In the Footsteps of the Lavender Pickers

Lavender is the plant that sells Provence. Without it we’d have to fall back on Sunflowers or Thyme but you can find them elsewhere, not like the huge expanses of lavender on the Valensole Plateau or the Plateau d’Albion. There is a problem however, lavender is in flower for only 4 weeks, although I have read on many a so called “expert in travel” to France websites that it flowers from the end of May to mid-August. The truth is : end of June to third week of July, no more, no less.

I have spent many an hour in meetings for the local end regional tourist boards debating on the best way to market Provence, and lavender crops up very quickly every time. It’s an easy sell and therefore should be used, but at the same time there is a strong movement against it, as there is so much more to Provence than lavender.

La Haute Provence with its emblematic fields of Lavender

For myself, I love it, and every year for four weeks it never ceases to amaze and enchant me, the different hues, the neat tidy (probably treated) fields, and the ones with about as many weeds growing as lavender plants and the vibrant green leaves of the wild almond trees growing at the ends or in the middle of the fields, witnesses to a not so distant past when almond orchards outnumbered lavender fields.

A bit of history

It wasn’t until the start of the 20^th century that lavender was cultivated in fields. Up until then it was picked in the foothills of Provence by hand, but the growing demand from the perfume industry, and later the industrial sector for washing powders, shampoos etc. gave rise in about 1905 to the experimental planting of wild plants. It took many years to perfect the process and after experimenting with cross breeding and grafting with the strongest and most prolific plants, the first successful fields came to be around 1925-30. It was still picked by hand however, and even if taking on a row of lavender with a scythe is easier than picking individual stalks in the mountains, it was still a tough job in the July heat of Provence.

Lavender fields on the Plateau de Valensole
with wild almond trees

In 1952 the first mechanical harvester saw the day, and things quickly changed. In 1920 the annual production of essential lavender oil was 70 tonnes 90% of which was wild lavender and 10% cultivated. By 1959 the annual production was 130 tonnes but this time 90% was cultivated and only 10% wild. The lavender production moved to areas easy to harvest and they are still there today, mostly on the Valensole Plateau, and on the Plateau d’Albion . Today the production is all cultivated and the annual production is 800 – 1000 tonnes of essential lavender oil.

The main production today is Lavandin whose essential oils are used in industrial products and the main production comes from the Valensole Plateau.  To find fields of True Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) used in cosmetics and herbal remedies you have to climb above 800 metres to the Plateau d’Albion around the villages of Revest du Bion and Sault.

Lavender fields on the Plateau d'Albion

Your own Lavender Experience 

Alternatively you can still find True Lavender growing wild on the hills of La Haute Provence, and I wanted to put together a simple, interesting travel experience that would take you back in time, and allow you to experience a day in the life of the Provençal Lavender Pickers, with a few modern comforts thrown in of course, this travel experience will soon be available on the Unique Provence web site for the 2013 lavender season.

Wild lavender growing in Haute Provence

One of the components of the above travel experience is experiencing the lavender distillation up close, for this we have secured access to a marvellous still which we have been testing this summer.  

The still is supplied by the European University of Scents and Flavours, and our master of ceremonies in the photos is Olivier Bagarri, the director of the afore mentioned place of learning and a personal friend.

The process is simple water is heated in the bottom of the still, the steam rises and passes through the lavender capturing the essential oil, it rises out of the top, and condenses in the condensing coil where it comes out as lavender water and oil mixed together. The oil rises to the top of the water and is recuperated. The lavender water is also kept and can be used in the house as it is very rich in lavender oil. Below you can admire my stunningly detailed diagram on how it all works!

How to distil Lavender (click to enlarge)

The amount of essential oil produced during a distillation is not huge, especially using lavande fine (True Lavender) which was the case in our experiments. The ratio of weight of lavender to weight of essential oil produced is 0.5% and with Lavandin it is 1.0% to 1.8%, so you if you join us next year you will be taking home a very small amount, but this experience isn’t about producing gallons of oil but about the way it is made.

Here are some more photos of lavender distillation, with a little anecdote at the bottom.

