I recently took a tour around an old industrial neighborhood of Amboise. While most of the businesses and factories have long since been closed, to my astonishment there is still one family business still making making walnut oil the old way... since 1834... with an old mill stone from 1783 (you can just barely see that date on the right side of the mill stone above) ! And below is a close up detail of an amazing old cast iron press that itself was made in Amboise to extract the oil.
A volunteer from a local association conducted the afternoon's tour of the neighborhood which also included a personally guided tour of the walnut oil mill by the current family manager. The wonderful smell of the freshly ground and roasted walnuts just poured out onto the street in front of this little factory. Here is a link to a longer description (in French) of this little business.
I'll be showing more photos from this fascinating afternoon. In fact, the old speed limit sign I posted on Saturday is on the grounds of a former factory nearby.
The guy has a friendly face, il a une une bonne bouille. I hope you bought a little bottle of oil. Heavenly dans une salade d'endives avec quelques noix et un peu de bleu d'Auvergne. Mais la saison des endives est terminée, donc il faudrait mettre quelques gouttes d'huile sur de la roquette...
ReplyDeleteCela semble merveilleux ! I did not get the chance to buy the oil as they were not really open for business during our special tour... but I plan to go back and do so.
DeleteOh my goodness! They are still making it the old way!
ReplyDeleteYes, there wasn't a bit of stainless steel to be found in the place ! All stone, steel, and cast iron. Pretty much all was done manually.
DeleteIt's wonderful that it's still operating. BTW, Jean Michel tells me that it is always cooler under a walnut tree and surprisingly, it's true.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because the shade is so complete? I've not heard that before but I can believe it.
DeleteI didn't know walnut oil was a product. Terrific black and white shots of the old way of doing things, Stuart!
ReplyDeleteYou are very kind. These are not my best shots as it was quite dark and I didn't have my "good" flash with me... only the built in flash. But I was really taken with their history and so just had to use these less than great photos.
DeleteBeautiful old oil mill, I like the black and white choice!
ReplyDeleteIt is a fascinating place. The B&W was definitely the appropriate treatment for a place of this age.
DeleteIn this age of modernization, this is wonderful to see. I bet the flavour would be compromised if it was done any other way. Looking forward to seeing more!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have gotten some decent photos of the entire process, but it was really quite dark. In any case, it was fascinating to see it done without any modern equipment.
Delete