Almond Blossom in Provence

By the time this post appears on my blog the remarkable event it recounts will be over!

Once upon a time the areas of Provence that are now famous for their lavender fields, where then famous for their almonds.
Indeed the main crops on the Valensole plateau were almonds and wheat, and the wheat was usually used for animal feed. Growing almonds was a hard job however and climatic conditions and competition from abroad just to name those, soon put a stop to the almond trees and let the lavender take its place.

If you take a trip to the Valensole plateau nowadays you will find that most of the lone trees growing amongst the lavender and wheat fields are wild almond trees, witnesses to the past when they were the kings of the land!

Wild almonds in Haute Provence

But times have changed and the almond trees are back. The harvest nowadays is used for essential almond oil and also for human consumption as the almonds are quite delicious, and when incorporated with local lavender honey the resulting nougat is something you won't forget in a hurry!
The essential oil is used in skin creams and one of the biggest clients is L'Occitane en Provence whose custom ensures the survival of the local harvest.

Below are a series of photos that can be found on our Flickr page of this years almond blossom. What is quite amazing is the scent given off by the flowers which smells of honey straight from the jar!

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

Moustiers and the Valensole plateau

Moustiers and the Valensole plateau , a set on Flickr.

A few pictures to illustrate the previous article, the town of Moustiers Ste Marie and the Friday market, and of course even more photos of the lavender fields of La Haute Provence up on the Plateau de Valensole...
Enjoy and share, but if you use the pictures please mention the credit "Unique Provence" and tell me where you use them. You can contact me here 
Thankyou

Lavender, Lakes and Moustiers Ste Marie

Last week I escorted a group for a day trip over the Valensole plateau. It’s a tour that I don’t do often enough with tourists, as the majority want to stay on the western side of Provence in the Luberon valley, and so it remains for me more often a family outing.

So let me try to tempt you…

One of the vast Lavender fields on the Plateau de Valensole

The mention of the Valensole plateau immediately conjures up images of endless lavender fields in summer, and that is indeed what you find there. Although the disease spread by a relative of the cicada* has decimated the lavender in the past years, new fields are being planted, and the surviving ones are still as impressive. The main variety grown up here is Lavandin (Lavandula x hybrida) whose essential oils are used in the manufacture of industrial products; washing powders, air fresheners etc. For fields of True Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) used in cosmetics and herbal remedies you have to climb above 800 metres to the Plateau de Sault (article coming soon).   But back to Valensole. The other thing you can’t help noticing as you drive across the plateau - aside from coach loads of tourists wading through the rows of lavender, taking photos and picking bouquets of it as a souvenir – are the Almond trees. Once a major cash crop in Provence, cheaper competition brought the production to a near halt, and most of the trees you see now are lone wild ones, or remnants of a bygone age. However in recent years there has been a rise in demand for high quality almond oil especially from L’Occitane en Provence who has been essential in the renaissance of this emblematic tree. 

A wild almond photographed in Haute Provence in May 2012

One of the biggest producers on the plateau is Jean-Pierre Jaubert who is the main supplier for L’Occitane, and wandering around his farm with a handful of delicious almonds (he eats two for my every one!) as he tells you the cycle of his crop and the process of shucking, and shows you the huge cold rooms used for storage to preserve the creamy white almonds (another handful is lifted here to continue our visit) you feel privileged to be with a man who’s passion for his work is contagious. I visited in March when the flowers are blossoming and to stand immobile in the middle of the trees all you can hear are the bees, and as you listen it seems to get louder and louder  to a point of it being almost deafening, in fact being the only sound you can hear, it has a strange hypnotic effect. The lavender fields of Valensole produce the same humming noise, but in July it is also combined with the clicking of cameras, the cries of delight in 20 different languages and thus loses some of its hypnotic qualities.

*For more on the cicada click here

A view of the village of Moustiers Ste Marie

We continue across the Plateau with our next destination being Moustiers Ste Marie. This picture postcard town set against the rocks, which if you follow to the right, will lead you into the Verdon Gorges (another article coming on these too) is dominated by a star hung between two rock ledges on a huge chain. The original star was hung by the Blacasset, a soldier and troubadour who vowed that if he returned to Provence after his capture during the seventh crusade he would erect a shrine to the Virgin Mary. This he did in the form of a 16 pointed star, emblem of the family, hung on a chain over the village of Moustiers which today 800 years on and after a few falls and restorations still hangs proud, but with only 5 stars now. 

Moustiers is also famed for its pottery or Faience and the town is dotted with shops offering their beautiful creations, with the unique blue/white glaze typical to the town. 

One of the many shop fronts in Moustiers Ste Marie
selling the famous Faience de Moustiers

Moustiers is a town where you can spend quite some time wandering the narrow streets, and for the fitter amongst you, a climb up to the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Beauvoir offers a splendid view over the rooftops of Moustiers Ste Marie. Friday is market day and so arriving in the morning and purchasing the making of a Provençale picnic during your meanderings and then driving the short distance down to the Lac de Ste Croix is a perfect program. Alternatively you could book the ultimate picnic experience at Alain Ducasse’s  Bastide de Moustiers,with his picnic in the 1950’s Chevy.

The village of Ste Croix du Verdon

For the continuation of this article let’s go with the simpler picnic by the lake.  The Lac de Ste Croix is the fourth largest man-made lake in France covering 2200 hectares. It was filled in 1973, submerging the village of Les Salles sur Verdon (a new one was later built on the banks of the lake). At one end of the lake is the entrance to the Verdon Gorges and it is the Verdon River that feeds the lake, at the other end on the other side of the Dam are the smaller Gorges du Baudinard which are a delight to canoe up on a hot summer day. Heading down to the village of Ste Croix du Verdon, when you first see the lake it is the turquoise blue colour of the water that catches the eye, this incredible hue is due to the beige coloured stone on the lakes bottom, which makes the crystal clear water of the Verdon blue with the refraction of the sunlight. You can get into the holiday swing of things by renting a pedalo or an electric boat (no engines on the lake) or a Hobie Cat when the wind picks up in the afternoon. Following the path along the lake side there are plenty of shady spots away from the crowds to picnic and swim, but beware, even though the water close to the banks and on the surface is warm, it is very cold just below. There is no sand to speak of but medium sized pebbles so some form of waterproof footwear is a good idea. Also it is strictly forbidden to light any form of fire, and if you try, the park wardens will be there in minutes! The lake is regularly used by the Canadairs, the famous French airborne fire fighting team, and watching the planes pick up water on the lake is a very impressive sight indeed.

If you would like to know more about touring the Valensole plateau and beyond (only a tiny bit of the treasures of this region have been covered in this article) then use the contact form here, and it would be with great pleasure that we can help you plan a trip to this magical part of Provence.