The best local producers Hautes-Pyrénées

The Védère cookie factory has been delighting taste buds with its cookies since 1905, and is one of the brands that have forged the region's gastronomy. The workshop perpetuates the artisanal production of Pyrenean cookies, lightly flavored with vanilla and covered in crystal-clear sugar. You'll also find boudoirs des Pyrénées, petits buturres, the famous pies available in blueberry, lemon or chocolate chip flavors, hazelnut or almond croquants (to die for!), wafers, meringues, spit-roasted cakes... The craze never fails.

Ballot-Flurin has been an independent, family-run business since 1977, specializing in apitherapy and gentle beekeeping. Discover their rare honeys from free-living bees, and their products based on propolis, pollen and royal jelly. Ballot-Flurin is the assurance of natural health, thanks to the power of bees. Our cosmetics (shampoos, soaps, creams) are also based on the work of bees. The boutique also offers candle-making workshops. An original and useful visit.

For more than 20 years, Joseph has been contributing to the preservation of the tireless worker bees, so fragile and so precious. It is therefore with a real passion that he works with the local breed of bees and also produces his own queens! It's fascinating to talk to him. With so much love and attention, the honeys made at the Rucher Arrensois could only reflect this relationship: heather, dandelion, rhododendron and lime tree honeys are all delicious and we recommend the "all flowers"..

Since 1976, Ballot-Flurin has been developing care, beauty and hygiene products from the hive, 100% natural and certified organic. Pioneer of organic beekeeping and creator of the Apiculture DOUCE®, the company was born from a conviction: a beautiful nature favors a beautiful humanity. The preparations are on sale at the store: propolis spray, care balms, soaps, creams, royal jelly, honeys... You can also enjoy the spa and soon the care in the bee room.

Grown naturally without fertilizers or pesticides, saffron draws its precious aromas from the 900 m altitude. If the fields of flowers of the saffron field are incredible, the farmers will tell you the history of this atypical spice and especially the thousand and one ways to enjoy it. Whatever your recipe, remember to infuse it in water, wine or cream... one day before cooking, these purists and lovers of the land will explain. A visit as playful as it is instructive. And we end the visit with the shop and its many products.

Maurice Guillaume and Patrick Lesgards have been transforming fruits and berries into jams and jellies for 20 years. Blueberries, raspberries, redcurrants, blackberries are their favorites, but they have extended their range and know-how to many other fruits. They have also made a specialty of daring chutneys, to accompany foie gras, cheeses and grilled meats. The "apricot and cumin madness" accompanies cheeses with a bloomy rind, while you can opt for the "cranberry-red fruit" on a fresh cheese, or the "black cherry and licorice" on a sheep's milk cheese.

If the mushrooms are from Paris, the first farm in France to produce them organically is in Madiran! With more than 700 kilos per week, the workers of this medico-social establishment, for people with disabilities, have green thumbs! The first to have put the mushrooms of the ASEI association on his menu is the triple starred Landes chef Michel Guérard. This reassures on the excellent gustatory quality of these buttons of mould which bloom on a natural compost, without chemical fertilizers, in the cellars naturally maintained at 17°.

Jean chose the Toy country to raise his bees and two very specific sites house his hives: one in Lourdes for the production of chestnut honey and the other in the Luz valley for four typical honeys: heather, mountain wildflower, lime and rhododendron. The beekeeper will show you around his honey house. From the hive to the jar, you will learn everything about the honey circuit. It is instructive and fun, thanks to the exhibition of a hive visible through a glass window. Meet Jean on the markets of Luz, Monday and Friday.

Malou, a passionate beekeeper, takes care of her bees with love, as they gather wild flowers in the mountain pastures of Bordères-Louron. She not only produces honey with an incomparable taste, but also organic honey jams, gingerbread, and black nougat. Malou has also recently taken care of several hens that will provide you with fresh eggs. Don't hesitate to make a detour, this visit is really worth it, as much for the quality of the gourmet products as for what you learn. You can also find Malou at the market of Arreau on Thursday morning.

La Ferme des Pendelles perpetuates the art of artisanal pastry-making. Their specialty, the spit-roasted cake, is baked over a wood fire, each golden layer a testament to the craftsmanship of their hands. In addition to this delicacy, the farm offers a variety of pies: plain, blueberry, morello cherry or chocolate chip. For gourmets who prefer savoury dishes, the red label Tarbais beans, cooked in goose fat with bacon and vegetable stock, are a typical regional treat. All carefully packed in charming red-and-white-checkered jars.

Isabelle Marret-Desconet cultivates a chestnut grove of about four hectares near her farm and concocts in her laboratory delicious chestnut creams with vanilla, chestnut flour, natural chestnuts, etc. She also produces honey, including a delicious chestnut honey and an original honey flavoured with orange blossom that delights children. Also on the shelves, donkey milk and chestnut soaps. An excellent house and excellent products that can be found at local fairs and markets.

In this family of beekeepers, if no one has the bumblebee, it is surely thanks to the delights resulting from the 400 hives laid out between the valleys of the Neste and the Louron. Visiting this artisanal company is both educational and instructive but also a real pleasure which ends with the tasting of the famous honey sweets, melting pastilles with a thousand virtues. You can also find them on the local markets. A gourmet tip: honey jam is one of the specialities of the house: listen only to your heart!

Olivier Galache welcomes you to his beekeeping micro-farm and answers questions you may have about bee products and beekeeping. His passion was passed on to him by his grandfather, and despite the years, it is still intact. Her honeys are delicious, in the height of this passion. You can choose from a beautiful collection: dandelion honey, acacia honey, linden honey, rhododendron honey, callune heather honey, callune heather honey in comb, thousand-flower honey, woodland honey. He also supplies you with pollen from the Hautes Pyrénées.

Fabienne will explain everything about this tropical seaweed, from its cultivation to its drying, and will even open the doors of her laboratory to you. Shaped into spaghetti, it is best known in its dried form but tasting it fresh is a surprise! Its small salty taste adapts to the most original recipes and trust the pro, she will share with you the best ones! A great outing, original and instructive, to familiarize yourself with one of the key foods of tomorrow.