World War I Hospital Blankets

For the whole of World War I the Chateau of Chenonceau was a military hospital, set up, funded and run by the chocolate manufacturing Menier family. On the centenary of the start of the War they got a selection of hospital furniture and ephemera out of storage and recreated a small hospital ward.

On the beds are military blankets marked with the initials SSM in one corner and GF in the opposite corner. A quick internet search revealed that SSM stands for Service de Santé Militaire (Military Health Service). It seems that GF stands for Garde Frontier.

In the original hospital there were 120 beds, one of the first x-ray machines and a modern operating theatre. Most of the 2254 soldiers and airmen treated over the course of the War were very severely wounded.

Tarte Tatin

At this time of year I'm always looking for apple recipes and in France what could be better than the classic Tarte Tatin?

One of my tarts as it emerged from the oven.

I like to make two tarts at once because our oven is double width. Often I'll do them rectangular rather than the usual round version. 

 
There seems to be no question that the Tatin sisters created the recipe in the 1880s and it became the signature dish of their hotel in Lamotte-Beuvron in the Sologne (the area between Blois and Orléans). They called the dessert Tarte Solognote. It seems to have been the famous Parisien restaurant Maxim's who dubbed it Tarte Tatin in the 1930s.

 One of my tarts flipped for cutting and serving.

The original version seems to have been made in a cast iron Dutch oven, in the same way as one makes damper, by putting the pot in the coals and covering the deep sided lid with coals too. The sisters used the still popular old Tourangelle apple variety Reine des Reinettes and the apples were not peeled. The tart is traditionally served warm, unaccompanied by custard, cream or ice cream. The original recipe contains no spices or anything other than apples, flour, butter and sugar.

Reine de reinette apple.

Traditionally the tart is an upside down shortcake, which is made by putting a layer of apple chunks on the base of a dish with plenty of butter and sugar to form caramel. Then a simple pastry is laid over the top, the ensemble baked then turned out so that the caramelly apple layer is uppermost for serving. To be honest, if you are nervous about turning the hot tart, there is no real need to do so. Just cut and flip each portion as you place it in the serving bowls, or leave with the pastry on top. It will taste the same either way.

Ingredients

 

Pastry

3 cups flour

4 tbsp raw sugar

1 tsp sea salt

240 g butter

2 egg yolks

 

Apples

150 g butter

150 g raw sugar

½ tsp sea salt

8 apples

 

Method

1. For the pastry, combine flour, sugar and salt. 
2. Add the butter and egg yolks and rub them into the flour until you get crumbs.
3. Add 4 tablespoons of cold water and knead into a ball.
4. Cover the dough and refrigerate for a minimum of an hour or even overnight.
5. For the caramel, heat the butter and sugar in a small saucepan. Swirl but don't stir until it smells  unmistakeably of caramel.
   
6. Pour the caramel into two 25 cm round cake tins and spread it across the base.
7. Sprinkle the caramel with salt.
8. Heat the oven to 190°C.
9. Peel, core and cut the apples into eighths.
10. Arrange the apples decoratively in the cake tins, with their core sides uppermost and outer curved side placed in the caramel.
11. Halve the dough and roll out into two 30 cm diameter rounds.
12. Place the dough over the apples, tucking it in to fit and patching any tears, then poke three vent holes in it.
13. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
14. Remove from the oven and stand on a rack.
15. Cool for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge.
16. Place a plate on top and tip each tart out to reveal the caramelised apples sitting on a short pastry base.
17. Serve warm or at room temperature. Each tart serves 8.
     

A Walk in the Forest, Part I

On 30 October Ingrid and I went for a wander in the Forêt de Preuilly. We only covered a couple of kilometres but we saw lots of things and got some nice photos. It should have been peak mushroom season, but even after a bit of rain, there were relatively few species, and nothing in abundance. 

