On the domain of L’Hort del Gal, near the city of Béziers (Hérault), Michel Vicq crosses, with a worried eye, his small field of peach trees, stepping over the wild grass. Built like a rugby player (that he was), white mane held back by a thin headband, sparse beard, the 56-year-old market gardener examines his trees. He has about 200 of them, counting the nectarine trees, which are often taken for cousins, but which are indeed varieties of peach trees with fruit deprived of down, obtained by natural mutations.
A few months ago, the Cévennes episodes, the violent storms that regularly shake the region, changed its land into a paddling pool. At the start of summer, the adversary strikes less spectacularly, but it is multiple. “Trees can get leaf curl, fall victim to aphids, and peaches get eaten by various insects, including wasps and bees”, he explains, carefully plunging his bear paws into the branches. Crack! He cuts a peduncle between two fingers to extirpate a chubby fruit already sucked by a little winged gourmet.
We understand the appetite of parasites. On Michel Vicq’s farm, which works without chemical treatment, certain varieties have reached full maturity and have appetizing orange-red roundness, bursting with sunshine, with a silky skin. Peach is a luscious embodiment of summer. The crates filled with fleshy fruits attract gourmets in the estate’s shop, run by the owner, Sandrine Vicq. And customers don’t even wait to get to their vehicle to bite into these big candies that melt in the mouth, flooding the palate with a honeyed juice.
Fishing, originally from China, reached France in the VIe century. The fruit was invited to the table of kings, who had it cultivated in greenhouses on the estate of Versailles, even striving to create new varieties. Today there are more than 300 in French orchards, according to the AOP Pêches et apricots de France. “I work with the Ivoire and Opale varieties for the white peaches, Sugar Time for the yellow peaches, Topaze for the later wine-coloured vine peaches, details the market gardener. This allows me to have ripe products from the end of June to the beginning of September. »
This former engineer from Val-d’Oise took a liking to the South. There he discovered the vans laden with fruit that dot the roadsides. “Some are tourist traps specializing in the resale of products grown in Spain, our main competitor”, regrets this defender of direct sales. In his region, Occitanie, where the largest quantity of French peaches comes from, he has opened up to local preferences. “Whereas in the North, we appreciate yellow peaches, which are sweeter, here, we mainly buy white ones for their floral, thirst-quenching side”remarks the market gardener.
You have 61.75% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.