Yesterday I was a guest
From King 👑 of Tomatoes, Jacky Mercier , specialist in heirloom varieties.
Naturally I have been
Painting tomatoes 🍅 non-stop 🛑
The tomato 🍅 Festival falls annually on the second weekend in September.
In the Loire Vallé near Tours.
You can stay overnight at the chateau.
As presse, we got to meet the owner, Prince Louis-Albert de Broglie, known as Le Prince Jardinier.
This video is a fun, fascinating watch on the process of creating the book.
The Prince is owner of the fabulous DEYROLLE, a cabinet of curiosities dating from 1831, featuring natural history, taxidermy and entomology, a must-see museum/bookstore in Paris, 46, rue du Bac, 75007
I revisited
Deyrolle on Friday to brush up on gardening.
At the festival there are blind tomato tastings just like fine wines 🍷
The garden displays about 50 of the 800 organically-grown heirloom tomato varieties, crop-rotated annually.
Tomate ananas noire, Blue Beauty, Cœur de bœuf, Pêche blanche, Marmande, Téton de Vénus…The Prince created a
Conservatoire de la Tomate to document the species.
Gardens were lushly green, even after multi-heatwaves of this extreme summer.
A stroll through the Prince’s forest before lunch.
In the Renaissance, chateau parks were jammed with labyrinths and games and frivolities. Some of the enormous trees and a wood sculpture.
 |
The forest park is set up as an ever-changing educational area.
Reflecting the educational books and posters published by Deyrolle.
Our all-tomato lunch was prepared by une etoile ⭐️ Michelin chef at La Table du Prince Jardinier, in the 100-seat onsite restaurant.
The starter - a Mediterranean salade tomate + fresh tomato juice.
Followed by a tomato Mozzarella sandwich 🥪 The greens 🥬 were crunchy and delicious. Nothing you would find in any supermarché.
Dessert - the best herbed-tomato sorbet and tomato cookie I ever tasted.
Thank the Aztecs and Peru for the Xitomatl as well as chocolate 🍫 Conquistadors brought tomatoes back to a mystified Spain in 1572. Europeans took their time embracing it, believing them to be poisonous, from the deadly nightshade family.
The chateau boutique sells books, posters and artisanal products from the gardens 🪴
I bought a red tomato-scented soap bearing
The Prince’s coat of arms.
His elegant gardening line, LE PRINCE JARDINIER is in Bergdorf Goodmans, NYC.
Watch the Prince’s TED Talk to better understand his intentions for the world and farming.
The Festival de la Forêt 🌳 coming up in October.
|
In the Renaissance, chateau parks were jammed with labyrinths and games and frivolities. Some of the enormous trees and a wood sculpture.
Beautiful tomatoes, ours have definitely peaked, but we still have some big ones. How interesting to find that the chateau owner also owns Deyrolle! It's been on my list for several trips , will have to get there next time I'm in Paris!
ReplyDeleteThe chateau is a lovely experience and open to visitors if you check the website.
DeleteThis was fun. The tomatoes are awesome. Beautiful. I don’t see anything like that here. Whole Foods is close but I wanted to reach in and take these. Lynne
ReplyDeleteAh! Les tomatoes!
ReplyDelete🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅
Jane G.
In the states we love our New Jersey tomatoes. Fat and full of flavor. They make the best BLT ‘s!
ReplyDeleteBLTs…Yum We can’t get those since Marks & Spencers closed up because of damn Brexit. I grew up in Philadelphia and remember Jersey Tomatoes 🍅 ❤️
DeleteJersey tomatoes are THE tomatoes !( also a former Philadelphian)
DeleteLove your watercolors. And the splashes! Solli
ReplyDeleteWow! You are invited to the best places, Carol…hobnobbing with a prince! Deyrolle has a small shop on the ground floor with gardening gear and apparel. I was sorely tempted by a linen gardening smock. ☺️
ReplyDeleteWe went to the farm stand this morning for tomatoes and greens. Have been overdosing on tomato/pesto/mozzarella paninis before the season is over. Enjoy your tomato haul. 😋
Their clothing is elegant with tiny details that surprise like yellow lining in the pockets. You didn’t go upstairs to the taxidermy collection? You must go back Bonnie!
DeleteOf course I went upstairs, that was my main destination. 👍🏻 Surprised and delighted (and confused?), to find gardening things on the ground floor. Now, from your post, I know why. I always learn something from your posts. 😘
DeleteAh ha. Sorry, yes Deyrolle is also a publisher of scientific books and posters pertaining to nature, farming, human anatomy.
DeleteI would have loved this as I love tomatoes. My favorite summer dinner is garlic & tomatoes sauteed with pasta and basil. But the tomatoes need to be homegrown as the supermarket ones don't really taste like a tomato.
ReplyDeleteI’m going to try this Suki! I have plenty of real tomatoes 🍅
DeleteI love tomatoes and will always purchase heirloom ones if available. They are so interesting in their various colors and shapes. If this were an event near me I would have gone! You have to be the one, Carol, to share about this a I no longer am able to travel. much. My favorites are gazpacho and that cheese and tomato sandwich!!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of making Gazpacho with all my new tomatoes 🍅
DeleteThat chateau is like out of a dream inside and out.
ReplyDeleteWow, a chateau, forest, taxidermy, garden, tastings, shopping, a prince and..tomatoes! What more could one want? Your paintings are terrific, love the colors…so interesting, thank you! 🍅🍅 Virginia
ReplyDeleteThank you 🍅 ❤️
DeleteYou definitely went for a tomato treat! Tomato sorbet and tomato cookie? Never heard of before, must have been very tasty :-) Thanks for sharing this tomato adventure with us <3 Xx, Solli
ReplyDeleteYes, so unusual flavors and delicious. And healthy!!
DeleteJust watched his TED-talk! Very interesting, thanks for sharing :-)
ReplyDeleteI remember when you went to the festival before….hard to believe it was 10 years ago! Carolyn
ReplyDeleteYou have a good memory Carolyn 👍 though it is a very special place.
DeleteOf course a tomato festival in France is in a castle! But I was surprised there was also a gardening prince.
ReplyDeleteFresh home grown tomatoes are the best! I’m lucky as I have great tomatoes I can buy at my local markets.
These all looks excellent and the food sounds very tasty, nice they did a classic cheese and tomato sandwich (now I really want one myself, but no tomatoes here at home!). 🍅
I have plenty tomatoes 🍅 KIRRA. I will send some to Australia 🇦🇺 toute suite 👍
Deletestunning watercolors! It feels you have found a very unique signature look with the chopsticks and makeup brushes!! the result is amazing, you are so creative! Solli ❤️
ReplyDelete