FLAVORS FROM ELSEWHERE NEARBY

After Paimpol in 2015 and Vannes in 2018, the boutique La Cale aux épices found a small place alongside the shops rue Jules Simon in Rennes. Open since May 2021, this charming counter invites you to travel around the world in a few flavors. Immersion and meeting with its captain, Christophe Lemaire.

La Cale aux épices opened in Rennes on May 19, 2021, thanks to the reopening of shops and the complete resumption of shopping activities in response to the health crisis. After Paimpol and Vannes, Christophe Lemaire explains this new establishment by the “ customer wishes “. People who know him and know his shop – run by him and his sister – kept asking him when a shop in the Breton capital. It’s done

Christophe Lemaire in front of his Rennes store.

One of the first things that strikes you when you walk into the boutique located on rue Jules Simon is the importance given to listening. That of customers, but also that of spices. According to Christophe Lemaire, not all of them mix: you have to know how to combine flavors and respect other mixtures from countries accustomed to such and such tastes.

As for the prices, they are quite reasonable. Christophe Lemaire shows us once again that they are lower than most spices in supermarkets. For almost the same price, the quantity is more important and the taste totally different, more powerful, more authentic.

Fruit of the many trips that Christophe Lemaire started 15 years ago, the family business harvests spices all over the world. Finally, everywhere is a big word: the essential is located in the Mediterranean basin and in Asia, the diversity and the quantity being less in the other countries – South and North America. La Cale thus makes discover the oriental flavors imported in France with the help of small French hands, but also of the inhabitants of the country. He works with a few collaborators including a culinary historian, relatives – including his sister – and people whom he then trains and who also teach him a lot.

reindeer spice wedge — The many spices on display in the Rennes store.

Christophe Lemaire likes to underline it: when traveling, we meet people who have lived on land for years; respect must be shown when it comes to the traditions of the regions; a hidden and fragrant world opens up to you. Whether in the south-east of India or in Cambodia, the adventurer gives a major place to the preservation of traditional recipes. Some current mixtures are, according to him, to be avoided, because the name of the recipe, therefore reinvented, would have to be changed. Some brands use traditional recipe names while their blends are not. The Sri Lankan black curry, a Tamil specialty, is sometimes blended with charcoal, black sesame, in order to give the color, but which is never used there. ” It’s the same with Breton pancakes, if you remove the eggs and milk, it may be a vegan pancake but no longer a real pancake. It’s the same with spices », Explains the manager.

He also returns to the common mistake of thinking of curry as a spice. However, it is a mixture of these, reminiscent of the word “massala” in the Hindi language, and which is similar to a mixture of coconut in southern India, with variants in the south-east.

Telling the history of spices and the impact of the colonial powers in its export, our lover of exotic flavors gets down to it with passion. The role of the East India Company and the layout of the main sea routes have a lot to do with this massive export of spices.

In this approach, the store’s emblem is evocative: the schooner. It represents both the legacy of fishing in Paimpol, where the first Spice wedge, and that of the world trade in spices. When it was created in 1915, the proud ship transported salt between Iceland and Canada and then carried out cabotage on the Breton coasts after the First World War. It represents at the same time the idea of crossing, excursion, and commercial exchange between several places.

The company also has two laboratories, one of which is in preparation. There, they are three, of which Christophe Lemaire and his sister, looking for new curry blends. They also work with young people from the ESAT (Establishment and service for help through work) who label and participate in the packaging of products. ” The idea is also to be able to help the professional integration of people with disabilities. »

In addition to an impressive curry offer, Christophe also specializes in spices and especially peppers. A few dozen categories line the shelves of his shop, all from the plantations of small producers. This is one of the shop’s watchwords: “ The fact of only working and collaborating with small producers who respect the environment and the quality of the crops, encourages us to only use these traditional channels for our supplies. »

La Cale aux épices is also making itself known abroad. Returning tourists have goods sent, particularly to Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain. They post on Instagram photos of their curry bottle in the most famous places in the world …

Christophe Lemaire continues to travel to India and Southeast Asia to glean new spices and offer new flavors. The objective is to discover original recipes from distant countries, to offer assortments in accordance with everyone’s tastes and to respect the culinary traditions of their countries. Before leaving the store, we are directed to the spice that seems closest to our tastes, for a personalized and artisanal tasting … what will be yours?