Description
The Volailles du Languedoc PGI are free-range, farm poultry belonging to slow-raising breeds and crossbreeds.
Production Area
The Volailles du Languedoc PGI are produced in the departments of Gard, Hérault, Lozère in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, and in several areas of the regions Midi-Pyrenees, Provence-Alpes-Azur and Rhone-Alps.
Production Method
The traditional breeding of Volailles du Languedoc PGI is slow-raising. The vegetable and cereal-based diet enables the poultry to develop harmoniously. This breed has an exceptional attitude to live in the open air, above all in the brushwood areas. Here it can integrate its diet with the food found. Generally, Volailles du Languedoc PGI cannot access to grassy areas before six weeks of age. The slaughtering of this poultry takes place from 81 days of age.
Appearance and Flavour
Volailles du Languedoc PGI have fine and compact fowl and are much appreciated due to the beauty of their feathers, which are dense and fading in colour, which can be white, salmon, maroon, black and ermine tone. The fully raised cock weighs 3.5 kg to 4 kg, while hen, which is smaller, can achieve 3.5 kg. There is also a dwarfish breed.
History
As in the largest part of France, also in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, the farmyard winged animals in general and poultry in particular have very ancient origins. But in last decades, the precious Volailles du Languedoc PGI poultry breeding has become important for the local economy.
Gastronomy
The Volailles du Languedoc PGI can be conserved for a few days in the refrigerator, wrapped into the purchasing paper and stored in the coldest compartment. The fowl of Volailles du Languedoc PGI can be cooked in different ways depending on the product which can be whole or in slices and, in this last case, depending on the cut chosen. Refined and tasteful, it is ideal to prepare elaborated roasts with aromatic herbs and butter, seasoned with mushrooms, local wines, acid milk creams and soft cheeses combined with potato purée and roasted or sauté vegetables.
Marketing
The Volailles du Languedoc PGI include the product types which refer to the varieties of poultry of the denomination, individually written on the package, amongst which there are poulet jaune fermier, chapon, poularde (farm yellow chicken, capon, pullet). The product is sold both whole and in slices, with or without head, fresh or frozen, packed in suitable trays with protected atmosphere to guarantee a longer conservation and keep unaltered the organoleptic features of fowl, accompanied by all the indications on the product.
Distinctive Features
The precious flavour of Volailles du Languedoc PGI is due to the specific selection of the Malvoisine breed, originally Faverolles breed, which is perfect for the production of fowl, while the slaughtering age, the peculiar diet rich of cereals and the raising method in grassy areas give it specific nutritional features, with a higher protein value and less water content, mineral salts and vitamins.
