The abbot’s hams: a tale of the breeze of Saint Flour’s bell tower
By Valeria Paganizza
A contemporary tale, with a pinch of verve and the magical fragrance of Abbey’s atmosphere. These are the ingredients of the juicy news coming from France.
Imagine a small village in the middle of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with a blue, blue sky and green mountains. Imagine a cathedral, with two twin towers that frame the façade. Add to the picture a monumental organ, one of those wonderful instruments with vibrations that gives you goosebumps. Imagine also an abbot wishing to raise some money for the organ restoration and devising a marketing strategy based on the mentioned narrative. Now guess what the subject of this marketing strategy is. In simple terms, try to imagine what the abbot is going to sell to get funding for the restoration. Have you done it?
Great. You have all the necessary elements of the tale that, in the last days, the press is relaunching.
To raise money for the restoration of the organ, the abbot of Saint-Flour Cathedral, in Cantal, decided to start an entrepreneurial activity, trying to also valorize one of the quality products of the area, the “Jambon d’Auvergne IGP” (Auvergne Ham PGI), which might also bear a national quality recognition called “Label Rouge”, upon certain conditions.
Jambon d’Auvergne PGI
The Protection Geographical Indication was registered on the 2nd of March 2016 (EU file number PGI-FR-01348), under Article 11 of Regulation (EU) no. 1151/2012, with a specification update on March 2023. The Consortium des Salaisons d'Auvergne submitted the registration application.
The specification requires a maturation time of at least 240 days (8 months), which are calculated since the date of the salting operation till the exit from the refining, time when the weight of each piece should be at least 6 kg.
The specification identifies the “Jambon d’Auvergne IGP” as having a «shape of a rounded thigh» with a uniform colour, a soft to dry texture, and a genuine ("franc" in the specification) taste that lingers in the mouth. The «smell and taste are characteristics of dried pork, with nutty-like aromas», which «may be slightly garlic». «When cut, the slice has good cohesion, with little covering fat. The lean is of a homogeneous red to dark red color, fat is of a homogeneous white to slightly yellow or pink». The sale presentation can be different: with or without packaging, with or without bones, whole, by half, by quarter or by sixth. “Jambon d’Auvergne IGP” can be sliced, with immediate delivery to the consumer, or packed, after slicing, in a vacuum or controlled atmosphere.
The geographical area included in the specification encloses the whole departments of Cantal (where our tale develops), Haute Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, plus several municipalities of the Departments of Allier and Corrèze and the municipality of Labastide-du-Haut-Mon in the Lot Department.
As for the drying and fining phases, the specification requires that «after steaming, the ham goes through a drying phase, at a temperature between 10 and 18°C, with specific practices for each company (humidity differential between the highest and lowest points: a maximum of 20 points under normal operating conditions), with low air circulation.
The dryers are either equipped with an air conditioning system allowing the implementation of precise cycles by determined variation of temperature, humidity, and air flow conditions, or natural (temperature and humidity are not standardized in this case). The control of ambient parameters in the dryers (temperature, relative humidity) allows for the weight loss to be managed until the desired minimum values are reached.
At the end of the drying process, a coating can be applied with lard (or lard paste) on the lean part of the thigh. This practice is intended to control and homogenize the drying process. The coating is flavored with salt and pepper, and possibly garlic, and/or spices (cinnamon, juniper, coriander). It can be supplemented with a base of flour, rice, or wheat (texturizing agent). The ham then enters the final phase of the process: aging, at a temperature between 12 and 20°C, with a low air circulation rate. The weight loss is limited. The “Jambon d’Auvergne” is never smoked».
The specification’s area considers the continuity of traditional practices, historically shaped by favourable natural conditions for meat drying, and the long-standing establishment of salting companies (part VIII, par. 1 of the specification).
Climate conditions (temperature, humidity, wind) indeed influence the air-drying process. In particular, as described in par. 1, a) of the specification, the ham production has always taken advantage of the continental climate, along with the altitude and the cold winters that brought the bacteriostatic effect of law temperature necessary to ham drying.
The wind is one of the key elements that characterizes the geographical area and affects the drying process. Auvergne is vulnerable to strong foehn effects, especially downstream of the mountain ranges, because of its rough terrain, which is oriented transversely to the predominant humid westerly winds.