 

Spanish Slug Arion vulgaris (Fr. loche méridionale), a species that varies a lot in colour, from dark brown to bright orange. Its English name is a result of confusion over the origin and identity of this species. Genetic studies show that the 'Spanish' Slug is very rare in Spain, but is native to north-west Europe (primarily France, Germany, Benelux).

Dusky Slugs Arion subfuscus (Fr. loche roussâtre), a fairly abundant species throughout France. This photo shows how the juveniles are more strongly marked. Apparently the slime this species produces was the inspiration a few years ago for a new biomedical glue that adheres to both wet and dry surfaces.

I assume this contraption is some sort of game feeding device. It was a sturdy tripod with a car battery on top, a motor attached to a plate that could spin underneath a suspended plastic container. If anyone knows for sure what this is, please let me know.

Common Greenshield lichen Flavoparmelia caperata (Fr. Parmélie froncée) is found on deciduous tree bark growing in wrinkled rosettes. The large lobes are not attached to the substrate, but loose and lift up a bit at the edges. It is present throughout France except at very high altitude.

Variable Oysterling Crepidotus variabilis (Fr. Crépidote variable) is a charming little mushroom which I find often in the forest on brash and small fallen branches.

This must be a tiny parasitic fungus. It's growing on a very degraded specimen of a gilled mushroom (so old it was unidentifiable, but it might have been honey fungus). I haven't been able to identify the tiny white mushrooms.

Turkey-tail Trametes versicolor (Fr. Polypore versicolore) is one of the most abundant fungi in the forest, found on many fallen branches and stumps. The top surface is in concentric bands of colours ranging from white to grey, black, red and beige. Underneath it is pure white with tiny pores, which yellows a bit with age.

Agile Frog Rana dalmatina (Fr. Grenouille agile) is a commonly encountered amphibian in the forest and easy to identify as unlike green frogs they do not vary much in pattern and coloration. Its distribution stretches from Sweden in the north, the Spanish Basque country in the south-west and Ukraine in the south-east.

Black Trumpets Craterellus cornucopioides (Fr. Trompettes de la mort) are a much sought after edible mushroom in these parts. I did indeed pick these and eat them. They are not easy to spot in the leaf litter.

Sulphur Knight Tricholoma sulphureum (Fr. Tricholome soufré) is a frequently encountered mushroom under the deciduous trees in the Forêt de Preuilly. This is definitely not an edible mushroom. It's rotten egg stinky and will give you gastro-intestinal pains.

False Death Cap Amanita citrina (Fr. Amanite citrine), not terribly toxic but can be confused with some deadly species. The American Destroying Angel A. amerivirosa is apparently now abundant in the forests of Poitou, to our south-west, and the two species look remarkably similar to me. I imagine eventually the introduced species will turn up in the Touraine.

A More Interesting Diet

It's now over a week since my radiotherapy finished, and at last I'm eating stuff that looks like proper food. Some of it is even a little spicy.

Baked potato, sausage, and deconstructed spanakopita

Gyoza, with soy sauce and plum sauce

Tex-Mex turkey bake with mesclun

The baked potato meal was the first of these, and my stomach did rebel, but since then I think we're almost back to normal.

Walking Around Yzeures sur Creuse

On Friday 31 October I joined les Galoches walking club for 6.5 kilometres around Yzeures sur Creuse. It was rather warm for the season, at 18°C.

 

I think this is Conical Brittlestem Parasola conopilea (Fr. Psathyrelle conique), growing in the leaf litter on the 'balcons' (terraces) of the River Creuse.

A rather fancy pantry I think.

Barns in a hamlet on the outskirts of the village.

A newly planted parcel of vines.

Spangle galls on an oak leaf, caused by the tiny wasp Neuroterus quercusbaccarum (Fr. Cynips galle-lentille).

Dozens of spangle galls that have slipped off their leaves once they've fallen. You could easily mistake them for spilled lentils on the track. There were several patches of galls on the ground like this, so it seems that mast years don't just apply to nuts and acorns.

House.

Sloe Bug Dorycoris baccarum (Fr. Punaise des baies).