The Still in Action

Olivier with some of the ingredients

A live distillation always attracts attention

The Essential Oil floating on top of the Lavender water

Olivier inspecting the result of the mornings distillation

The Thieving Tourist

Last week we distilled some lavender and the final quantity was 7ml, which was quite an honourable amount. A lady from a passing cycling tour group came to see what we were doing, and we showed her. She looked at the 7ml of essential oil, and shouted out to her friends “this is the stuff you can buy on the market!” pulled a small bottle out of her bag, poured in the oil and walked off!  We were so stunned by this “robbery” that we remained speechless, as the efforts of an entire mornings toil disappeared into the distance. But we can distil again, and she has a lovely souvenir even though she had forgotten to ask if she could take it, and she had also forgotten to say thank you after she did, which would have been nice…

Learn more about our travel experience - A Day in the Life of a Lavender Picker

Plateau d'Albion Lavender 2012

Plateau d'Albion Lavender 2012, a set on Flickr.

The last photos of Lavender fields in flower for 2012, the harvest is well under way now... but soon our new lavender travel experience for summer of 2013 will be unveiled "en avant première" on the Unique Provence Blog.
These photos were all taken on the Plateau d'Albion near the towns of Revest du Bion and Sault*. It is here that the valuable "Lavande Fine" grows, used by the cosmetic industry and notably L'Occitane en Provence a Unique Provence exclusive partner.
Note the Mont Ventoux** often making an appearance in the background, adding a note of majesty to the already spectacular views.

*See our blog post on the Nougat maker of Sault
**See our blog post on the Mont Ventoux

The Nougat Maker of Sault

The village of Sault set at the foot of the Mont Ventoux is situated at 800m on the Plateau d’Albion. Until recently this plateau was famed for its missile launching facilities, as it was from here that a large part of France’s nuclear response in case of an attack would have been launched by our cold war enemies.

Now the missiles have gone, the enemies are our friends, and the only military presence that remains is a base occupied by the French Foreign Legion at St Christol.

A view of Lavender fields with the Mont Ventoux
ever present in the background

So now the Plateau has regained its former place as the primary location to find fields of Lavande Fine or True Lavender with the ever present backdrop of the majestic Mont Ventoux. But the Lavender, beautiful as it may be is not the subject of this article. The village of Sault has another claim to fame, and one that I have driven past numerous times, promising myself that one day I will stop and investigate, the Maison André Boyer, master Nougat maker. So on Monday I phoned them up, and arranged a rendez-vous, and today I set off to find out all about Nougat.

The Village of Sault

The Maison André Boyer was established in 1887 by Ernest Boyer, originally a patissier, he started making Nougat Blanc and Nougat Noir which were two of the 13 desserts of a Provençale Christmas. (I’ll tell you about the others in December) he then went on to make Provence Almond Macaroons and biscuits using Petite Epautre flour which is a type of wheat commonly grown in Provence. His reputation grew, and soon Nougat de Sault became very sought after. The business remained in the family passing from generation to generation as did the recipes and their little secrets which make this Nougat so special.  Today the business is still run in the exact same way as before, but no longer belongs to the family.

The façade of the Maison André Boyer 

All the Nougat is made in the back of the shop, using wonderful looking machines from a bygone era. The process is simple, or at least when explained it seems so. For the soft white nougat, first you mix egg whites with honey in a bain-marie for 2 hours, then slowly add a sugar syrup and continue mixing for another hour. Meanwhile take fresh almonds and roast them to bring out their flavour, then let them cool and add to the sugar, honey and egg white mixture, pour onto a tray, and let it set for a day.  The next day using a specially designed circular saw, cut it all up, wrap well in cellophane to keep the moisture out and there you have it. For the Black nougat, mix honey, sugar and almonds in a copper pan stirring constantly, until it caramelises, and pour out to cool, but this one is cut before it gets too hard.

One of the many Nougat making devices

In the summer there is a free guided tour on Tuesdays and Fridays at 3pm, but only in French, it’s a short tour, showing the workshop and there is also a 7 minute video which is well worth watching even if you can’t understand it. It shows the different stages of Nougat making and is presented by André Boyer whose wonderful Provençale accent, and the background music, a sort of medieval medley, give it a very homemade feel.

Bags of flavoured Marshmallows waiting to be eaten

The visit finishes in the shop of course, where as well as the Nougats macaroons and biscuits there is also marshmallows flavoured with lavender strawberry and rose water, callisons, chocolate covered almonds and even a house made Pastis. There is also an ice cream section which boasts tens of flavours including lavender, nougat and macaroon, all of which I was offered and thoroughly enjoyed!

So if you decide to go on a trip to discover the Lavender fields of the Plateau d’Albion, or go to visit the Mont Ventoux (I’ll tell you about that tomorrow) plan a stop in the village of Sault and take home some of the famed Nougat from the House of André Boyer.

Private visits are available with Unique Provence, for more information contact us here.