Regarding the historical background of Jambon d’Auvergne IGP, the first records of production date back to the XIII century, although the development of handmade manufacturing and product dissemination only occurred in the XIX century.
The decision to recognize and register the PGI was primarily determined by the climatic and human factors of the area, which have long influenced the organoleptic features of the product and contributed to its reputation due to its salting heritage. According to the specification, the skill of the master salters has allowed the Jambon d’Auvergne to acquire «its characteristics that endure over time (firm texture, noisette and nail aromas)».
Label Rouge
Label Rouge is a French sign regulated by the Agriculture and Sea Fishery Code (Code Rural et de la pêche maritime), from Article. R.641-1 to Article R.641-10. It marks products with a higher quality, due to production or manufacturing characteristics, if compared with products that could commonly be found on the market (according to Article R.641-9, first alinea, «Chaque label rouge est évalué afin de garantir un niveau de qualité supérieure par rapport aux denrées et produits similaires habituellement commercialisés»). The logo is a registered trademark.
A Jambon d’Auvergne PGI can also bear the Label Rouge for the “Jambon sec”, if it meets the required criteria.
Saint-Flour ham
As anticipated in the previous paragraphs, the idea to exploit the peculiar characteristic of the cathedral of being blessed by dry winds for ham refining is attributed to the Abbot of Saint-Flour Cathedral. A partnership was created among the Diocese of Saint-Flour, the Association des amis de la cathédrale de Saint-Flour (author’s translation: Associations of Saint-Flour Cathedral’s friends) and the Cantal Salaisons - Groupe Altitude (an agrifood cooperative group that also produces Jambon d’Auvergne PGI). Under this partnership, the Jambons d’Auvergne PGI would have been refined in the bell tower of the cathedral, before being sold, with the trademark Florus Solatium (Valtitude), to raise money for cultural heritage preservation. On 16 June 2022, the first hams were inaugurated. The tale of the Abbot’s hams, the narrative and the curiosity towards the products are reported to have enjoyed success also among big chefs, so that in December 2023 the first check was released to pay for the organ restauration (see Facebook webpage of Florus Solarium).
Cultural heritage
As with every story, an unexpected event abruptly halted the positive progression of the tale. As reported by several French newspapers and reposted by international journals, it seems that a representative of the Architecte des Bâtiments de France (Architects of the Buildings of France), a body, dependent from the French Ministry of Culture, which ensures the application of cultural heritage provisions and promotes quality architecture and urbanisations, complained that, besides the presence of some food mites, the refining process could damage the bell tower, due to the grease released by hams, and could increase the risk of fire. According to the online press, it seems that an administrative decision by the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles (Regional direction for cultural affairs) required therefore to remove the hams by the end of 2023. The Cantal Prefecture had then authorised a delay of the deadline.
An action that was thus thought to support the protection of cultural heritage would have turned into a damaging action with reference to the same protected good.
Unfortunately, it has not been possible to retrieve the original official documents that could help in understanding the details of this tale, with the exception of a press release from the Ministry of Culture that announces the happy ending.
Happy ending
On 30 October 2024, an official press release announced that the French Ministry of Culture asked the Prefect of Cantal to check modes that could make it possible to continue the ham refining in the bell-tower, in compliance with the need to protect both safety and cultural heritage. This would contribute to the enhancement, according to the press release, of the link between culture and rurality.
The resolution of the “dispute” might be considered a victory in the victory, if the parameter is the success of Abbot’s hams: due to the mediatic tom tom at an international level, the fame of Florus Solatium increased as well as its online sales.
The effort to refine “Jambon d’Auvergne IGP” in the bell tower of Saint-Flour Cathedral was an exceptional combination of cultural preservation and regional heritage. The potential of such collaborations in safeguarding the cathedral’s artistic goods, the products of tradition, and the local economy was demonstrated by the engagement between local institutions and the agrifood cooperative, despite encountering unforeseen hurdles. The instance of Saint-Flour highlights the link between protecting cultural heritage and welcoming creative, community-driven solutions for its preservation.
[Disclaimer: this article is not advertising; it has no promotional purpose].