Posts Tagged ‘Première Pression Provence’

Tasting Confiseries à la Figue

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012
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Confiseries à la Figue from Première Pression Provence

Confiseries à la Figue from Première Pression Provence
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

During our last visit to Première Pression Provence, manager Jenna Thornton offered us a package of confiseries à la figue that are made in Provence. We took them home, tasted them, and found that we liked them very much!

These round, three-layered sweets measure 7/8″ in diameter and are 1/2″ thick. The top layer consists of hard-sugar frosting, the middle layer a pasty confection of fig, almond, and melon, and the bottom layer a paper-thin azyme made from potato starch and sunflower oil. Small enough to pop into the mouth, they are sweet and chewy. The immediate and lasting flavor that I experienced was, strangely enough, cinnamon, which is not even an ingredient. It must have been the fig that I tasted, which, for me, has a cinnamon-like flavor. Monique declared that almond was the predominant flavor.

Première Pression Provence
51, rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile
75004 Paris
Telephone: 09.66.98.23.48

Open Sunday to Friday 10:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m

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Daniel Ungaro Grows Olives

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
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Daniel Ungaro

Daniel Ungaro, Olive Oil Producer
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Daniel Ungaro grows olives in the Vaucluse, a French administrative département in southeastern France. He recently paid a visit to the Première Pression Provence shop on Ile Saint-Louis in Paris, where we asked him some questions about olive growing.

He told us that most of his annual production of 2,000 liters comes from olive trees that are twelve years old. During harvest season, he watches the olives carefully and when they are ready, he spreads netting under the trees and shakes the trunks with a machine. The olives drop from the tree limbs into the nets; none that reach the ground can be used for pressing. He once hired workers to harvest his olives by hand, but the cost of labor now makes this method prohibitively expensive.

One of the surprising facts that he told us about olive trees is that they do not have natural pollinators (such as bees or other insects). Instead, it is the Mistral, a strong wind from the north that blows down to the Mediterranean, that pollinates the trees.

We tasted one of Daniel’s oils, “La Cavalerie,” produced from olives that have just started to ripen. It has a powerful, peppery flavor. Not for the timid! Jenna Thornton, manager of the store, served a number of hors d’oœvres, including chunks of country bread drizzled with the oil and sprinkled with tomato powder, goat cheese with garlic marinated in the oil and served on slices of baguette, and thinly-sliced raw zucchini flavored with fresh, crushed mint and drizzled with his oil. All were appetizing dishes!

La Cavalerie Olive Oil by Daniel Ungaro

La Cavalerie Olive Oil by Daniel Ungaro
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

For more information about Daniel Ungaro, click here.

Première Pression Provence
51, rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile
75004 Paris
Telephone: 09.66.98.23.48

Open Sunday to Friday 10:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m

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Tasting Three Olive Oils from Première Pression Provence

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
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Three Olive Oils from Première Pression Provence

Three Olive Oils from Première Pression Provence
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

To research information about olive oil for this month’s Paris Insights newsletter, we purchased three types of the product from Première Pression Provence, a shop on rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile. The company sells oils supplied by roughly 35 small producers in Provence, a region in southern France.

There are three basic types of olive oil sold in the shop: green fruité (from olives harvested prematurely), ripe fruité (from olives picked at maturity), and black fruité (from ripe-harvested olives that have been stored under controlled conditions). We chose one of each category, each from a different producer. We took them home and tasted the oils from a spoon or drizzled on a slice of fresh baguette.

We found the green fruité from Daniel Ungaro to taste like unripened banana. It was sweet and had a sharp peppery finish.

The ripe fruité from Oliver Roux was slightly sweet with a mild peppery finish.

The black fruité from Pierre-Guy Desrousseaux was quite aromatic and slightly sweet with a peppery finish.

Each oil had a distinctive taste, with the green being sharp and the ripe and black being rounded and smooth with full-fruit flavor.

If you, the reader, have always thought that all olive oils taste the same, it is probably because you have been purchasing oils destined for mass consumption at supermarkets. Try an artisanal oil when you get the chance! They are more expensive than mass-produced oils, but you will taste the difference.

Première Pression Provence
51, rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile
75004 Paris
Telephone: 09.66.98.23.48

Open Sunday to Friday 10:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

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Our Paris Insights newsletter is published monthly as a downloadable PDF file. It is available only to paid subscribers for an annual subscription fee of $30.

To view a preview of the newsletter, click here.

If you are not a paid subscriber and would like to download the newsletter, please click here. Enter promotional code 11473309154 to receive a $5 discount off the price of an annual subscription.

Bonne Lecture!

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An American in Paris – Jenna Thornton

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
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Jenna Thornton, Manager of Première Pression Provence

To write this month’s Paris Insights, we interviewed Jenna Thornton, an American in Paris who is passionate about…olive oil! Read about her adventures in France and how her interest in the product developed.

To view a preview of the newsletter, click here.

Our newsletter is published monthly as a downloadable PDF file. It is available only to paid subscribers for an annual subscription fee of $30.

If you are not a paid subscriber and would like to download the newsletter, please click here. Enter promotional code 11473309154 to receive a $5 discount off the price of an annual subscription.

Bonne Lecture!

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