Victor Hugo, the poet, is said to have thought quite highly of it, and Raymond Poincarré, the former President of France, born in the country this product comes from, made it acceptable in high places during his term from 1913 to 1920. American director Alfred Hitchcock discovered it while shooting a movie in France and is said to have had it on the breakfast table every morning from then on until his death. Even the Queen of England prefers not to do without it – she’s one of its biggest fans.

What we are referring to here is a jelly which is one-of-a-kind in the world, namely “Bar Caviar” as this unique Confiture de Groseilles épépinées from Bar-le-Duc in Lorraine is called by its disciples.

But what makes a jelly one-of-a-kind, you ask? The word épépinée (“seeded”) alone says it all: The fruit used here is not just crushed and filtered, but meticulously seeded by hand prior to being processed. And the cherry on top is that a sharpened goose quill is used to carefully slit open the currants by hand to remove the seeds. That’s about five to ten seeds for each fruit. An attempt is then made to get the berries into the pot as unscathed as possible. The daily output of an experienced épépineur (seed extractor) is approx. four kilos of fresh fruit, resulting in 3.5 kilos net.

The jellies from Bar-le-Duc can be ordered directly from:

Confiture à la Lorraine
35, Rue de l'Etoile
F-55000 Bar-le-Duc,
Tel. 0033/329/79 06 81, 
Fax 77 19 74

E-mail: contact@groseille.com
Internet: http://www.groseille.com/index.php?page=001&langue=en