Sloe Bug. You can see in this photo why their other name in English is Hairy Shield Bug.

Fertilising the Vineyards, Past and Present

Vines thrive in poor soil, but it is normal to judiciously fertilise them. Today, especially in organic vineyards, the rows of vines will be separated by a grassy sward. Close to the vines will be ploughed with a special vineyard two tined plough, and the paths between will be mowed. The ploughing is to reduce competition around the vines, and to cut through shallow roots. The vines are forced to rely on roots that go deep and are protected against drought. The 'grassy' paths are in fact mostly not grass, but in the case of the Chateau du Petit-Thouars vineyard, mostly clover. This is low growing and unlike grasses, does not compete with the vines for nutrients. Rather, it supplies nitrogen. In turn this increases soil health, including bacterial activity, carbon sequestration and the cycle of minerals such as iron. At Petit-Thouars they will also use a mixture of other cover crops such as Phacelia, but clover is established as the primary species. As a side benefit the vineyard aisles are protected against erosion because of their plant coverage.

 

Clover rich sward between the rows of 40 year old cabernet franc at the Chateau du Petit-Thouars.

Petit-Thouars retains a remnant of the old method of supplying nitrogen to the vineyards, used for centuries until 20th century agronomy ideas rendered it hopelessly old fashioned. Not far from the Chateau there is a domed cylindrical building which once housed a thousand pairs of pigeons. Royal assent had to be sought to build a dovecote, and the number of nest holes (Fr. boulins) was dictated by how much land you had. If you could prove that your peasants wouldn't starve if you fed a portion of your cereals to the pigeons. You wanted the pigeons to produce guano, which was the fertiliser equivalent of gold dust. As a bonus you also got squab (young pigeon) for the table. Dovecotes finally went out of use when huge guano deposits were discovered on islands along the South American coast in the 19th century. The mining and transporting of guano made a few businessmen rich beyond their wildest dreams. The use of guano in the vineyards also ceased because it was realised the pigeon poo was too acidic.

 

 Looking into the Chateau du Petit-Thouars dovecote from the doorway.

Chateau du Petit-Thouars is a family run estate in the Chinon AOC. For further details of how to visit for a tour and tasting, consult their website. https://www.chateaudptwines.com/

Walnuts

Most people around here have a walnut tree or access to one. At this time of year the walnuts have been gathered and are laid out in cellars drying. The Touraine is famous for its walnuts, although it does not hold an AOC for them. Still, there is a walnut tree in almost every field and along roadsides. There is no real need to possess your own walnut to secure a year round supply – just go for a walk and pick them up off the ground – everyone does it. Walnuts are les noix in French.

Newly harvested walnuts, below, showing the leathery outer casing with its fibrous lining. The casing splits and the nuts in their shells slip out easily to be stored for a month or so to dry out, then they can be processed or eaten as desired and will keep for at least twelve months (after that the oils go rancid, but no matter, because the new harvest will be in).

Some people will opt to have their nuts pressed for oil.  It costs a couple of euros per litre to have them pressed, but unless you have a minimum of 40kg of nuts, you have to share a pressing with other small scale clients and the output is divided up proportionally. Apparently they will also make oil from your hazelnuts, and you can buy oil from them for a few euros a litre (less than half the price of buying it from the supermarket, where it is about €12 a litre). There are about 40 walnuts to a kilo, and if you shell them you will get about 500 g.

 

 Crushing walnuts for oil at a local artisanal family run mill.

 

 

Twelve Months

Twelve months ago we arrived in Australia on a hastily arranged trip. At that stage I was still coming to terms with the fact that although my prostate had been removed, I was still having treatment for prostate cancer.

For this reason I am not ringing any bells, even though I have finished my radiotherapy treatment.

