Fin Gras du Mézenc is an appellation of origin for a French cattle-breeding product. It is protected at European level by a AOP ("Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée").
Its origins lie in an old practice of the farmers along the Mézenc massif, consisting of slowly fattening rigorously selected heifers and steers in their cowsheds with natural hay, also carefully picked, hay mowed in the high meadows, in order to sell them at Easter fairs. Fin gras probably owes its unique character to the hay used, which comes from a very specific mountain flora that includes plants such as Meum ("cistre" in common usage), which perfumes the meat. In addition, the hay is carefully harvested, sorted and distributed according to age-old local know-how. The animals - steers over 30 months old and heifers over 24 months old from various suckler breeds or from crosses between suckler and dairy breeds - are marketed by local butchers and restaurateurs, mainly located in the Haute-Loire and Ardèche regions.
The determination of farmers and elected representatives to preserve this tradition led, in 1994, to the creation of a scope statement including specifications with the aim of obtaining an AOC, which became a reality in 2006. The aim was to revitalize the region and preserve the intangible heritage of Mézencole agriculture.
This agricultural product is an integral part of the Mézenc culture, and helps to consolidate the coherence of this territory. As a result, a museum has been created to describe this agricultural product to tourists, and a Rural Excellence Project ("Pôle d'excellence Rurale") has been based since 2007 on the momentum created by the AOC recognition.
History
Origins Fin gras du Mézenc is produced on the Mézenc massif, which rises to an average altitude of 1,100 meters. Located in the Haute-Loire and Ardèche départements, this massif also marks the boundary between the Loire basin, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Rhône basin, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Loire also flows through this massif, at Mont Gerbier de Jonc.
From the 17th century onwards, the massif's farmland, often owned by nobles or religious communities, was farmed by local farmers or rented out to transhumant herds from Southern France. The lack of land for cultivation became more and more of a problem as the population grew, and the rent brought in by the herders was not sufficient. It was probably for these reasons that the intensification of work around hay to compensate for the lack of grazing developed in the Mézenc, giving rise to the fin gras.N. Ribet, J-C Mermet, A-M. Martin, L'éleveur et ses rois ou la mémoire du Fin Gras, Association des élus du massif du Mézenc, 1996, 53 p. The production of bœufs gras at Easter is a very old tradition in this massif. In 1680, the inventory of a wealthy farmer mentions his recipe for selling bœufs gras at Easter. Moreover, in 1760, the massif's breeders asked the authorities to build roads to enable them to sell their fattened animals at the Fay-sur-Lignon and Saint-Agrève fairs, the main outlets for their production."Un savoir-faire" archive, AOC fin gras du Mézenc (accessed January 10th, 2009). Manuscripts mention trade relations with the towns of Saint-Étienne, Lyon, Avignon, Marseille, and Montpellier. By 1724, Mézenc farmers were also supplying butchers in Valence, Crest, and Montélimar.
These oxen, generally aged between 12 and 15 years and too old for ploughing, were fattened all winter with unlimited hay before being sold at Easter.Deribier, Annuaire statistique du département de la Haute-Loire, 1824, 472 p. Their production became widespread in the 18th century. The quality of the hay was an essential factor in the success of this type of fattening, which is why the finest hay was set aside for distribution to the fattening animals. Numerous authors have praised the particular quality of this hay, such as Giraud-Soulavie as early as the end of the eighteenth century:J.-L. Giraud-Soulavie, Histoire de la France méridionale, III, 1783, 227 p."The quality of the hay in these mountains is very suitable for fertilizing animals; the meadows nourish many aromatic plants, the grass is loose and fine; it never grows very high; this hay is carted into the barns with sledges that the oxen tread and carry up to the roof of the barn; and when this hay has fermented, it forms nothing more than a mass that is cut with an axe. Take some of this hay, make an infusion of it, and you'll have a very fragrant Eau vulnéraire, and much healthier than all those decoctions that starve the stomach."Most of the animals used for this production were oxen that were too old for ploughing and belonged to the mézine breed, dominant on the massif at the time. This breed had a great aptitude for depositing the marbled intramuscular fat characteristic of fine fat. It has been extinct since 1978. In addition to locally raised beef, farmers also bought Aubrac cattle from the Laguiole region to fatten in the Mézenc.
The term "fin gras" ("fine fat") to designate the finely marbled meat produced in the Mézenc was used from the 19th century onwards by certain zootechnicians. At the time, however, the term did not find its way into everyday farming parlance, where it was more commonly referred to as "bœuf de Pâques" (Easter beef). The term became popular in the countryside much later, with the AOC recognition.J. Agabriel, J-N Borget, N. Ribet, Fin Gras du Mézenc - Aire délimitée, Projet mis à l'enquête, Valence, Rapport INAO - Comité national des produits agro-alimentaires, 2004, 45 p.
