France’s Aubrac plateau, a paradise for cattle farmers and perfumers • FRANCE 24 English

Located in southern France, the Aubrac plateau is the scene of an explosion of colours and flavours in summer. The Aubrac dairy cows graze in rich meadows. Their cheese, tomme, is the main ingredient in the local specialty dish: aligot. The lush slopes are also home to the narcissus flower, which is harvested in the old-fashioned way with a raking tool. These delicate, fragrant flowers deck the region in white and are used by perfumers for their finest creations. We take a closer look.

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[Music] thank you [Music] straddling everondeire and cantal is a plateau with its very own character obrac’s 2200 square kilometers are made up of forests and vast floral pastures and this is where its most beautiful ambassadors can be found the obra cow a dairy breed with a Wheaton coat on his farm Jehovah has a number of oprahs but also simontas the cows spend all year Outdoors even for milking a moment that the farmer shares with visitors twice a week imprisoned the milk so it doesn’t go back up into the other and then you pull downwards and there you go I’m not having much success you’ll get squirts for three or four minutes giving about seven liters of milk it’s very important for us to show how we work and today consumers are increasingly demanding and curious now that’s a good thing we’re heading in the right direction the milk from gero’s cows has the sweet scent of the pastures of a black the plateau has one of Europe’s richest diversity of flowers which this group has come to see close up we start with the plateau’s emblematic plants our cows eat only fresh grass or hay no soya and no Maize they’re given vitamin supplements and that’s it but some of the plants are easier to find than to pronounce I glow amazing [Laughter] I’ve lived in the countryside all my life but I had no idea we had so many different plants the great richness of obrac can also be found on your plate in this abandoned Hut once used by herders and converted into a restaurant get through it it’s here that the young Chef Philippe makes his aligo a local cheese based specialty so this is obrac fresh Tom yeah okay it’s the curd which was pressed two or three days ago there’s nothing fresher than this the recipe calls for 100 grams of cheese per person know-how and patience okay it’s done ready to be eaten the stringiness is perfect it’s hot you’re ready to indulge perfect for invigorating the hikers who stop off here on their way to Santiago de Compostela so Madam how’s the alley go excellent very good the avaron is fantastic you’ve got to come on holiday here the Landscapes are fabulous toe is not only heaven for hikers cattle farmers and gourmets it’s also a treasure Trove for perfumers because once a year these Lush slopes turn bright white with delicate scents Narcissus the pearl of obrac here the flowers are harvested in the old-fashioned way with a raking tool at the end of the day your arms and legs hurt and you’re a bit stiff traditionally the Harvesters are also cattle Farmers For Whom the narcissus brings in some extra income between a thousand and two thousand Euros once a year it’s a relatively easy way of earning a bit of pocket money for the year which nature gives you which nature gives us so we take advantage weighing is also carried out traditionally and it’s the local grocer who acts as the perfumer’s representative event 21. he knows the right weight it has to be a fair weight a fair weight for the farmer and a fair weight for my boss if it’s like this it’s not good for them if it’s like this it’s not good for me yeah that’s a fair weight after the Harvest the flowers go off to the still The Fragile narcissists must be distilled quickly the fresher the flowers the more scent they keep and it’s for this scent that they’re picked it’s a bit like making coffee you let water strain through the ground coffee that’s right the solvent becomes charged with narcissus extract we then evaporate the solvent to obtain the pure narcissus extract after several hours of washing 1500 kilos of narcissus will yield just three kilos of extract known in the perfume trade is concrete in this cup there are between seven and eight tons of flowers this concentrate of flowers produces a very green fresh note that’s very appreciated by the perfumers of grass meaning that in some of the most famous perfumes in the world you might just catch a hint of the wild pastures of a black