

“This cuisine is very much about healthy products” deserve space on British deli shelves on the basis of both taste and style .

And for delis, the offer of a substantial point-of-sale package in support of this year’s Sud de France Festival is another good reason to give some of these Mediterranean-style specialities a trial. www.sud-de-france.com/en

How do I take part ?

All the retailer needs to do is stock at least three Sud de France food products from three different Sud de France suppliers, then promote these for the duration of September’s Festival.

An incentive for you…

Any retailer who takes part in the Festival can automatically take part in a competition to win a trip to the region.

An independent judging panel from Sud de France will identify the store that has made the best use of the Festival promotion to catch the attention of shoppers and sell more Sud de France products.

Further information, including terms and conditions, will be sent to stores with their point-of-sale kits. …and an incentive for shoppers When they buy a Sud de France food product, your clients will be able to enter a draw to win a fabulous meal at a well-known London or Manchester restaurant.

Find out more For apply for a FREE Sud de France Festival deli pack, contact the Maison de la Région Languedoc-Roussillon in London: Isabelle Kanaan e kanaan@suddefrance-export.com t 0207 079 3351 w www.festival-suddefrance.com Published by: Great Taste Publications and The Guild of Fine Food, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9FE UK. Tel: 01963 824464 w: www.finefoodworld.co.uk Editor: Mick Whitworth Design: Mark Windsor Printed by: Advent Colour, Andover, Hants © Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2011. Reproduction of whole or part of this magazine without the publisher’s prior permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.

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PRODUCT IDEAS

The complete

package SPECIALITIES Collioure anchovies

From the hearty cassoulet of Castenaudary and the rich, creamy cod brandade of Nîmes to the fresh simplicity of Lucques olives, products from Languedoc-Roussillon can compete for shelf space in every section of the fine food store. Or why not offer a complete regional selection, backed by point-of-sale from Sud de France’s UK office?

Chestnut honey

Both anchovies and sardines are important exports for the Sud de France region, with 80% of French anchovies coming from its Mediterranean coast.

A culinary speciality of the small town in the Pyrénées-Orientales after which it is named, the Collioure anchovy is found in many different formats and recipes: packed in salt or oil, mashed into an anchovy cream, in a tapenade (olive spread) or an “anchoïade” (a dressing made from tapenade, anchovies cream and olive oil), stuffed into an olive, and even fried or in soup. In traditional Catalan cuisine the Collioure is also used in salads and as an appetizer, served with crushed tomatoes on a grilled slice of bread.

La Cave à Miel

Based in Castelnaudary, where it was set up in little butcher’s shop in 1956, family-run firm Rivière likes to describe is products as ‘the authentic taste of rural French cuisine’.

None are more authentic than its Cassoulet de Castelnaudary, made with duck or goose confit, its own sausage, bacon rind, and haricots beans that have been simmered in vegetable stock.

Confit de Canard La Belle Chaurienne Named after the inhabitants of Castelnaudary, the heartland of cassoulet production, La Belle Chaurienne’s products – ranging from cod brandade to coq au vin – have won fans in export markets as far afield as the UK, Denmark, Spain and Hong Kong. Its duck confit, containing 59% duck leg meat with duck fat and salt, is available in 800g (2-3 portion) and 1.25kg (4-5 portion) retail tins as well as 3.8kg catering sizes.

Accent D’oc Accent D’oc produces a range of imaginative, artisan-style specialities suitable for tapas, buffets and aperitifs, from fennel & basil spread to beetroot & lime ‘pistou’. Its sweet onion & nutmeg confit includes white wine and honey to balance the bite of Xerès vinegar.

FINE FOOD DIGEST

Maison Rivière

La Cave à Miel’s chestnut honey is part of a range of spring and summer honeys reflecting the flora and terrain of the French Mediterranean, from acacia and rosemary to a ‘mountain honey’ that mixes the flavours of wild flowers and berries. The chestnut honey, which has a robust flavour described as ‘strong and full-bodied’, is available in 250g and 400g jars.

Sweet onion & nutmeg confit

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Cassoulet de Castelnaudary

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Rousquilles La Confiserie du Tech A traditional Catalan product from Roussillon, these rousquilles fondantes are soft, ring-shaped shortbread biscuits with a sweet, thin fondant glaze, lightly flavoured with aniseed or vanilla. They are produced by a family-run company in Mas Guérido, near Perpignan.

Picholine olives

Regional fine foods from Languedoc-Roussillon

Eugéne Brunel An olive cannery in the Languedoc region, Eugène Brunel is now the only French producer of black Picholine olives. Both black and green Picholines are available to the UK market, in 370ml glass jars and fresh trays. The company – which also produces Lucques olives, tapenades and various cocktail products – is an established exporter to Europe and the US.

