Christmas in France is like a gastronomy fair. During a week or so, you’re eating from one place to another. And everyone is trying to do his best. The most typical is turkey with chestnuts and as a dessert we call it la buche (it is an icecream looking like a log)... May be you’re doing the same across the Channel…
Anyway, for some years, another poultry is savoured during those times of plenty : the capon. And when you know that France is the first producer of poultry in Europe and that Brittany produces 40% of the French production... Here I am !!! In Janzé, a small town 20 km south from Rennes where the production of the poultry (poulet de janzé) is famous for his quality ...



What is a capon ?
It is a chicken that eats corn (75%) and enjoys walking on 2 square meters land.
Its also a cock



whose reproductive organs and comb have been removed when it was 6 weeks old. It grows outside



for 6 months (3 months only for the chicken) and spends the last 3 weeks of his life locked eating unskimmed milk. When it is ready to be eaten, it weights 4 to 4,5 kgs (2 kg for an adult chicken).

A traditional caponization ?
Roman learned caponization from other countries and used it in Rom to stop the cockcrow. In Brittany, capons were breeded during the XIXth century but it stopped at the beginning of the XXth century because of the high mortality rate of the castrated cocks. The production began again in 1988.
The raising of capons begin in July to be ready for Christmas time. The castration is a delicate operation and does not always succeed. If the capon begins to crow, forget the unskimmed milk... Because of castration, the cock doesn’t have male hormones and and its metabolism changes. Its flesh is tender.



The poulet de Janzé is a grouping of breeders from the region of Janzé. They breed a high quality poultry (Label Rouge). It follows several standards of quality : they have to eat 75% of corn, they have to be raised outside, they have to live x days and have to be killed in good conditions (no stress !!!)…

If you want to go to the capron fair



– the fair exists since 2002- it always takes place in Janzé, the week end before Chrismas. You have a market of several poultry and you can meet chefs that are giving their recipes…

Caprons are sold from the 15th of December to the 15th of January…

Cock-a-doodle-do

Read it in French : le chapon de Janzé à la foire du dernier week end avant Noel : entre terroir et tradition

If you’re bored during this Chrismas time, I’ve got something for you… Specially because the weather is really mild now in Brittany. You should harvest rose hips, but the good ones, the useful ones used for jam or itching powder…



The fruits of dog roses are usually used to make jam, syrup, liqueur or herbal tea. The fruit is an incredibly high source of Vitamin C (20 times more than lemon) and therefore really helpful for whom is suffering from a lack of vitamin C.
The dog rose produces an orange to red fruit, that looks like an olive. The fruits of the rose tree are round. You can harvest them as early as october, but the longer you wait, the sweeter they will be. They grow in hedges, coastlines… and at my neighbour’s…



And if you wait for the first frost, it will be easier to peel them…
Because that ‘s the main problem with rose hips… Inside the fruit, tiny fine hairs that are used as itching powder and if you don’t carefully remove them while making your jam… You’ll have an itching "posterieur"…



I’ll soon give you my jam recipe as soon as I've some time before me... It is long to peel... Till then, you can keep them in the freezer...

Read it in French : Le cynorrhodon en Bretagne : fruit du rosier ou de l'églantier

Green tomatoes left, what can I cook with them ? a nice chutney, a French recipe !!!



Ingredients for a small pot :
200 g of tomatoes (green and some redish)
1 tablespoon of honey
4 tablespoons of vinegar
Pepper
Ginger powder
2 tablespoons of Rum


Recipe :
Slice the tomatoes in small pieces, add rum and let macerate for an hour.

Put the sugar,honey, vinegar, pepper and ginger into a large pan. Bring to simmering point and simmer for almost an hour. It has to be thick and caramelized.
Eat it with strong tasty cheese such as roquefort or dry goat cheese. Or with poultry or foie gras. Pot them and sterilized them.




Read it in French : Recette maison de confit de tomates vertes et rouges

Since june, the gardens of Broceliande (les jardins de Brocéliande) are advertising for their new programme Réveille tes pieds (litteraly wake up your feet) and we went there with two young kids (btw 2 and 3 years old). We took off our shoes and we did it. It is a lot of fun…



From Rennes on the highway, you have to drive south (direction Lorient) about 15 minutes to go to the gardens. Go out when you see the sign Bréal sous Montfort, and follow the signs for jardins de Brocéliande. You’ ll soon arrive in front of an old farm with an orchard, toboggans and swings.




The garden is huge (24 hectares) and shows several exhibitions : exhibition about amateur gardens,





different animal breeds (hens, and poultry, pigs, breton cows (called pie noire), sheep, horses…, a route about Brocéliande, botanic garden, birds nesting… and plenty of others activities. You can spend the day there… . At noon you can also eat in the restaurant traditional food for 10 €.

It is open from Eastern to All Saint’s Day, tuesday to saturday from 1.30 pm. It costs 6,5 € for an adult, 3€ for kids (over 6), 3,5€ for students and 15€ for a family. You have so many things to do, (you’ve got for your money worth).

Let ‘s go back to our feet… Before arriving to the barefoot walk, you cross a small part of the garden, you meet poultry, pigs, horses and you discover some of the amateur gardens. When you arrive in front of waterplays , you’re there.





You have to leave your shoes in a shoelocker and here you are, barefoot, ready to start.

The beginnig is quite classical : sand, pebbles, stones.



But then you will walk on 45 different surfaces and it is really nice. You will see tobbogans, labyrinth, distorting mirror and a long jump place where you can compare the jumping performances of animals (rabbit, stag, squirrel…).
After more than an hour, you go back to where you began and to your locker. Wash your feet in the fountain and continue the visit of the garden. The dahlia labyrinth is really nice.

