Cassis : The cream blackcurrant is a liqueur de berries de memories of Cassis fruit. The color of this drink is quite dark red. A cream is a liqueur de fruit containing a high proportion of sucre (at least 250 g per liter and, for the Cassis, 400 g per litre).
It is an essential ingredient of kir which essentially associates it with dry white wine (The recipe traditional is only made with Burgundy Aligoté. The previously recommended proportions were 1/3 cream to 2/3 wine but current usage is more like 1/5 to 4/5.
History of crème de cassis: Modern crème de cassis appeared in Dijon in 1841. It succeeded the jellies for medicinal use and ratafias blackcurrants produced during the Ancien Régime and until the 18th century by making macerate blackcurrant grains in alcohol. The blackcurrants were then planted at the end of the rows of vine about vineyards of Burgundy on the Côte de Beaune or the Côte de Nuits.
At the end of the 1904th century, two people from Dijon, the distiller Claude Jolly associated with the cafe owner Auguste Denis Lagoute, developed a liqueur by macerating black currant grains from Burgundy in alcohol with added sugar. Different companies then share the production of Dijon crème de cassis: Lejay-Lagoute, L'Heritier Guyot, Gabriel Boudier, Briottet, etc. In XNUMX, a waiter invented the recipe for “blanccass” by mixing one fifth of crème de cassis with four fifths of White wine (usually Burgundy Aligoté). Then the “cardinal” or “communard” is created by mixing the crème de cassis with Red wine.
If blackcurrants were planted at the end of the vines of the Côte de Nuits and Beaune to make the ratafia local, ancestor of the liqueur, the phylloxera crisis coinciding with the opening of the first blackcurrant liqueur manufacturing factories in Dijon, changed this popular use. The hinterland of Dijon, Nuiton and Beaunois having a harsher climate and numerous hillsides exposed to the north, proved to be a preferred terroir for the blackcurrant which requires a significant amount of cold for better floral induction. Unlike the coast which reinforced its vineyard with the establishment of AOC around 1935, the hinterland abandoned the culture of vine for the benefit of that of the cashier and this situation until the 1970s.
Canon Kir, as mayor of Dijon from 1945, intensely promoted it which ensured its current success.
Manufacturing: Crème de cassis is made from blackcurrant berries macerated in superfine alcohol, to which sugar is added.
A Burgundian specialty, this preparation is also prepared in other regions of France, notably in the South-West, in Charente, where its flavor is appreciated. In Luxembourg and Quebec, crème de cassis is also popular.
The quality of a crème de cassis depends on the varieties of fruit processed as well as its berry content and the quality of the manufacturing process. Burgundy black or Naples royal, varieties rich in aromas and colors, are preferable to blackdown, a variety with less powerful flavors.
European legislation has defined crème de cassis as a liqueur that must have a strength of at least 15 degrees and contain at least 400 grams of sugar per liter. For Dijon crème de cassis, the production is not necessarily linked to the terroir and can therefore come from agricultural production from all over the world. Only manufacturing must take place within the territory of the commune of Dijon. In current practice, the alcohol strength is often higher (16° to 20°) and the sugar content higher than the imposed threshold. The law remains silent on the fruit content and their origin. It is on this content that the difference in quality will be made between the different blackcurrant creams that exist on the market.
The manufacture of crème de cassis is therefore specified by regulations, with specifications that were previously not very restrictive. Since 2013, the Dijon blackcurrant manufacturers' union (bringing together the companies Boudier, Briottet, L'Héritier Guyot and Lejay Lagoutte) has obtained the geographical indication (GI) awarded by theINAO for its Dijon crème de cassis.
Protected geographical indication: In 2013, Cassis de Dijon, the first crème de cassis created in 1841, obtained its Cassis de Dijon Geographical Indication. It brings together 4 manufacturers.
Since then, other geographical indications have been created: Since January 22, 2015, the name crème de cassis de Bourgogne has been protected at European level by IGP (protected geographical indication). This request for protection was initiated by the Syndicat Interprofessionnel de Défense du Cassis en Bourgogne (SIDCB), this PGI is supported by the entire regional sector (to date bringing together nearly 30 farmer producers-processors and 5 industrial processing companies ( Jean-Baptiste Joannet, Ferme Fruirouge, Vedrenne, Joseph Cartron and Trenel). Burgundy crème de cassis offers a double guarantee: the link with the department's agriculture and a certain quality: it must be produced in Burgundy, with fruit. from plantations grown in Burgundy territory. Its recipe offers a high concentration of black currant from Burgundy.
Each year, around 16 million liters of crème de cassis are produced, including 13 million in the commune of Dijon, consumed mainly in France, but also exported to many countries.
Use of crème de cassis: Crème de cassis from Burgundy, like crème de cassis from Dijon, is part of the composition of the kir. It is also an essential ingredient of fénelon, a aperitif made from Cahors wine.
Crème de cassis is also used in communard (Red wine Burgundy and blackcurrant cream).
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