You need to be out early to find this fungus: the morel grows in the late spring and early summer. It is an unpredictable fungus, too, growing in different places from one year to the next, although they do like patches of scorched ground, especially where fruit trees have been burnt the previous autumn. Its [...]

The ancients appreciated the truffle just as much as we hold it in awe today. Nowadays this underground fungus is appreciated for the beautiful flavour it adds to even the simplest of dishes. In the middle ages, this fungus was imbued with supposed magical powers, while some went so far as to say that truffle [...]

A terroir is built on human activity and delimited by geography factors, often by geology or river basin in the case of the Isigny terroir. The special qualities of any terroir reflect the quality of the relationship between food producers and their environment at all levels. The ability to unlock every aspect of the local [...]

Most of the things that make a terroir a distinct environment are simple enough: Normandy cows grazing in the marshland meadows or the patchwork of upland pastures known as the bocage are not hard to spot; rain that falls on the land all drains into small rivers like the Vire that converge on a breach [...]

Congratulations to Aurélian Russias, winner of this year’s national Competition for the Best Croissant made with Isigny AOP Butter. A student at the CFA  in Livron, he came all the way from the Drôme, one of the the first 83 départements established after the French revolution, part of what is now the Rhône-Alpes region. The [...]

This weekend (October 17) sees the first national edition of Isigny Sainte-Mère’s annual search for the best croissant made with Isigny AOC butter. Over the past four years, the contest has gradually turned from a regional cook-off to a national contest with regional heats, staged during the summer months. The contestants are all students at [...]

To make a perfect layered pastry takes a special butter combined with constant turning and rolling, known as tourage. To prepare a leavened pastry, such as a croissant, the pastry is rolled out by hand, spread with butter, folded in thirds, turned through a right angle and rolled out again. And again. And again. And [...]

Terroir is another word for a living and working environment, one in which food is produced. Production quality and environmental quality are two sides of the same coin: there is a further aspect of Isigny Sainte-Mère’s wood-powered biomass boiler project that literally goes back to the land. The cooperative is studying a use for the [...]

Terroir is another word for a living and working environment, one in which food is produced. Production quality and environmental quality are two sides of the same coin: the inputs of the cooperative’s biomass boiler bring the business back to its local roots, almost literally. The wood that is delivered to Isigny Sainte-Mère by Biocombustibles [...]

Terroir is another word for a living and working environment, one in which food is produced. Production quality and environmental quality are two sides of the same coin: balancing both sides of the equation demands investment and commitment. When milk arrives at the Isigny Sainte-Mère reception tanks, much of the cream is already spoken for [...]