Gastronomy

The Loire valley and central region is often called the garden of France. It symbolises a gentle way of life, quiet charm and moderation. Nevertheless, the writer Michelet described it as "a homespun dress fringed with gold" thus affirming in a poetic fashion the contrasting geography made of severe plateaux notched with pleasant valleys which make the seduction of the region.

Berry with the Pays Fort, Champeigne, Orléans with Sologne, Beauce, Dunois, Vendôme and Blois, Touraine, Anjou with Varenne de Bourgueil, the pleasant Saumur, Mauges and Maine are as much regions within the region, with their own particular traditions, but they all share the same refined way of life.

The same can be said of the tasty and subtle cuisine, coming from a long tradition which certainly has nothing to prove. So in the region where one eats well, drinks joyously and digests calmly, one sits down to eat and taste…quite simply.

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On the menu

Beurre blanc: an emulsion of butter melted over a low heat, finely chopped shallots and a drizzle of vinegar. This creamy sauce is served with fish.

Tourraine rillons: pieces of pork breast, cooked for hours and kept in their cooking juices.

Miot : this very popular country dish is just as good as a refreshment during the day as it is as a soup at dinner. It is also known as "trempé au vin" ("soaked in wine"). It is in fact sugared bread soaked in wine.

Matelote d'anguille : eels cut into small pieces in a red Chinon wine sauce.

Sologne pheasant: roasted with wild mushrooms.

Géline de Touraine : this black hen, one of the best races of French poultry, is renowned for the delicacy of its flesh.

Tarte Tatin : caramelised apple tart that is cooked upside down. It is a speciality of Sologne.

Fruits au vin :Touraine, "the garden of France" produces a lot of fruit and wine. Naturally one conserves the former in the latter. Grapes, blackcurrants, apples and prunes are thus given a second life after soaking in Loire wines.

Crêpes angevines : : flavoured with Cointreau and garnished with pippin apple compote from Le Mans.

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Goat's cheeses

What do Selles-sur-Cher, Chavignol crottin, Chabichou, Saint-Maure de Touraine, Levroux, Bouchon de Sancerre, Mothais, Bougon, Bûche du Poitou, Saint-Maixent and Pyramide de Valençay all have in common? They are all made from raw goat's milk and come from the central Loire valley region.

Goat's cheese is an entire universe waiting to be discovered. There are four general categories:
Fromage frais: after straining, it is sold in pots or in its own strainer. It is eaten with sugar or salt or with herbs added.
Fromage cendré: made in various shapes, these cheeses come covered in a vegetable ash which gives them a particular taste whilst preserving their freshness.
Fromage à pâte compacte: these are either moist or dry depending on the degree of maturity
The mouldy rind cheeses mature from the outside in, which is what gives them their downy appearance. There are goat's cheese camemberts such as Bougon or Soyon.

Cheeses should be kept either in a well-aired area between 10 and 15°c or in the refrigerator in the vegetable compartment. Don't forget to take them out at least one hour before serving because the cold changes their flavour. They go very well with all Loire valley wines.

The goat's cheese route

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Les pommes et les poires tapées (beaten apples and pears)

Peeled then placed in flat wicker baskets called "rondeaux", the fruit is left to dry for five days in tufa ovens, then flattened out in order to conserve it for several months.
It is eaten like dried fruit soaked in a good red wine flavoured with cinnamon.

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Cointreau

In 1849, brothers Adolphe and Edouard-Jean Cointreau, confectioners from Angers, created a range of spirits made from fruits from the region. Folowing the success of their products, they founded the Cointreau distillery.
Edouard, Edouard-Jean's son, thought up a totally new spirit, a crystalline liquid with a pronounced taste of bitter-sweet orange peel which he presented in a bottle that has since become famous: square with rounded corners, sombre yet refined. 150 years later it belongs to the closed circle of the first 100 trademark brands of spirit in the world.

Angers cuisine has incorporated cointreau into the making of numerous desserts.

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The art of gardening

The region, which profits from an exceptionally clement climate, is beautiful. Gardeners, nature's aesthetes, offer a thousand colours and smells for the pleasure of the senses. The art of gardening was born in the Loire Valley at the beginning of the 16th century. Chamerolles, Chaumont, Saint-Cosme, Villandry are witness to this. The tradition endured and gave ideas to individuals who, more than anywhere else, rival each other with their creativity. There is not a single house that is not decked with flowers.

There are numerous nurserymen and their products are of a high quality. The rose gardens of Orléans-la-Source, Olivet and Doué-la-Fontaine are renowned throughout France. There are numerous greenhouses where hydrangeas, geraniums and chrysanthemums are cultivated. In the countryside around Blois, towards Soings, tulips, gladioli and lilies are specially selected.

The art of gardening is equally true for the vegetable garden. In the light earth of Véron, Bourgueil and around Angers, artichokes, onions and garlic are grown in seed-holders. In the region of Chémille, medicinal plants, which were first developed at the end of the 19th century after the phylloxera crisis, are seeing a comeback.

The parks and gardens along the Loire river

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Hunting

Blind or beat hunting, with guns or hounds, all hunters manage to satisfy their passion in the Centre and Loire Valley region. One can flush partridges as well as quails and larks in the open country of Beauce or around Tours and Angers. Hares hide in the corn or beetroot fields and in the copses. Pheasants look for water in the area.

The deer and the stags prefer the dense woods of Baugeois and the forests of Château-la-Vallière, Loches and around Valençay. The wild boar lives in the forests of Orléans, Amboise and Chambord.

Sologne, well-stocked with game and renowned for its pheasants, also has ducks, teal and snipe in its rivers. On the banks and islands of the Loire river nest all sorts of waterfowl such as mallards.

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Fishing

Fresh water fishing is the favoured French pastime after football! The fast or slow-flowing waters of the Loire Valley offer the fishing fan an attractive variety of resources.

One can do a bit of fishing for bleak, gudgeon, roach, chub or even, in the Loire river, tackle pike or even sea mullet, which during the summer swim back up the river as far as Amboise. One can hunt down tench and carp in the regions of Loire, Indre or Loir. Or if one prefers perch, the ponds of Sologne are full of them.

More sporty types travel the banks of the Creuse and Sauldres river, the streams around Angers or the tributaries of the Loir in search of trout.
Finally, in the canals of Berry, Briare, and Orléans, one can find eels and sometimes crayfish that one can catch with a drop net.

Thus no matter what age or experience, the fisherman is satisfied.

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Way of life
find out more in: Loire wines