Canola Windrows

Both Australia and France grow canola (known in France as colza) but the method of harvest is different in the two countries.

In France, the crop is left standing until as ripe as possible, then direct combined -- that is, taken off using a harvester with a rotating header, just like wheat or barley is.

A windrowed canola crop, photographed near Cowra in late November last year.

In Australia, most canola is windrowed -- that is, cut and raked into neat linear piles to dry for a few days. Then a combine havester with a special header is run over the windrows to pick up the seed.

One of the reasons Australia has opted to windrow is the canola crop is ripe at the same time as the barley. Windrowing is done just before the maximum ripeness of the canola, so the farmers can work first on the canola and then on to the barley and finally, back to the canola. Another reason it is windrowed is that the crop is vulnerable to wind damage, which causes ripe seedpods to clash against one another and shatter, loosing their seeds. Cutting the plants down early reduces this risk greatly.

French farmers take the view that time is money and if you only have to pass over the crop once, you are saving money as well as time. They have less area to cover and therefore can manage both harvests simultaneously (or at least in quick enough succession).

The payoff seems to be higher quality but lower yield if you windrow, higher yield but lower quality if you direct combine. Neither country seems to use a defoliant to make the harvest easier as far as I can tell (this seems to be quite common practice in North America).

 Two thirds of the French canola crop goes to make biofuels. Fifty percent of the canola exported from Australia is destined for European biofuel manufacturers. France produces 8 times as much canola as Australia (and less than half the quantity of Canada). The varieties grown in France are not GM as they are not allowed. In Australia, some states allow GM canola crops, others do not.

Part of the reason for the lower quantities grown in Australia is that, although canola is fairly tough, it is really a cool climate plant. It is the major oilseed grown in Australia, but it is impossible to find out exactly how much is grown there, as the figures are always combined with cotton seed. The canola industry in Australia is curiously secretive.

Even in France canola production varies wildly from one year to the next depending on weather conditions, and even in France, even with the current focus on biofuels, only 1.5 million hectares are planted with canola (compare this to the 9 million hectares planted of the much higher yielding wheat). Farmers here will get anything from 3 to 5 tonnes a hectare of canola. Australia manages 1.3 - 4 tonnes per hectare and probably plants about a million hectares annually.

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Ile de Ré Reflections: Working in the salt pans.

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A la cuisine hier: 750 ml of quince juice is macerating with an equal quantity of sugar in preparation for making jelly. The cooked remains of the quinces have been frozen so I can mill them and make dulce de membrillo at some later date.

Slow roasted vegetables -- wedges of tomato, baby aubergine, round zucchini (courgette ronde), baby butternut pumpkin, beetroot, barbecued peppers (capsicum), coated with a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt, a pinch of sugar and 5 pepper spice mix, sprigs of thyme tucked in before cooking in the oven spread out on a big tray for 3 hours at 150°C.

The liqueur de noix and the vin de noix have been filtered and decanted into their bottles. The green walnuts, vanilla, lemon peel and spices have done their job and the flavour is now in the liquid. To my surprise both are perfectly drinkable now. My last lot of liqueur took 3 years to mature into genuinely good drinking, although it was useable as an ice cream topping and such like long before. It may have the unfortunate appearance of slurry, but this vodka based infusion is far better than the wine and vermouth based mixture called vin de noix. It is complex, aromatic and richly luscious with a slightly thick mouth feel. The vin de noix, which I made for the first time this year, is a beautiful mahogany colour, but it is a bit thin tasting and slightly too sweet. As is the way of these things, I was only able to make 500 ml of the liqueur but I have 1.5 litres of the vin.