And not just any old walnuts, but walnuts with a pedigree, with their very own Appellation d'Origine Controlée. And, of course, they were all from the Périgord, because that's where the best walnuts in the world come from...isn't it?
Wine with AOCs; cheeses, too, and now walnuts. Where will it end?
Yet seemingly, on the shoulders of this worthy designation, applicable since 2002, and the subsequent Protected Designation of Origin, the Professional Union of Walnut and Shelled Walnut Producers of Périgord is charged with ensuring the adherence by producers of the specifications that hallmark the quality of the nuts, and promotes the Périgord nut throughout France and more widely across the walnut-eating world.
Walnut trees, it seems, have been cultivated in Périgord orchards probably since Neanderthal man trekked the landscape looking for the caves at Lascaux in which to start an art gallery. The green-skinned walnuts are harvested in September, and separated from their skins. If they want to earn their AOC label, fresh, rich-in-water walnuts have a shipping deadline in mid-October. And then the dry nut takes over, collected in the early part of October and immediately washed and dried by hot-air ventilators.
Now you might think that a nut is a nut. But, non. The franquette, apparently has an elongated shell and a delicate taste; the corne – isn't that part of a unicorn? – has a hard shell, but yields a sweet-tasting nut with a fine texture.
Grandjean, it turns out, isn't a champagne bottle at all, but a medium-sized walnut meant only for cracking. The marbot is the preferred breeding stock, and has a finely veined nut meat.
It was all too much. It was driving me nuts. Not least because most of that knowledge came to me in a mélange of English, French and Franglais, and possibly some German in there too, although that may have been indigestion.
Perigord Walnut Cake
Preparation : 20 mins
For 8 personnes
Ingredients
300 gms chopped walnuts
250 gms sugar
4 eggs
200 gms butter
70 gms flour
30 gms rum
Preparation
Beat the butter and sugar until the mixture turns white.
Incorporate the chopped walnuts, flour, eggs and rum.
Mix vigorously together. Butter the cake mould and fill with the mixture.
Preheat the oven to 150° and cook the cake for about an hour.
When done, allow to cool at room temperature.
Unmould the cake, slice and serve with thin custard or hot chocolate.
But it just goes to show...you can't put a good nut down; why, they even have their own Facebook page. They'll be on the stage next, dancing to something by Tchaikovsky.
More about Perigord walnuts: www.tourism-lot.com