Lozère lamb

AOC Bleu des Causses cheese

Cévennes honey AOC Pélardon Cheese

Chestnut

FRANCE

Tapenade Charcuterie from Lozére

AOC Cévennes Onion

Peach and nectarines

Rennet Apple of the Vigan

Picholine Olive

Lucques Olive

Nîmes Brandade de Morue

Olive oil Petits Pâtés de Pézenas meat pies

Tapenade

AOC Camargue Rice

Melon

AOC Camargue Bull Camargue Fleur de Sel fine sea salt

Oysters from the Thau Basin

Cassoulet from Castelnaudary

Zézettes and Tielles de Sète Shellfish

Rousquille meringue biscuits

Peach and nectarines

Catalan Charcuterie Apricots

Collioure anchovies Tomato

Oreillettes CMJ These crunchy, golden sugar-dusted biscuits were traditionally produced in many of the Languedoc’s small bakeries around Carnival time, but they are now available year-round and are a popular Christmas treat.

Producer CMJ, which is based in St Georges d’Orques in Herault, set up in business 30 years ago as an artisan maker of potato chips, so these crisp, fried biscuits were a good fit as it expanded into other products.

Sold in blister packs, the Oreillettes contain no preservatives or additives.

SPECIALITIES Lucques olives Fleshy, tender and soft, with a light nutty flavour, the green Lucques is considered by some to be the best table olive in the world, and certainly the best in France.

Its name comes from Lucca, the Italian province where it is thought to have originated, but nowadays the Lucques is grown mainly in Languedoc. Bright green in colour and slightly elongated, it is distinguished by the gently curving crescent – or perhaps croissant – shape.

It‘s best eaten the simple way: on its own or in olive oil.

Fish from the Mediterranean coast

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Bouteillan extra virgin olive oil Domaine Purseigle-Crassous Olives have been grown for centuries around Beziers in Languedoc, but when Anne Purseigle took over her family’s Purseigle-Crassous estate here in 1979 its land was initially devoted to grape vines. In 1999 the business started producing olive oil too, and it now offers a range including single-variety Bouteillan and Aglandau extra virgin oils as well as others blended from Laguedoc olives.

The rocky scrubland of the Purseigle-Crassous estate is said to be typical of the clay and chalk Mediterranean soil and ideally suits traditional olive growing.

Brandade de Nîmes Raymond Geoffroy Brandade de Morue, or creamed salt cod, has been the main speciality of Raymond Geoffroy since the company was founded in Nîmes in 1879.

It can be eaten staight from the jar with bread or potatoes, as an ingredient in dishes such as creamed salt cod terrine or used as a topping on canapés and starters.

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AOC Huile d’Olives de Nîmes Syndicat des AOC Olive et Huile d’Olive de Nîmes The full-bodied flavour of Picholine olives helps give this AOC (equivalent to Protected Designation of Origin) oil from the area around Nîmes its distinctive flavour. While the AOC rules require a minimum of 60% Picholine, at least 70% of this traditional variety goes into the especially robust blend pictured here, which is labelled Huile intense.

SPECIALITIES

Cassoulet Although this famous stew of beans and pork, duck, goose or other meats is seen as quintessentially French, it also has a historic British connection that adds to its provenance.

According to legend, the dish was invented during the siege of Castelnaudary by the English-born Black Prince, Edward, in 1355, when the starving townspeople gathered all the available food to cook a gigantic stew to sustain their fighting men. Versions of the dish – named after the earthenware cassole in which it was made – are now found all over south-west France, and commercial products are readily available in jars or cans. But Castelnaudary still considers itself the ‘capital of cassoulet’.

Marrons de Cévennes

Bouzigues oysters With the Mediterranean forming its south-east boundary it would be surprising if seafood didn’t feature heavily among the Languedoc-Roussillon region’s signature products. Both mussels and oysters have been harvested here for millennia, but it is oysters from the Bassin de Thau, one of the region’s coastal lakes, that are particularly prized.

Known sometimes as diamants roses (pink diamonds) Bouzigues oysters are, like their British equivalents, best eaten between September and April, when balsa-wood boxes of these delicacies are to be found, packed in ice and seaweed, on many Languedoc markets. But they are also now being made available to UK fine food stores.

Oysters generally grow in tidal waters, but there is no tide in the land-locked Bassin de Thau so growers replicate the sea’s action by lifting the ropegrown shellfish in and out of the water.

One producer has even developed an ingenious eco-friendly system using photo-voltaic panels to power production of its ‘solar powered oysters’.

SPECIALITIES

Verfeuille Made with roasted whole chestnuts from the mountainous Cévennes, Verfeuille’s Marrons de Cévennes contain just nuts, Cognac and cane sugar. They can be added to meat, game or poultry dishes, where they will soak up the juices from the stock, or served as an appetiser or dessert. Verfeuille, based in the heart of the Cévennes, is well known for its sweet chestnut jams and honeys.

Rockfish soup Azaïs -Polito One of the best-known LanguedocRoussillon brands in Britain, AzaïsPolito is the last craft fish cannery in Sète, which remains one of the Mediterranean’s most important fishing harbours. A 630g jar of its concentrated Soupe de Poisson de Roche, which carries the French Label Rouge quality mark, is enough to give 5-6 people an evocative taste of the Med. For authenticity, it should be served with garlic croutons and rouille.