Picking up the Poo

The other morning I was making myself a cup of coffee in our kitchen. I noticed a man outside our back door, and I realised he was picking up his dog's poo. I was so astonished I popped my head out the door, despite the fact I was still in pyjamas and dressing gown, and thanked him. He was at first as astonished as me, and responded to my thanks with the very French 'mais c'est normale!' ('it's only natural'). I assured him it was not normal, and pointed out the two day old dog poos within a couple of metres of where his dog, an aged shaggy spaniel type, had chosen. He told me wryly that if they had spent as much time in French campgrounds as he had the owners would have learned to pick up their dog poo too. 

My Treatment in Numbers

Yesterday was the last session of my 35 days of radiotherapy treatment. The first day of treatment was 5th September, which I thought was just a calibration run, but last Friday I was told that was actually day one of my 35.

We drove to that first treatment and were given a list of appointments for the following week. That was the routine for the following 7 weeks. There was one day where the machine was having scheduled maintenance, and another day where the clinic rang after I had left home because the machine was broken.

So that's 34 days of 130km and 1 day of 90km making 4510km, riding in a taxi/ambulance, charged at 1€20 per kilometre. 5412€, plus about 10€ of fuel for our car. All the taxi costs are covered by the state health system.

On each voyage I drank on average 550ml of water or cordial, meaning I drank almost 20 litres en route to the hospital.

Over the course of the seven weeks I have taken 5 boxes of imodium, and 1½ mega boxes of Smecta. I also had a course of Racecadotril.

All this for about 8 minutes a day in a particle accelerator, at least 4 minutes of which was scanning me to make sure my bladder was full, my bowel empty, and I wasn't about to fart.

I now have to retrain myself to eat real food. I have no idea how long that will take.

How French Are Escargots?

Ninety-five percent of snails consumed in France come from Eastern Europe. French snail farmers  want to establish some rules so that traceability is clear.

 

Roman Snail in the wild, in the grounds of a chateau that is a Buddhist retreat.

There are 500 snail farmers in France. It's a profession that didn't exist until 40 years ago and it appeared after the legislation protecting Roman Snails Helix pomatia (Fr. Escargot de Bourgogne, or Gros Blanc) was introduced and the species could no longer be collected from the wild without restrictions. It was clear that the snails would go extinct if wild collecting continued as it had in the past.

 

Prepared large Garden Snails in garlic butter, produced by a local snail farmer.

For 45 years the rules have been that you can only collect Roman Snails between 1 July and 31 March, and only if the diameter is 3 cm or more. These constraints mean that the French market cannot be satisfied. At the time of the protection legislation consumption was already at 15 000 tonnes per year. So the profession of snail farmer (Fr. héliciculteur) was invented.

 

For the best snails go to a winter gourmet or producers market (Marché des producteurs) such as this one at la Celle Guenand. The snail producer's stall is on the left.

 

They tried at first to raise Roman Snails, the same as they were used to finding in the wild. But this was a short lived experiment. It just wasn't profitable. Roman Snails take 3-5 years to mature, so faster growing species were sought. Nowadays farmed snails are an unusually large subspecies of Garden Snail Cornu aspersum maxima that is widely believed to have been sourced from Algeria (although recent genetic tests have discounted that). Garden Snails are known in French as Petit Gris, and the farmed subspecies is known as the Gros Gris. This large Garden Snail proved to have similar characteristics to the Roman Snail, and in fact proved to be more tender and less rubbery. Crucially for commercial purposes it matures in 4 to 6 months.

 

Roman Snail in the grounds of the Domaine de Candé.

 

However, restaurateurs cannot put the more prestigious Escargot de Bourgogne on their menus if they are using Gros Gris, and many have turned to the Eastern European countries to source wild collected Roman Snails. There is no legislation in Poland, Romania, Ukraine or Bulgaria protecting the species, and they have flooded the French market. But now, populations of Roman Snails in those countries are coming under threat, just as happened in France in the 1980s. On the other hand, the French population has bounced back quite well.

 

A Garden Snail that hitched a lift on some lettuce.

