The best local producers Corsica

Isabelle Chiaroni makes canistrelli, frappi, bastelle, sciaccia, bruccio fritters, crisps, slippers and seasonal pastries all year round in her small shop/workshop... To supply the entire Alta-Rocca and beyond. You will be able to enjoy this sweet and salty artisanal production in complete confidence on an adorable little terrace all dressed in red. All day long, slate dishes for good homemade dishes: stuffed zucchini, veal with olives... A small, courageous and gourmet company!

A pretty store on the road to Appieto to introduce you to the different flavors of honey. From the sweetness of spring honey to the taste of autumn honey, flavors and textures change with nature and the work of these winged workers. Here you'll find honeys, canistrelli, nougats and other by-products. From the plains and mountains of the micro-region and beehives moved with the seasons. You'll be able to ask any questions you may have, and even cure them with a few drops of honey...

It's anyone's guess whether the Guidoni family deliberately chose to make their home on the airport road, the one that smacks of the nostalgia of returning from vacation! In any case, it's an ideal place to make the last purchases that will fill your suitcases. The members of the Guidoni clan are breeders, producers, butchers and charcutiers. A sure bet for anyone wanting to buy salciccia (sausage), panzetta or lonzu, among other cheeses, canistrelli and other local culinary delights!

After spending three years in her uncle's laboratory, Laurine Serra took over the business to turn it into a reference point, dedicated to Cervione hazelnuts. Here, hazelnuts are transformed into sweet (spreads, honey and hazelnut delicacies, hazelnut cream, etc.) and savory (hazelnut flour, hazelnut oil, etc.) dishes. Salinu is the star of the store and is sold all over the island. It's a condiment made from salt (10%) and hazelnuts (90%), ideal for salads and soups. A Corsican must-have!

U Paese has been perpetuating the know-how of the island's craftsmen for nearly thirty years. Sonia offers figatelli, coppa, lonzu, sausages, prizuttu, ventrè piènu... a quality pork butcher's shop which carries the colours of Castagniccia, but also goat's and ewe's milk cheeses from shepherds, brocciu, chestnut flour, liqueurs, not forgetting the inevitable olive oil. A great selection of Corsican wines of high quality: organic farming and / or biodynamic for the pleasure of the real and taste. A shop to see urgently!

Four generations have worked in the Casanova family cookie factory, nestled in the heart of the immemorial Balinese mountains. Founded at the end of the ^19th century, the house has never ceased to exhale the fragrance of its refined sweets, in its island of beauty and beyond. Guided by the age-old fragrance, gourmets will be able to explore the production unit located under the family home, to learn about the many secrets of manufacturing or to taste the tasty cookies of the day. A moment of bliss at the top!

A very nice cellar in the middle of the village of Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano behind the church where Jacques will make you taste the fruit of his work-passion declined in different products: olive oil PDO in two versions, extra fruity and sweet according to the maturity of collection as well as a homemade olive paste with no other ingredient than olives. Presented in different forms and containers, this is an opportunity to treat yourself to a health food par excellence!

Certainly the most beautiful citron plantation on the island. The site is welcoming and houses an eco-museum dedicated to this local species, and is animated by Xavier Calizi, passionate and inexhaustible about the citron. Visit the plantation of the emblematic citrus fruit of the island, taste the products (candied citron, liqueurs, jams), let yourself be tempted by the citron beer and dare to try the can of sardine with citron. A pedestrian circuit goes through the citrus orchard of Calizi.

Paul Dominique, a native of Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano, is successfully entering his fourth year of local olive oil production. Produced from the Germaine olive variety of the Alta Rocca, he produces a single oil, La Tallanaise, which is very mild because the olives are picked naturally at maturity and only by mechanical means. His store also sells canistrelli, terrine, honey, charcuterie, cheese, jam, liqueurs and soaps made with his oil. Bravo!

The estate is spread over the hillsides of the commune of Sari-d'Orcino, where it combines the production of centuries-old orchards with that of a young plantation, which bears the name of a Romanesque chapel overlooking the Cinarca valley: San Ghjuvà (hence the name of its oil). Certified PDO Oliu di Corsica, it is the result of a blend of ghjermana and sabina, which give it subtle and complex flavours, herbaceous and fruity, to which is added the effect of the aromatic presence of the surrounding maquis and the influence of the nearby Mediterranean Sea.

