Recovering almost extinct French wheats

Toast
JeremyCherfas on 21 Aug 2009 at 02:30

Has anyone here come across the French wheat varieties known as Touselle or Touzelle? (I did search first.) Louis XI, gravely ill, thought that only bread made from Touzelle could restore him to health.

I ask because a friend has written about the rediscovery of these varieties, and wondered if anyone had access to the article L'homme qui plantait des blés by Isabelle FAURE in Nature & Progres No. 59 (Sep/Oct 2006).

Thanks

Jeremy

Is it possible that he thought that wheat from Touzel, France could help?  The town is in a valley where wheat might be grown.   ...or is that too far fetched?

There is indeed a village called Touzelles -- I couldn't find Touzel -- about 240 km almost due south of Paris. And there are what look like wheat fields around it. The article I referred to, however, quotes a report:

In 1482, in the month of December, King Louis XI was taken ill at Tours, and had Touzelle [wheat] brought from the diocese of Nismes ...

And Nimes is another 350 km SSE of Touzelles, so I doubt that Touzelles was originally in the Diocese of Nimes. The article says that this chap has recovered some of these older varieties. We were wondering whether anyone could shed any further light on them.

Jeremy

You can still buy it in France. The brand is "Paysans d'ici". I am holding a kilogram of it as I type. The package says (rough translation from French):

Touselle: ancient variety reputed for its superior backing qualities and artisnal stone milling 

Touselle was a cultural treasure from the middle of France. It's ancient varieties are adapted to poor soil. Their cultivation was abandoned due to a high stalk (1.8 m at maturity) and their yield which was much lower than modern varieties.

Looking on the web a bit, the Paysans is showing on Amazon, Ethiquable Organic Gers Touselle flour. I have never bought from Amazon and do not know any shipping limitations. I did not see where any Touselle wheat berries were sold.

A very interesting topic . i recently received an article from Zita  (baking badly) Zita is now in USA having recently moved from Cambodia i couldn't see that Zita had submitted the article here but i felt the relevance of the ancient grain was worth posting it here now.                                                                                                                                    Sspedotrno7gcl7lft1h2u6i4u3m2h0c3m026a90i87cc276f66tm27ui445 ·

A sourdough nobody asked for: CHAR-ROASTED JALAPEÑO & SMOKED JACK

Featuring ripe red jalapeño peppers, smoked jack, smoked paprika, raw honey, and freshly stone-milled Heirloom Hourani Durum Wheat. Slightly smoky, sweet and savory, complemented by a subtle tang and spicy kick.

I don't know what you'd eat this with but probably hearty soups and stews. Tomato bisque, chili con carne, clam chowder? Probably good as breakfast toast and grilled cheese sandwich.

Brief history of Hourani and Jack:

Hourani Durum Wheat

Hourani is a rare ancient grain, cultivated for thousands of years on the volcanic Houran Plateau in Jordan and Syria. The grain was lost for nearly two millennia until the seeds were rediscovered in the 1960s at the Masada Fortress in Judea, buried in 73 CE to protect them from the Roman siege.

In 2016, the Washington State University's Breadlab, a program focused on ancient and heirloom grains, received Hourani seeds from the USDA seed bank. Later in 2019, Breadlab provided a small amount of Hourani seeds to the nonprofit organization Honoré Farm and Mill in Northern California, initiating its cultivation in the US.

Today, some inhabitants of the Houran Plateau still grow Hourani. However, the seeds are mostly preserved in seed banks. In terms of commercial cultivation, Honoré Farm and Mill is one of the few known organizations in the world reviving Hourani.

Monterey Jack Cheese

Monterey Jack cheese, or simply "Jack," originated from Spanish missionaries in 18th-century California. In the 19th century, several individuals contributed to the production of jack-pressed cheeses in Monterey, California. Notably, Doña Juana Cota de Boronda who sold Queso del País ("country cheese" in Spanish) door-to-door to support her family of 15 children and debilitated husband; and Swiss-Italian dairy farmer Domingo Pedrazzi who developed a cheese called "Pedrazzi’s jack cheese." In the 1880s, Scottish immigrant and notorious businessman David Jacks commercialized the cheese, initially marketed as "Jacks' Cheese" and later "Monterey Jack".

Follow Us

We're slowly taking steps to establishing a cottage food bakery, focusing on ancient/heritage/heirloom grains. If you want to follow our journey, please follow us on Facebook or Instagram @khrustba 

 

Cambodia's loss and the USA's gain.  Zita Long 

 

 

 

 

So glad to see this article and to find out that Zita is in California working on such a great project. I just ordered 2/2# bags of whole grain to mill . The price is high with shipping but this is SO exciting and they need support. 

I hope others will be moved to support them and other small mills like Barton Springs who has a sale through TONIGHT . 

Breadtopia also just had their annual sale. c

Yes, an interesting topic. In the UK we can buy a few heritage wheats and one I buy quite a lot of is called Millers Choice, which is actually a recently bred variety whose parents are some of the best of the older varieties.

https://hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/news/brockwell-bake-and-millers-choice

I'd also like to try a wheat called Florence Aurore which is meant to have good flavour and good baking properties, but I can't find any in the UK. This picture shows its lineage (note how Red Fife crops up a few times):

 

 

Lance