Guillaume Bouyer, vice-president of the Safran de l’Angoumois association, relaunched a year ago, fell into red gold six years ago, this refined and luxurious plant which sells for up to €40,000 per month. kilo. He made it his…
Guillaume Bouyer, vice-president of the Safran de l’Angoumois association, relaunched a year ago, fell into red gold six years ago, this refined and luxurious plant which sells for up to €40,000 per month. kilo. He has made it his profession for three years, leaving viticulture and market gardening behind.
The harvest is done by hand in October and November. Saffron likes the cold.
Celine Levain
Up to 16,000 flowers picked per day
Today he is knowledgeable about the cultivation of this spice, crocus sativus, of which Champniers was the world capital of production in the 16th century. The great colds, the revolution, the famines, the wars, etc., “ today, France only produces 30 kilos while we import ten tonnes “. This gives an idea of the market to be taken. However, there are only around ten of them in Charente to bring it out of the ground and he is the only one in all of New Aquitaine to have signed with Gamm Vert to whom he has been supplying bulbs since this year. “ We were not able to provide them with as much as planned because of the damage from the field mice. “. Nasty rodents which will force him to work the paths more even if it impoverishes the soil and favors the habitats of foxes and snakes, good predators.
Producers collect the red pistil. It must be done in less than 7 seconds to have profitable harvest days.
Celine Levain
The bulb is solid but the flower fragile, very sensitive to the weather. Normally, the season runs between mid-October and mid-November. This year, it started two weeks late due to the late heat. because saffron likes the cold ». Then it rained, but it rained too much and the stagnant water made the flowering unpredictable. This year, the season should therefore last until the end of November. Guillaume Bouyer tends to mechanize the tedious harvest of bulbs, using a potato harvester converted to saffron.
On the star tables
On the other hand, the picking of flowers is done by hand. “We can collect up to 16,000 per day in six or seven hours. We have to go quickly. If it rains, no more than four hours should pass between the moment we take them out of the ground and the moment we put them to dry in the oven, if we don’t want it to turn into rain. porridge », Notes the 29-year-old producer.
The pistils are then dried in a special oven.
Celine Levain
On a good day, you can pick 16,000 flowers in six or seven hours.
The spoils of his exploitation? 600 grams but that’s already a lot. “ It takes 250,000 flowers to produce one kilo of saffron “. An exceptional saffron that he dries in an oven at a temperature kept secret then matures for several months and which is sold directly on the markets in the summer, the Christmas markets in the winter, at the farm by appointment you and on the great tables of the region, from Limoges to Archiac via Poitiers, the Saint-Gelais in Angoulême, the Intemporel in La Rochefoucauld or the Verre Y Table in Jarnac. Among its clients: Table de Pavie, two Michelin stars, in Saint-Emilion, the Skiff Club of chef Stéphane Carrade, also two stars, in the Arcachon basin.
Guillaume Bouyer and his partner offer a wide range of products made from their saffron.
Celine Levain
If his activity is viable it is because Guillaume Bouyer transforms his product: honey with saffron, mustard, sheep’s cheese from the neighboring Séchère farm, strawberry jam and even ginger beer. lemon for example, born after multiple tests in which saffron plays the role of flavor enhancer.
Guillaume Bouyer has examined everything that science has been able to reveal as virtues of this flower. “ It has anti-oxidant, anti-smoking, anti-depressive properties and it is even said to be women’s Viagra because it regulates hormones. Everyone needs to eat saffron.”, he urges, smiling. Him, the cook in all sauces. “He needs to be rehydrated. Simply put two pistils in each square of ice cube with water, put it in the freezer covered in film and use it in your dishes, with vegetables, fish. It’s also very good in sweet recipes. A quarter of a gram costs ten euros. It’s around sixty pistils and around thirty servings. »
Another project now awaits the Safran de l’Angoumois association: obtaining an IGP, a protected geographical indication to highlight the qualities of a saffron with 700 years of existence. Representatives from Inao, the National Institute of Origin and Quality, came to Charente in September. “ They have been encouraging but it will take several years. » It remains to work on common specifications.
The recipe from Laurent Baptiste, chef at L’Intemporel, in La Rochefoucauld. The dessert of Jean-Charles Boisumault, the chef of Verre Y Table, in Jarnac.
Recipe ideas
For CL, two Charente chefs deliver easy recipes.
Laurent Baptiste, chef at l’Intemporel, in La Rochefoucauld offers turbot. Ingredients: 800g turbot, 2 pink lady apples, 200g cream, a shallot, two ripe avocados, a few pistils of saffron, two lemons, pepper, salt. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Make the guacamole with the crushed avocados, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Put in the fridge. Cut nice slices of apple. Cut your shallot finely, sweat it over medium heat, deglaze with lemon juice, add the cream, season and add the saffron, let it infuse for around ten minutes. Place the turbot on the oven tray, salt, pepper and add a few pieces of butter. Cook for 12-13 minutes, serve with the guacamole.
Jean-Charles Boisumault, chef at Verre Y Table, in Jarnac, offers a dessert. You need to make a saffron cream (100g of cream, 10 pistils of saffron, 150g of white chocolate, 250g of cold cream) and make three domes. Place them on Breton shortbread and place honeycomb tiles on top (100g flour, 100g egg white, 100g butter, 100g icing sugar). Serve with saffron syrup (400g water, 120g sugar, 12 saffron pistils).
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