This typical sun-drenched building is home to the artisanal biscuit factory Salvatori, established over fifty years ago. In the workshop adjacent to the shop are made small biscuits, and not just any biscuits: the canistrellis, typical of the area. Crunchy and without eggs, they come in many flavours: almond, hazelnut, aniseed, amaretti, chestnut, lemon, chocolate chips, vanilla-caramel? Another flagship product is the softer, softer tourtellinis. The moment of pleasure: drink a coffee accompanied by a canistrelli on the terrace of the shop.

After a few years of operation, Joseph Rioli switched from the traditional press to the continuous chain in 1995. This modernization allows him to press up to 400 tons of olives each year. He runs a 6 ha estate where varieties such as ghjermana, Sabine or picholine are grown. Two PDO oils result from this: the mill of Prunete (olives picked on the tree, a blend of ghjermana, sabine and picholine) and the olive oil of the convent of Cervione (olives picked on a net after their natural fall, predominantly ghjermana).

On the heights of Ajaccio, there is a place that should please all the gourmets. Marie-Claude Scarbonchi cultivates her high-stemmed fruit trees from which she harvests the fruit by hand to transform it, on the spot, into beautiful jams. The jams, certified Ecocert, are made from fresh fruit. All of them have a strong Corsican flavour, there are about thirty of them in total. We particularly like the one with white figs. This farmer is present on the Ajaccio market every Saturday morning.

Corsica Gastronomia factory also of many processed products with Sarrola with raw materials resulting very largely from the local. Two brands are available: Charles Antona and specialties of Minnà. Featured product: jams of Charles Antona with a minimum of 50% of fruits, cane sugar, without dyes, conservatives nor artificial flavours. Other products: chutneys, pasta of fruits, canistrelli, nougats, honeies but also of the elaborate traditional terrines with typical raw materials of the island, such as the brocciu (fresh cheese containing sheep milk), the figatellu (sausage containing pig liver, slightly smoked), chestnut, the myrtle, and also of soups, the cooked dishes, pâté of head. Innovations: creams of Minnà fruits, a range of delicious jams and frozen with creamy texture without cores nor pips with the intense fruit flavours as well as the organic 100% fruits Minnà, organic fruit specialties without added sugar (less sweetened than a normal jam). A dietetic delight!

Alain Brunelli discovered about 550 multi-centenary olive trees lost in the middle of the scrub. After several months of effort to restore them, he began their exploitation in the 1990s. Two single variety oils are produced on the estate: the PDO Oliu di Corsica and the Oliu d'Aliva. They are both made from the zinzala, a small olive typical of the Mediterranean region and very fragrant. Fabienne took over the farm 9 years ago after her husband's death, thus perpetuating his know-how.

François Andreani farms a small area of ten hectares, surrounded by hazelnut trees, orchards and scrub, with olive trees of the local ghjermana variety. The olives are picked when ripe, directly from the tree. Its oil, marketed under the brand name A Merula (meaning the blackbird in Corsican, a bird that is very fond of olives!), is produced in its own mill: the olives are crushed the day after the harvest. Certified PDO Oliu di Corsica, it was awarded the silver medal at the Salon de l'Agriculture in 2012.

Corsica runs through Françoise Ottavi's veins, and excellence is her touchstone. Mastering the art of sublimating vinegar, she transforms every fruit into a culinary jewel. Her Oliu Ottavi, the multi-primed gourd of yellow gold, has made it into the Collège Culinaire de France while she distills organic citron and fig. Insatiable, this inspired spirit continues to innovate with her "culinary curiosities": an alchemy of fruits, vegetables and spices cooked in a cauldron. A prestigious "extraction" of the Corsican soul by a boiling imagination!

Do you want to discover the roots of Corsica through its labeled regional products? The Routes of the Authentic Senses guide you for discoveries high in flavors. Deeply attached to their land, passionate men and women offer you the warmth of a traditional welcome and the guarantee of an original product. In these places with a strong identity, ancestral know-how and modernity are combined for a perfect harmony between authenticity and quality.

Isabelle Orsi created the first olive farm on Cap Corse in 1997, with 4 hectares of old endemic olive trees. She then decided to stop producing oil and devote herself to 100% organic infusions, aromatic herbs and Sisco onions. You can buy these products on site and take the opportunity to discover the estate. Isabelle will be handing over her farm and her know-how to a young buyer in two years' time.