Leaving the garden, you have a small shop where you can buy vegetables and fruits from the garden and breton specialities (honey, jam, cider, beers…)

Read it in French : Visitez pieds nus les Jardins de Brocéliande à Bréal sous Montfort (Ille et Vilaine), Bretagne

If you want to visit an unusual part of Brittany and have a nice walk in the countryside, follow me to la Guerche on a Tuesday, the market day. You'll also discover the oak for the Virgin and the chinese pagoda.

La Guerche is a nice small town, inland Brittany on the border (les marches de Bretagne in French) between the old Duchy of Brittany and the Kingdom of France. May be you already visited Vitré and Fougères which are also cities that used to be the frontline of the Duchy and therefore fortified.



La Guerche during the Duchy period ( 826-1491) changed nationality , sometimes it was Breton, sometimes it was French. It was also a strategical place during the Hundred Years War against the English !!! and therefore many battles took place in the surroundings. And if you know a bit of French History, you surely know Du Guesclin, the companion of Joan of Arc, who bought the manorial estate of La Guerche in 1379. At that time it had a fortified castle.

Later, during the 16th century, it was an important market thanks to the canvas trade. The canvas trade made the Golden Age of Britanny. Farmers grew hemp and flax in the countryside and produced the cloths that were sold all around the world. Brittany then was a rich province, we call it the breton Golden Age. Merchants came from many places in Brittany and specially from Saint Malo to buy the canvas and to sell it to Spain and South America or England. The porched and half-timbered houses you see in La Guerche are the evidence of that Golden Period. The porched houses are now our shopping arcades, merchants used to display their cloths under those porches.



The first mention of the market of La Guerche dates from 1121, and the legend says it never stopped. It is easily understandable because of its particular place in the region. It was a crossroad between the Duchy and the French Kingdom during the Middle Age, it continued when Britanny became French and now it is a crossroad between 4 departments and still 2 regions. It still attracts people from the surrounding areas, the parking places are full on Tuesday morning !!! it used to be more traditionnal, you could see poultry or pork, but nowadays you just find nice local and traditional products like honey, bread, buckflour, « breton galettes », « galette saucisse », meat, cheese and wine.



While enjoying the market, notice the old houses and enter the Basilica (basilique Notre Dame). It became a Basilica, in 1951 – the title Basilica is only given by the Pope because of several reasons : it can be because it is old, because the bishop asked for it or because of an important pilgrimage -. Have a look at the 16th stained –glass windows, at the carved wood stalls and at the tufa recumbent statue of Guillaume, Lord of La Guerche during the Middle Age.

Once you ‘re finished, begin your walk (8 to 15 kms depending on what you want to see) on the countryside. Leaving the Basilica follow the rue d’Anjou (which is one of the street around the Basilica) till the boulevard d’Anjou. On your left a sign Fontaine Couverte V3 , 8 kms, take that direction, you ‘ll go through an housing estate for one kilometer, when you are in front of the cross, just take a right, and you’ll go through different hamlets : Hairie, Perinelle…



go on for 2,5 kms, you’ll meet another cross



go on till the crossroad Route des Rondes.



Take a right for one km to the next cross (Gaumonerie) and you’ll see the first sign for chêne à la Vierge (oak of the Virgin) on your left. You leave the road for a path, just walk a bit till the forest at the end of the path and you’ll see it.



This oak is the witness of events that took place after the French Revolution (1789) in 1792. A youg girl was shot in front of the oak because she refused to reveal the place where a priest was hiden. At that time France was divided into two sides : the one for the ideas of the French Revolution the republicans and the others against it. Priests were usually against French Revolution because the leader of the French Revolution were against religion and had confiscated or destroyed religious buildings and properties. You still can see for example on many churches statues of Saints or religious figures beheaded or destroyed. This oak is now an holy place : the various statues of the Virgin testify the religious devotion. Ceremonies still take place on August 15th.

If you are in shape, you have to go on for the next unusual site : a chinese pagoda. But if you want to go back, take the road you left , walk a bit on your left till you find the sign for La Guerche and you will soon find the way you came in.



If you want to see the pagoda keep walking straight (la Selle) for about 2,5 kms, you’ll see again a cross, you’re almost there. Leave the cross on your left, and after the bend, you’ll see the fork with the sign chapelle du Pâtis or Chapelle Sainte Anne.



This wood chapel is an octogonal pagoda unique in France. It was created in 1875 by the Priest François Lizé from La Selle Guerchaise. He was a missionary in China and took home the pagoda at the end of the 19th century. It is dedicated to the Virgin and Sainte Anne. Sainte Anne is one of the patron saint of the Bretons, the other one is Saint Yves. She is the mother of the Virgin. Inside the chapel you’ll see the epitaph of the Priest, nice restored colourful fresco (1875-1876) and three saint statues.



A peculiar one from Sainte Anne in wood from the 16th century has slanting eyes, one from Joseph and one from Joachim Sainte Anne ‘ husband.

Leaving the chapel, walk in the direction of La Selle and after some meters you’ll find another cross (it is written 40 jours d’indulgence on it) and you see a sign for La Guerche, you’re ok. This cross was probably on a pilgrimage that gave you days of indulgence. Indulgence were remission of punishment for sins for which you had to make penitence. Through confession, charity works, pilgrimage or money gifts, the sinner could recover remission from eternal punishment. This cross was part of the remission way. Once you’re on the way to La Guerche, you have to walk for 4 kms and arrive in the city, don’t take the street called « point du jour » but the other one with no sign and you’ll find the boulevard d’Anjou.

Read it in French : le marché de la Guerche come point de départ pour une excursion au chêne de la Vierge et à la chapelle Sainte Anne