AOC recognition
Recognition of this long-standing tradition was sought in 1995, when the area was awarded the AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) label. The AOC guarantees consumers a link between an agricultural product and its associated terroir, in this case, the Mézenc massif. This notion of terroir encompasses both natural conditions such as climate, soils, and the flora that grows there; along with human dimensions, through the know-how and traditions that have been developed in this region. So it's more the specificity of the product that is claimed than a superior quality as in the case of a red label. To become official, an AOC must be approved by the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO), and it is then necessary to prove, sometimes scientifically, the link between the terroir and the agricultural product in question. Finally, the AOC is the subject of a decree proposed by the INAO, which sets out all the specifications to be respected by the various players in the sector (production zone, practices, feed, breeds, etc.).
The AOC initiative was born in the 1990s out of a desire to revitalize the region's agriculture, which was suffering from a decline in the number of farmers, and consequently in local demographics, since agriculture is the region's main activity. The traditional production of fin gras was quickly identified as a tradition common to the Mézenc, and one that could become a unifying element for the region. So, in 1995, the Association des élus du Mézenc, now the Association Mézenc-Gerbier, brought together local Mézenc elected officials from the two administrative regions concerned, to set up a development project for the area, one of whose first objectives was to gain recognition for fin gras as an AOC. Initial tests were carried out between November 1995 and March 1996 on 150 animals, with the participation of INRA Theix and the two Regional Chambers of Agriculture."Contextualisation de la production de fin gras du Mézenc" (accessed February 1st, 2010). In 1996, a group of breeders set up the Fin Gras du Mézenc association. This association is responsible for supporting the project. In 1997, the dossier requesting recognition of the "Fin Gras du Mézenc" appellation as an AOC was submitted to the INAO. Between 1997 and 2001, various steps were taken to demonstrate the product's specificity, in which INRA took part in collaboration with the Association pour le développement de l'institut de la viande (ADIV) to characterize the meat's organoleptic properties. The specifications were refined between 2002 and 2005, before the INAO finally validated the project by passing the decree on March 27, 2006. The decree was published in the Journal Officiel on September 2, 2006.Amélie Chapus, Le fin gras du Mézenc, Lyon, Thèse de médecine vétérinaire, 2008.
Product
Mézenc hay, the source of the product's distinctiveness
The Mézenc massif has a rich tradition of haymaking and hay-drying on meadows, following in the footsteps of the other Massif Central mountain ranges. The combination of altitude, soil, and climate makes it possible to mow and dry hay. A distinctive flora has developed in these regularly mown high-altitude meadows. There are 68 plant species, including numerous Poaceae such as Alopecurus, triset, Festuca, bentgrass, and sweet vernal grass; a significant proportion of Fabaceae such as clover and trefoil, and various plants characteristic of high-altitude meadows such as Meum, Viola, bistort, and broadleaf bluegrass. Mézenc hay owes its quality to the good forage quality of the species used in its composition, to the presence of particularly palatable plants such as Alpine fennel or Lady's mantle, to the high proportion of Fabaceae, and to the many medicinal plants (nearly 40) it contains, which may facilitate assimilation.M-E. Sanial, Inventaire floristique des prairies et des pâturages du Mézenc, Rapport de stage pour la chaire de biophysiologie végétale de la faculté d'Angers, 1995, p. 7.
Meum, commonly known in this country as "cistre", is of particular importance. "Meat grass", as some farmers call it, is not eaten by animals when it is green in the pasture, but once dried it becomes very palatable and the animals eat a large quantity of the scented hay. As it is almost exclusively mown in the Mézenc, only animals from this region regularly consume it. It has been noted that the terpene composition of cistre, which gives it its fragrant properties, is close to that of Mézenc hay. What's more, a number of these terpenes are also found in the fat tissue of animals fed on this hay, linking the Mézenc terroir to the meat produced there.N. Kondjoyan, J-L. Bergdague, Recherche de traceurs de l'alimentation dans les viandes " fin gras " du Mézenc, Clermont-Ferrand, Rapport de l'INRA - Laboratoire Flaveur, 1997.N. Kondjoyan, J-L. Bergdague, A compilation of relative retention indices for the analysis of aromatic compounds, Clermont-Ferrand, Laboratoire Flaveur, INRA, 1996.
The hay produced in Mézenc requires special attention because of its importance for the production of fattened livestock. That's why the region's livestock farmers pay particular attention to the quality of their hay meadows and to good harvesting and drying conditions, selecting the hay when it is distributed to the animals. The hay produced is easy to digest and has a good energy density of 0.7 forage units (FU) per kilogram of dry matter. The high proportion of Fabaceae results in a high nitrogen content, and a balanced forage from this point of view for the animals, with just over 100 PDI (digestible intestinal proteins) per UF.M. Martin, D. Jammes, Étude commentée des 44 analyses foin, Mézenc, Chambre d'agriculture de la Haute-Loire, 1995, 12 p. These values are higher than those obtained with most other mountain hays.
A particularly marbled meat
The meat produced weighs a minimum of 280 kg for heifers and 320 kg for steers. They feature a thin layer of white to creamy-white fat. The meat is red to purple in color. Tender to very tender, with fine marbling. It is a seasonal agricultural product, marketed from March to June.