The best local producers Languedoc Roussillon

L'Hôtel du Pont Vieux is not only a charming hotel, ideally located for enjoying the wonders of the medieval city of Carcassonne. It is also committed to promoting good regional products, and has a grocery corner. This is where you'll find Catherine's wonderful jams, under the name "Confitures de la cité". While the packaging is elegant, don't hesitate to remove the lid to taste them: salted butter caramel, apple jelly with spices, kiwi from Cuxac d'Aude... with a steady stream of new flavors.

At Le Trivalou, owner and chef Cyril understands that cassoulet has to be exportable. If you're in Carcassonne or just passing through, we urge you to come and taste it on site, with the medieval city just around the corner. It's made to the highest standards and is entirely homemade, right down to the duck breasts, which Cyril confits on the spot. Please note that everything you eat in this restaurant is homemade. If you prefer to eat your cassoulet at home with friends or family, you can place your order via their website. In addition to cassoulet, Trivalou's foie gras is also available to take away. Delivery should soon be available throughout France, but that's for later...to be continued.

Corine offers you her numbered oils, like perfumes. The n° 1, extremely fruity for true connoisseurs, aromatic and powerful; the n° 2 with a herbaceous aroma, very fresh, and of great finesse and the n° 3, sweeter, ideal for cheeses and pastries, made with black olives only. Corinne also offers you her new "Passion Range", her lemons candied in coarse salt, her dried tomato caviar in olive oil, her black or green tapenades and her delicious olive jam, as well as soaps made with the estate's own oil.

The expression "good melon" came from the people of the village who kept repeating that the melons of the Raynal family were good. One day, Jean wrote it on a sign in front of the shop. The name stuck. Just like the slogan: We speak Catala. 80% of the produce on sale comes from the Raynal garden, seasonal fruit and vegetables grown using sustainable agriculture. The other products come from friends whose work methods Jean knows. When quality goes hand in hand with a smile and a good mood, you don't want to change the early bird!

Founded in 2009, Moulin de la Dentelle is a family-run business and Villeveyrac's first privately-owned oil mill since the late 50s. On 12 hectares, 5 of which are dedicated to organic farming, Muriel de la Torre strives to produce oil under the best possible conditions, not only from her own production, but also from small suppliers in the surrounding villages. Here, she uses oils from ancestral Languedoc varieties such as lucques, picholine, olivière and bouteillan. During the summer season, tours of the mill are available by appointment.

Saleurs in Collioure since 1870, the family business still works in the respect of the artisanal tradition. These specialities are famous and are available salted, with vinegar, plain, or in anchoïade and tapenades. In the workshops on the first floor, you will be able to talk with the anchoyeuses who strive to perpetuate ancestral gestures. The visit of the workshops and the tastings are free and really worth the detour. Let it be said, in this establishment, from anchovies in salt to olive stuffed with anchovies, everything is delicious!

Laura, an American based in France for years, puts his culinary know-how at the service of our taste buds. She put the traditional recipe of this famous biscuit in the closet, so that she could have a blend of original flavours. Thus its soft cookies combine with dry fruits, cereals, lavender, lemon and the most surprising herbs in Provençal, as delicious as Roquefort, mint… discover markets, fine grocery stores - Caizergues… - and especially to order on the website. Soft, tender and fondants, these cakes are up your idea on the cookie.

Since 1920, this cooperative oil mill has been processing the department's olives, in particular the Lucques variety, which has AOC status. The oils are made from local varieties such as clermontaise, olivière, ménudal, picholine, amellau... In the store, you'll find tapenade, pistou and the essential olive oil, as well as fresh olives and oil-based cosmetics. Opposite, in the former gendarmerie building, is the Maison de l'Olivier, an eco-museum dedicated to regional olive growing, with film screenings and tastings.

Elfe d'aquí is Sylvie and her traditional or new jams and preserves, of the seasons, made with local fruits, plants and flowers. We love her elderberry or dandelion flower jellies, the touch of thyme, rosemary or wild thyme that perfume her jams. If she practices wild harvesting, she also obtains from local producers, in sweet wines for example, for her muscat or banyuls confits. And its banana or mango jams are flavoured with a local ingredient all the same? Poetry in a jar.

