In the Paradise of the Inspired Apple – Normandy

In the Paradise of the Inspired Apple – Normandy

In the beautiful northwest of France, a stone's throw from the capital, Normandy produces one culinary delight after another. Their common feature: apples.

"We have good weather several times a day," the natives joke and play on the fact that their northern French province, which starts 100 kilometres west of Paris and ends at the channel coast, is blessed with a very varied climate.

In fact, it can happen that you raise your glass of cider to your lips in bright sunshine and put it back down during a strong drizzle.

However, that is not the reason our Normandy visit started in a cellar. The heart of the Normans appears to be beating underground. At least this is what you might think after the friendly representative from the traditional Pierre Huet distillery in Cambremer has enticed you into their vaults.

Up to 40 different apple varieties with different sweet, sour, bitter and bitter- sweet flavours are casked there and have already undergone a lot of changes. They have been pressed, fermented into cider, distilled twice and aged in wooden casks for up to eight years. Only then can they be bottled and proudly bear the name Calvados Pays d’Auge Appellation Contrôlée.

Try this fine Norman classic, in which fruit and wood bouquets alternate, by tasting it in the adjoining farm shop.

By the way, when talking about classics, there is a speciality of the house of Huet that cannot be praised enough: for this, the must from four choice apple varieties are blended with one-third Calvados and aged for three years in oak casks.

The result called "pommeau" is an amber delicacy, and each sip makes the fine aromas of applies, plums, walnuts and cherries ring out so clearly with a natural freshness that it's hard to believe that it has 17% alcohol.

Caution! Anyone who cannot pace themselves will have got to know an absolutely staggering aperitif in every sense of the word.

And do the Normans also eat occasionally? Don't worry, they do so everywhere, and you can find a particularly impressive and convincing example of this by visiting "Pavé d’Auge", the small, half-timbered house in the middle of the village square in Beuvron-en-Auge where Jérôme Bansard defends his Michelin star.

It seems absolutely effortless, because the marinated and fried green asparagus with poached egg accompanied by semi-dry cider tastes so fresh that the aromas tickle your tastebuds. You would think it had just been picked.

It would be a waste of time to try to come up with a more fitting description of the lamb shoulder braised in lemon confit which is tender down to the last morsel than the comment from the lady who simply put down her fork after the first bite and whispered: "This is a work of art!"

Dry cider was served with lamb, the customary choice selection of regional and national cheese varieties, and the defenceless but happy dinner party was sentenced to pommeau again with warm apple pie – and they accepted the sentence gratefully.

Text: Hans Kantereit

Adressen

Brennerei
Calvados Pierre Huet, Avenue des Tilleuls, F-14340 Cambremer, Tel. 0033/231/63 01 09, www.calvados-huet.com

Hotels
Le Pavé d’Hôtes, 14430 Beuvron-en-Auge, Tel. 0033/231/39 39 10 www.pavedauge.com
La Renaissance, 20, Avenue de la 2ème D. B., 61200 Argentan, Tel. 0033/233/36 14 20, www.hotel-larenaissance.com

Restaurants
Hostellerie de la Renaissance, Adresse siehe Hotel „La Renaissance“
Le Pavé d’Auge, Le Bourg, 14430 Beuvron-en-Auge, Tel. 0033/231/79 26 71, www.pavedauge.com