Guided tour to the Réserve de Champlat
- Par nbesse
- Le 01/02/2023
- Dans Local products & recipes
FR - We wanted to start 2023 taking a particular interest in the local products of the Gard.
So we thought that the invitation to visit La Réserve de Champlat, in Tresques, together with Marketing Directer Olivier SanFilippo and all the team was a nice way to begin.
Producing bottled preserves in a very traditional way, La Réserve history goes way back... Want to come with us to learn more ?
La Réserve Champlat? Home-made organic canned food
Its history starts with French market gardeners Elisabeth Colas and Didier Boucher, already huge fans of organic products at the end of the seventies. Selling their home-made bottled preserves at the markets of Nimes and around, they were the forerunners of the Réserve de Champlat.
|
La réserve de Champlat? A local brand created in 1983. - La Réserve, where was stocked the canned food and - Champlat, the name of the farm.
|
Celetrating its 40 years anniversary with its new owners, coming with a background in the food-processing industry (Carrefour, Teisseire, Ducros), La Réserve continues its way in a full organic perspective.
After a quite confidential production at the farm, the offers started to get bigger. Recipes were completed too, with new vegetables producted by local organic farms around. The Sarl Champlat was born in 1993 and its first new ower, François Pigache, settled the establishment in Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie in 1996.
Then came 2008, and the arrival of Nicolas Hauvespre who worked in La Réserve before taking over the management. As the factory of Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie became too small to follow the evolution of the production, it was decided to moved again La Réserve, this time to Tresques, in 2018. The little town was pleased with this new comer into the industrial life of the region, leading to the creation of jobs. Today, 15 employees work daily at La Réserve and participate to its life, from the elaboration of recipes, the logistic and the sale of the products.
GUIDED TOUR
A local sustainable collaboration
La Réserve de Champlat is first of all a local collaboration, both for the employees and producers of the organic fruit and vegetables that are cooked here" tells Olivier SanFilippo.
Our production is mostly regional, and sometimes national, as our labelling (from 70 to 100 % of ingredients are from France, 72 % from Provence) indicates.
From the tomato coulis, a traditional value of the brand...
The range of preserves, prepared and cooked like at home now includes jars of green vegetables cooked in the oven and, since 2000, recipes based on meat, such as the traditional Italian recipe for ragú, in Bologna style, which extends the variety of tomato sauces with 100% French meat particularly thanks to an evolution in the technical processes of sterilisation and cooking.
Since February 2023, La Réserve de Champlat has obtained the BioED label (Bio Entreprise Durable) which in the field of sustainable development, highlights "the voluntary integration by companies of social and environmental concerns into their commercial activities and their relations with stakeholders".
Tomato coulis and sauces, legumes (chickpeas, flageolets, red beans), organic partnerships and a production that will become 100% organic partners during this year.
The simplicity of the recipes, the fair trade (Bio équitable labels in France, grouping together more than 40 companies on the national territory, Equitable & Bio BIOPARTENAIRE, a label covering more than 1,000 French references), make the products of La Réserve de Champlat its real calling card.
Today Champlat counts 50 recipes and 80 references, the heart of which is Provence, the historical source of inspiration and supply, and, more broadly, Mediterranean cuisine.
|
The key ingredients are naturally olive oil, garlic, Provençal herbs, tomatoes...
|
How does the development of a new recipe take place, how long does it take from development to market launch?
The development manager creates the recipes and has to meet various criteria: the choice of seasonal ingredients, the taste, possible mixing and spices used, cooking and, of course, testing phases. This is a team effort in which all the employees of La Réserve and our loyal customers participate.
The visual aspect of the product is studied too, as well as its taste, and so on. All in all, a new recipe can be a real long-distance race and can take 6 to 18 months before it is put on the market.
|
Our flagship products, apart from tomato-based preparations? The classic pea/carrot mix, where the peas keep all their crunchiness, the legumes in their natural state or cooked... But also the apple puree with "fruit cooked and reduced in a hot pot".
|
There are also our soups to dilute, a conscious choice that avoids unnecessary transport of water. The scale on the side of the label allows you to obtain the desired texture (thick, medium, fluid soup). We offer carrot coriander, chestnut squash (read the UzEssentiel article onchestnuts), watercress, pumpkin, coral lentils or split peas, enough to delight gourmets. There is also a range of delicatessen products, from ratatouille and aubergine à la niçoise (eggplant cooked with a recipe from Nice) or egg plant caviar, chicken tagine, ravioli or moussaka, etc.
The little extra?
The recipe cards on the Reserve's website to cook the preserves properly. An example? The poached eggs withour old-fashioned tomato coulis or ratatouille niçoise en crumble. Yummy!
Where can you find the brand's products?
In addition to Biocoop, you can find the Reserve's products at Satoriz, Marcel & Fils, MyBioShop and in many independent organic shops, among others. In addition, more and more school canteens are using our products, as part of a drive to diversify menus by using local and organic products as a priority.
Many thanks to Olivier SanFilippo, Sales and Marketing Director at La Réserve de Champlat, and to the whole team for their welcome and the guided tour.
The right address: Réserve de Champlat, ZA du Bernon, rue Michel Ledrappier, 30330 Tresques.