AOC Huile d’Olives de Nîmes Moulin de Villevielle Founded in 1929, Moulin de Villevieille is the co-operative oil mill for the town of Sommières in Gard.

Since the 1990s it has made a speciality of single variety oils using olives including Picholine, Négrette, Aglandau and Bouteillan. However, it says its AOC Nîmes olive oil – a blend of Picholine with the mild, fruity Négrette – is its “star product”.

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Lucques olives L’Oulibo L’Oulibo has been around since 1942, but it was around 1970 that the co-operative of growers behind the brand, centred around the village of Bize-Minervois, began planting Lucques olive groves in earnest.

Its members now hand-pick and process around 250 tonnes of the mild, half-moonshaped Lucques olives – also known as ‘green diamonds’ – every year. They are marketed in 200g net weight jars as well as in bulk pails.

Balsamic vinegar Présent Simple This stylishly bottled organic balsamic vinegar is one of a wide range of classic oils, syrups, salts, preserves and biscuits from Présent Simple. The company is rooted in the olive oil market but began widening its range a few years ago. Working from its kitchens at Marguerittes, near Nîmes, it has come up with a selection of artisan sweet and savoury foods and “organic gourmet gifts” in the spirit of the traditional Provençal grocery store.

Vegetable crisps Rue Traversette ‘Sans huile!’ declares the label on these strikingly packaged chips de légumes from Rue Traversette. The absence of oil means this savoury mix of beetroot, zucchini, carrot and sweet potato can be marketed as a ‘guilt-free’ snack or appetiser.

The novel plastic globe packaging gives a shelf life of 90 days.

WHERE TO BUY?

Rouille à la Sétoise

Many of the best-known Sud de France products are already available in the UK through the fine food distributors listed here, while other producers are actively seeking representation here.

You can find out more by contacting the Sud de France office in London – details below.

MHP Production Like all MHP products, this rouille mayonnaise is based on dishes once produced in the restaurant kitchen of chef Michel Henri Pacheco in the Mediterranean fishing port of Sète. It is traditionally served with garlic croutons as an accompaniment to a Sète-style fish soup – also available from MHP. The company is nowadays owned by Raymond Geoffroy in Nîmes but still uses chef Pacheco’s original recipes.

Bespoke Foods www.bespoke-foods.co.uk Brand: Marie-Amélie (MHP Production)

Marinated anchovies

Organic Catalan-style ratatouille

Anchois Roque

Pro Sain

Maison Roque specialises in cured and preserved fish and other local specialities, including monkfish liver tapenade and scallop terrine with ginger, from the picturesque port of Collioure in the Roussillon area. Its handfilleted anchovies, available to the UK market in 350g jars, are a regional highlight.

Tomato purée and pulp, aubergine, onion, sweet peppers, shallots and unrefined cane sugar are among the ingredients of this organic ratatouille.

It is made by Pro Sain, based in Perpignan, just six miles or so from the Mediterranean coast, which has been producing French-style vegetablebased products and other, more exotic recipes – all organic – since 1968.

Other lines include bitter orange marmalade, peach jam and tomato sauce with basil, and cep sauce, using organic cep mushrooms.

Petits Pâtés de Pézenas Le Petit Scapin Although the idea of a sweet meat paté pie can seem odd even to French palates, these little cotton-reel size pastries with their filling of lamb mince and lemon zest have a strong British connection. The recipe is reputed to have been passed to the pastry-makers of Pézenas

by Lord Clive of India – or at least, by his chefs – in the mid-1700s when he stopped off in southern France on his return to Britain.

They are still produced in the town’s bakeries, and this packaged version was developed by Dominique Cazanave, who himself worked as a baker in Pézenas from the late 1960s onwards. Convinced by the wider potential of the product, he worked with his wife and family to develop his own Petits Pâtés in 1985 at his own bakery, Le Petit Scapin.

The pies are now available in packs of 4,6 or 12, and there is also a mini-pâtés version, sold 15 to the pack.

Eat French Food www.eatfrenchfood.co.uk Brand: Verfeuille Unique Fine Food www.uniquefinefoods.co.uk Brand: Accent d’Oc France Gourmet www.francegourmet.co.uk Brand: Azaîs Polito The Good Food Network www.thegoodfoodnetwork.co.uk Brand: La Belle Chaurienne RH Amar www.rhamar.com Brand: Maison Riviere Cotswold Fayre www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk Brand: Azaïs Polito If you are a retailer interested in buying other Sud de France brands or a distributor interested in working with producers from the LanguedocRoussillon region, contact: Sébastien du Boullay Food & wine promotion manager, Maison de la Région Languedoc Roussillon – London e duboullay@suddefrance-export.com t 0207 079 3341 or Isabelle Kanaan Executive director, Maison de la Région Languedoc Roussillon – London e kanaan@suddefrance-export.com t 0207 079 3341

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