01/07/2017

Sweet Dreams are Made of Jam

DSC_0029

In a cellar beneath an old house in Chassagne-Montrachet last year I was given a pot of jam. This was no ordinary jam, but jam born of years of trial and error, of passion and of hope. It was handed over with a hesitation, the slight anxiety of the artisan whose work will be judged.

I opened it with interest back in my kitchen in London, inhaled and tasted. I was arrested by the intensity of flavours – wild mango and coconut transported me to the tropics. This exotic pot was made by Hubert Lestimé.

When Hubert had left his job in industry he needed a new direction. He and his wife Caroline Lestimé are lovers not just of good wine, but also of good food. (Caroline née Gagnard has made the wines of Domaine Jean-Noel Gagnard since 1989 – inheriting this challenging job when her father retired). “It is very important for us to have a nice breakfast in the morning,” remarks Hubert, “as this is the starting point of the day.”

An eminently sensible mantra, which every parent find themselves chanting. But why jam?

“We have a cherry tree in our garden and in the productive years we could not eat all cherries, even making clafoutis.” Ah ha. “Then in 2000 I started to collect the cherries to make jams. The first ones were not really attractive, either too liquid or too hard, or too sweet. But by doing it regularly every year and trying other fruits – mirabelles, figs and pears, I improved. Caroline suggested “Why wouldn’t you make jams?”

Why not indeed?

“I went on a training course in Brittany and six months later I could propose my first jams: Poires vanille, Mûres sauvages, Figues du jardin and Caramel au beurre salé.”

Last year Hubert was planning to open a small shop in the village. On my recent visit to Burgundy taste the 2016 whites, I couldn’t wait to find out – did Hubert realise his sweet dreams?

Ah yes.

The shop: Vignes et Vergers can be found in a village house beside the church in Chassagne which Hubert has stylishly converted into the perfect place to sell his pots of delight. It is carefully restored without, bright and modern within. It is a gallery for his jams which are presented like works of art….little jewels of deliciousness.

IMG_0138

And so to the jam.

The strawberry jam captures the essence of strawberry. Imagine the best strawberries you have ever tasted; those which are perfectly ripe, intense but equally tangy. Many strawberry jams are just too sweet. This one has balance. Hubert macerates the strawberries overnight to extract the flavour and essentially the fruit is added back to a syrup. When I remarked on the intensity, Humbert smiled.“Yes, even a week later you can still smell the strawberries in the kitchen, the aroma is so powerful.”

And a word about the kitchen. This is production on a domestic scale. Hubert has a scrupulously clean, small kitchen containing a stove and sink in the house they use for pickers accommodation beside the premier cru vineyard, Blanchot Dessus. There is a copper pan for the jams and a heavyweight orange Le Cruset pan for the salted caramel. The latter is an undeniably rich, creamy caramel which finds its balance with the salted element.

IMG_0145

What is Hubert looking to achieve with his jams? “I try to find the right balance between freshness and sweetness, but over all to get the real aromatic taste of the fruit, using organic products. Let’s take the example of Cédrats which is a fruit rich in acidity. I will steep it for 7 days in water with salt.” This is a traditional technique. “In the past the cédrats were put in barrels with sea water in order to release a little bit of the bitterness. On the other hand, if the fruit is sweet, I will add some lemon juice to get the freshness.”

Hubert’s focus on achieving the perfect balance is impressive. I found the mango and coconut a touch too sweet when we tasted. He clearly thought about it, re-tasted and emailed a few days later to say he had tweaked the recipe while making the latest batch.

During the winter Hubert bought the Cédrats d’Italie, Orange d’Italie and Clémentines de Corse to develop his range. Cédrats d’Italie is a citrus giant. Comprised largely of skin and pith, it is the antecedent of the modern lemon, bred to have much more juice and a thin skin. Hubert adds the soaked, chopped skin to a syrup. This was my favourite. It is fresh, citrus, lightly sweet and bitter with a lively pithy tang. Contrary to expectation it is quite delicate – even rather refined. The finely diced skin is somewhat crunchy. The texture is lighter, not so sticky as jam and it is not too sweet. My son likes it on toast. It also goes rather well with croissant adding a bitter tang to the buttery flakiness. Anything on croissant is an anathema to the French, but it’s OK we’re English and can be forgiven.

DSC_0489

 

I can also recommend the fig jam This is juicy with a light syrupy texture…very good with greek yoghurt. In Hubert’s shop you will find traditional jams alongside more exotic fruit and experimental flavours…as he scours the world for fruit that inspires him. The wild mangos come from Cameroon, the coconut from Sri Lanka…and the figs, well these are from Humbert’s garden. He has recently developed a coconut and banana jam and banana and vanilla. Using fruits closer to home, he clearly has ideas for peaches and apricots. Vignes et Vergers also sells Caroline’s wines – Domaine Jean-Noel Gagnard and some wine from producers Hubert and Caroline are partial to. I clocked some Domaine Comte Lafon and Remi Jobard.

 

Orange d'Italie

 

While Chassagne-Montrachet is renowned world wide for producing some of the finest white Burgundy, it’s a pretty sleepy place, except at harvest. As a tourist destination it’s rather outshone by its neighbours. Meursault has its restaurants and cafes, its impressive chateau-like Hôtel de Ville and has recently upped the anti with chest-beating iron work delimiting the central square. Puligny-Montrachet has two rather nice hotels, a couple of cafes and a bar with outdoor seating from which to admire the prettified Place de Pasquier de la Fontaine, which received a complete facelift when the trees fell victim to disease and needed replanting. But there has been little to draw the visitor to Chassagne. This is slowly changing…

When Edouard Mignot and Emilie Rey opened their elegant, and now michelin starred, restaurant Ed-Em in 2013, it brought a certain glamour to Chassagne. However things really took off when the lady major, Caroline Dancer, gave them permission to open La Cabane – this May – in the little park at the centre of the village. She remarked, Chassagne-Montrachet “lacks places to meet. This place is there to revitalise the village.”

IMG_0181

This outdoor restaurant, formally a nursery, is a pleasant place to while away a lunch under the trees. The food, which is cooked in the Ed-Em kitchen (did I mention it’s Michelin starred), is hearty and flavoursome. I had a tasty lunch of chicken brochettes – washed down with a bottle of Domaine Jean-Noel Gagnard, Chassagne-Montrachet, La Boudriotte 2009 – full and rich with firm grip and a powerful finish. Still a baby really. It was more than a match for the robust flavours of the chicken dish. La Cabane certainly gives the village a focal point for visitors and it’s on the Beaune-Santenay-Nolay cycle route if you happen to be among the thousands to peddle by each year. Great spot to stop for lunch.

And if you are in Burgundy, maybe staying in Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet is only a few minutes drive, so do pay Hubert a visit at Vignes et Vergers…your tastebuds will be truly tickled by his little pots of deliciousness.

Vignes et Vergers, 1 ruelle des Rebichets, Chassagne Montrachet, Bourgogne.
Hopefully in time the jam will be more widely available in time. Check the facebook site for opening hours.

Restaurant Ed-Em. Impasse Chenevottes, Chassagne-Montrachet, www.restaurant-edem.com

La Cabane, 9 Rue Charles Paquelin, 21190 Chassagne-Montrachet, France