Some neighbours of ours have walnut trees in their garden. They always get a good crop which are then pressed at a small family business over towards Loudon - a forty minute drive from Cravant. So not far. We took our neighbours over this time after getting a call to say the husband had broken his arm, while his wife has poor eye-sight, so driving was a bit of an issue. Visits have to be pre-booked and all the walnuts, shelled in advance. Being old-hands at it, our neighbours were extremely well organised. So off we all went with sacks of rich gold coloured walnuts and several large containers for the oil. The journey over was gorgeous. A late, sunny afternoon with perfect light on a mixed, undulating landscape of woodlands, wheat and vines, some parts of which were completely new to us.
www.huileriedesroches.fr
The walnut oil industry has existed in and around Loudun since before WW1. Every farming family in the area owned walnut trees and it continued like that pretty much until WW2. Then gradually families producing oil began to disappear, and today only l'huilerie de roches is operating. It's a wonderful place to visit. And the aroma!! One of those smells that immediately make you feel ravenously hungry.
The walnut oil industry has existed in and around Loudun since before WW1. Every farming family in the area owned walnut trees and it continued like that pretty much until WW2. Then gradually families producing oil began to disappear, and today only l'huilerie de roches is operating. It's a wonderful place to visit. And the aroma!! One of those smells that immediately make you feel ravenously hungry.
The walnuts are ground to a paste by a large circular, granite stone, as in the photo - approx. 1m.25 in diameter - which is fascinating in itself, because of all the colours in the stone and the two surfaces - smooth for grinding while the natural, rougher side holds the stone in place on its spindle. From there the paste is 'cooked' in a circular shaped pan with a paddle, that turns the paste over to make sure it's cooked evenly. Once cooked, the mixture is transferred to the press. The oil pours into metal buckets, left to cool, and then is transferred to your containers. The oil has a beautiful smokey flavour, perfectly balanced, so not overpowering in any way. It's not for cooking with, but in salads or drizzled over grilled goats cheese, it's just heavenly. And we've been given a few bottles.
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