 

Ukraine had become a leader in snail farming, with several hundred farms producing a thousand tonnes, entirely for export, as there is no native tradition in Ukraine of eating snails. But COVID-19 brought all that to a halt as exports had to cease. Likewise in France COVID-19 nearly wiped out snail farming, as 70% of sales are made during the winter holiday season, and due to the pandemic any celebrations, markets and restaurant dining were severely restricted in November 2020 to January 2021. 

Roman Snail in the wild.

But there is no question of going back to the old days. Roman Snails will remain protected in France and only accessible to those who collect a few in the autumn and winter for personal consumption. Meanwhile, the French National Federation of Heliciculteurs is working towards certification for 'escargot francais' for the Gros Gris, in the same way that French poultry is certified.

Further Reading: A profile of one of our local snail farmers that I wrote more than a decade ago  https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-snail-farmer.html

Foxes and the Fight Against Lyme Disease in France

According to French zoologists who have made a study of it, the Red Fox (Fr. Renard roux) is crucial to the control of Lyme Disease in France. They note that the increase in cases of Lyme Disease coincides with the decrease in Red Fox numbers. In France they are very often viewed as pests and hunted mercilessly. Up to a million are killed by hunters every year. Since cases of Lyme Disease continue to rise, and farmers struggle with rodents ravaging their crops, it seems high time to give Reynard the respect he deserves for his significant role in the regulation of our ecosystems.

 Lyme Disease is a degenerative zoonotic disease, which can be treated if it is diagnosed in time. Unfortunately due to lack of recognition in the past, it has often been left to turn into a chronic disease in France. It is transmitted via a tick infected with the bacteria complex Borrelia burgdoferi.

 The bacteria requires a damp habitat and so is most often found in or near woodland. Using as hosts wild vertebrates such as rodents or domesticated animals, the bacteria transfers from the host to the tick when the tick requires a blood meal. The tick may then pass it on in the same fashion to humans.

That said though, just because we are bitten by an infected tick does not mean we will contract the disease. It all depends on the life stage of the tick. Fewer than 1% of people bitten by a tick will be infected, and it requires a tick nymph to have been attached for at least 17 hours. The main season of risk is April to June, and sometimes in the autumn. Numbers of cases peaked in 2018 with a couple of hundred thousand incidences, but even now with better public education, there are around 60 000 new cases every year.

The principal cause for the increase in Lyme Disease is climate change. In addition, and all the current science is in agreement about this, the other significant factor is a lack of Red Foxes in rural areas and/or domestic cats in urban settings to control the rodent carriers of the bacteria. It has been demonstrated by several studies that a reduction over time of the Red Fox population in an area correlates to an increase in cases of Lyme Disease.

The rodents most likely to be carrying the bacteria are the Bank Vole (Fr. Campagnol roussatre) and the Wood Mouse (Fr. Mulot sylvestre). Their main predators are the Red Fox and the Beech Marten (Fr. Fouine), and the numbers of rodents go down when the activities of these two predators go up. The Red Fox does not itself play a role in infecting the ticks. Rather it is the population density of the rodents which directly affects the numbers of ticks, infected or not. The fewer rodents, the fewer ticks and the more Red Foxes. When the balance between rodents and foxes is optimal, there are four times fewer infected ticks.

So why has the Red Fox been considered a pest for so long and so persistently? Like the crow, it has partly to do with how the fox is represented in fairytales and fables. The fox is a cunning and crafty character in these stories. The red colour of the fox's pelt is associated with the Devil or Evil. Despite this, it was hunted for its fur. But bit by bit it became hunted because of being a vector for diseases transmissable to humans. The best known of these diseases is rabies, which was eradicated in France by 2001.

Red Foxes in good health and free from rabies were able to defend their territories from foxes coming in from elsewhere. But the next thing you know is that they were accused of spreading alveolar echinoccosis (Fox Tapeworm). However, this disease seems to be restricted to the east of France, and globally only 15% of new cases annually are in France. There are on average 2 human deaths a year from this disease in France.

