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Fruit Ade
Blackcurrants (cassis) have been used as a medicinal application
in Burgundy for centuries - either as an infusion or a vapour
inhalation. The increased crop led to the discovery of another
'medicinal' use - crushing the berries in vats of alcohol,
filtering the result and sweetening it with sugar - used my
monks as a cure for snakebites, jaundice and 'wretchedness'.
Boozing with Blackcurrants
Taken a step further the Burgundians have made a Crème
de Cassis - a black current liqueur. Forget your
Margaritas and forget your Pina Coladas, here in Burgundy
you drink Kir. Kir is white wine mixed with Crème de
Cassis, a local liqueur made from blackcurrants. Cassis mixed
with a pinot noir (red wine) is known as
a 'communade' or a 'communist'. And a Kir Royale
is cassis with Champagne.
The drink suffered a lapse in popularity around WW2, as the
sugar was substituted with cheaper saccharine. It was championed,
however, by Canon Felix Kir (hence the name),
a priest who was a leading light in the French resistance
and was later elected Mayor of Dijon. When local distillers
were having a hard time after the war, he insisted on offering
all visitors to the town a blanc-cassis - dry white wine mixed
with crème de cassis. Crème de cassis is only
made in Dijon with blackcurrants grown in
the nearby Hautes Cotes region.
Fête du Cassis / Black Currant Festival, Concoeur, nr. Nuits St. Georges
Take a fruity journey through the culinary heritage of Nuits-Saint-Georges. Every first weekend of September the village of Concoueur (near Nuits St. Georges) literally turns purple! Taste foie gras, cheese, charcuterie, bread, cakes, jams, preserves, and sample cordials, beers, wine, liqueurs - and everything imaginable - flavoured with blackcurrants.
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