In the heart of the Salins district, this cookie factory and tea room offers its cookies with almonds, lemon, figs, fresh butter and, of course, the unavoidable local specialty: the Zezette de Sète. There is also a collection of salted aperitif cookies, including those with anchovies from Collioure or tiellettes. In the delicatessen section, you can fill your basket with honey, olive oil or local fruit juices, which you can choose by the piece or in gift boxes.

A la Ruche is the passion of good taste from father to son for 30 years. The old school turned shop is a beautiful Ali Baba's cave where Vincent will make you discover a wide range of honeys and about fifteen products derived from honey: vinegar, mead, spread... The gingerbread made and baked on the spot every day is a real treat. It can be tasted, just like the nougatines or the fruit juices, on the terrace, in the shade of the mulberry tree, on the very pretty Place de l'Ecole in the heart of this astonishing medieval village which remains lively in summer and winter.

This grouping of 14 honey producers from the department is a great idea. In turn, the co-operators come to run the shop in this brand new building where the honeys of our department are on sale. Chestnut, rhododendron, thyme, garrigue honey, the list is long. But much more than a simple point of sale, a guided tour will make you aware of the beekeeping techniques from the extraction of honey to the potting and the role of bees for our life on earth.

These beekeepers practice transhumance over lavender fields, chestnut and acacia forests, garrigues and causses, offering a wide range of locally-produced organic honeys. Thirteen varieties of honey and a wide range of products are on offer: honey gingerbread, mead, honey nougat, honey sweets, honey vinegar, propolis, beeswax... The honey house also boasts a large production of royal jelly.

Like any rare and quality product, Claire Thomassot's oil is worth it. You will need to go through the small roads of the Gard to arrive in the hamlet of Montèze. When the tar becomes earth and pebbles, you finally reach your goal. Hidden in a pine forest, Clare's mas could be a vision of paradise. The oil from the mill that occupies the ground floor is in any case a genuine nectar of the gods. This farmer's daughter is alone in extracting olive oil (even though the entire village takes part in the harvest), which is in 5 vintages: the PDO of Nîmes, Aglandau, Bouteillan, La and Sauzen (a local variety from centuries-old trees). But to have the chance to taste these oils that have won the 2012 award of excellence from the general agricultural competition in Paris, you will have to hurry: production runs within a few weeks! Clearly, Claire Thomassot's oil is really worth it.

This associative shop brings together producers and craftsmen who offer ceramics, fabric creations, but also a wide range of delicacies: biscuits, honeys, pâtés, syrups, jams, herbal teas and pélardons are displayed in the shop, which is run in turn by the producers. A small restaurant, based on local products on sale, allows you to taste the specialities of the region on the spot through local menus or plates. A nice showcase of Lozerian know-how

Gisèle and Jean-Claude Ponsonnaille look after more than 300 hives. During the summer season, these passionate beekeepers demonstrate all the stages of honey extraction. Honey is also the raw material for many specialities such as cookies, nougat, traditional gingerbread or the unusual caramiel, a delicious spread. In season, the guided tour of the honey house is completed by a video before tasting in the beautiful vaulted room, where you can find many other local products in addition to home-made products.

From the fauna and flora of the garrigues to the tasting of honeys through the work of the bees, you can discover in Saint-Gély, a beekeeping operation that works exclusively with solar energy. On the farm, you will discover 12 to 14 different varieties of honey (Agréé mountain honey, forest honey, Cévennes honey, Causses honey, garrigue honey, thyme honey, rosemary honey, lavender honey, chestnut tree honey, white heather honey, acacia honey), royal jelly, gingerbread and honey sweets.

Jean and his daughter Belen continue this 90-year-old operation. They crush varieties of picholine, arbéquine, négrette, coillasse, cul-blanc and ascolane and produce a traditional extra-virgin olive oil. If you come to the mill, you can visit the facilities all year round. The unique taste of our olive oils is due to the fact that the olives are picked when they are at their peak of ripeness, when they contain the most polyphenols, which give them the typical taste of the region's cuisine.

Chantal and Olivier Cozon grow fruit and vegetables all year round on the Mauguio plain. They grow and harvest lettuces, onions, tomatoes, zucchinis, eggplants, melons... The good news is that they offer basket deliveries of their harvest. A few partner growers round out the shopping with grapes, nectarines, raspberries or bunches of mint. You do your shopping online and in three clicks you choose your delivery point.