Red Foxes are a very adaptable species and can be found everywhere from the seaside to high up in the mountains. It has been estimated that they each eat about 6000 rodents a year, thus keeping disease transmission low and protecting crops and young trees from damage by rabbits and voles. Rather than poison the food chain and the environment by laying baits for rodents it makes more sense to simply let foxes do their thing.

What do Hornets Ever do for Us?

Here in the Touraine Loire Valley we co-exist with two species of hornet. Hornets, for those of you unfamiliar with the beasts, are gigantic wasps. 

 

European Hornet predating a European Wasp Vespula germanica on our back doormat.

 

One of the species in the Touraine is the Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Vespa vetulina (Fr. Frelon asiatique). They are non-native and have colonised the whole of France in under two decades. Now abundant, everyone hates them, especially beekeepers, but no successful and sustainable method of controlling them has been developed, so we all just have to live with them as best we can. I find ignoring them completely works quite well, except when they are predating the feral honey bee colony in our courtyard wall. Then their behaviour is just too fascinating to ignore.

 

European Hornet at its nest entry in a tree stump. Minutes earlier I had actually put my hand inside without realising there was a hornets' nest. The hornets did not react in any way.

 

The second species of hornet here is the European Hornet Vespa crabro (Fr. Frelon européen). Sadly, not everyone can tell them apart, and all of a sudden anything even vaguely hornety is considered fair game and something to panic about. So, once again, for those of you confused about how to tell the difference -- European Hornets are yellow and chestnut brown, and very big, as insects go; Yellow-legged Asian Hornets are mostly black, with a couple of orangey yellow bands on the abdomen, and they are quite big, but not as big as European Hornets. Yellow-legged Asian Hornets have bright yellow legs, European Hornets have chestnut brown legs. Neither of these two species should be confused with Oriental Hornets V. orientalis (only in a few places in the south of France) or Asian Giant Hornets V. mandarinia (not in Europe at all), or Median Wasps Dolichovespula media. Most picture editors working in social or mainstream media can't tell one species of hornet from another, or indeed tell a hornet from a wasp, and so there is an awful lot of nonsense and misidentification online.

 

A European Hornet being put outside. I had offered it a towel to sit on and it felt secure.

 

So why should we learn the difference and be careful to cherish our European Hornets rather than fear and kill them?

• They are part of our natural biodiversity in the Touraine, and given the biodiversity crisis we are currently in, we need to protect all our native species to ensure a stable and resilient ecology in the face of climate change and habitat destruction. 
• Specifically, they are predators, and maintaining predators is a key part of maintaining a stable ecology. Predators do not have to be creatures with fur and fangs.
  
• They are good pollinators.
• They are rarely aggressive to humans (unless they feel their nest is threatened).
• Their nests are not long lasting, so the colony will die off over winter without you intervening with traps or poison. Save your money and effort.
  
• They predate wasps (and you are much more likely to be stung by a wasp than a hornet). 
• If you expect people in other countries to live alongside wildlife such as lions, bears or elephants without harming them then you should be able to tolerate large generally inoffensive insects going about their business in your presence.
• If you remove a predator species such as hornets you will then struggle to control their prey (eg fly maggots, sawfly grubs, moth caterpillars, other grubs, various insects).
• If you poison them what else are you harming?
• They will beat up on any Yellow-legged Asian Hornet entering their territory and trying to compete for prey. 

 

European Hornet in our attic. They fly both day and night if the weather is warm, and are attracted to lights, so often come in open windows on summer nights.

 

If you are a gardener, hornets are not a menace, but an ally, keeping your garden biodiversity balanced, and pollinating your flowers. They might be fierce looking, but just let them be and they will do the same for you. 

Further reading: My blog post about Yellow-legged Asian Hornets, their lookalikes, and what to do about them  https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-to-do-about-asian-hornets.html

My species page on European Hornet on Loire Valley Nature  https://loirenature.blogspot.com/2013/12/european-hornet-vespa-crabro.html 

All photos from our archives and taken by me.