After the lemon festival Segolene and I were motivated to get out in the countryside surrounding Menton to find some of the real deal. Thanks to the Association for the Proteciton of Menton Lemons (APCM) we were able to find the Tosan family orchards near the village of St. Agnes.
Perched on hills terraced by his forefathers, Jean-Claude Tosan still cultivates lemons, mandarins and oranges using the tools and methods used by his great great grandfather.
The lemons produced here are not chemically treated and are so sweet and tasty that you can eat the peel. Today’s variety are not the traditional Menton variety, since this tree was plagued by fungus during the last twenty years. A frost in the late 1950s killed most of the ancient trees planted by his grandparents, but a row of orange trees were grafted on the trunks of some of the old trees.
Mr and Mrs Tosan maintain and harvest the orchard on their own. Upwards of 500 kilos each year are hauled across the property by the couple. In addition to lemons, there are clementines which we tasted right off the tree.
Mme. Tosan was kind enough to share the traditional Lemon Meringue Pie recipe she uses. We will try the recipe and share tomorrow, stay tuned!
2 comments
Kara pucker-up says:
Mar 21, 2012
Can Mrs Tosan help Maïa with her homework tonight? She has about 20 words to write for a “dictée” and I want her to learn to write like Mrs Tosan–what beautiful handwriting! Plus the lemon pie could come in handy at snack time! 😉
holger says:
Apr 2, 2012
Wow! What a spectacle! We’ve been to Menton (lovely town), but smised the Festival. I’ve seen some other photos of it, but yours are superior, as usual! Wouldn’t it smell great if we lived inside the Taj Mahal So have you left Paris for Provence now, or is it still too early?