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Fruit Ade
Blackcurrants (cassis) have been used as a medicinal application
in Burgundy for centuries - either as an infusion or a vapour
inhalation. The increased crop led to the discovery of another
'medicinal' use - crushing the berries in vats of alcohol,
filtering the result and sweetening it with sugar - used my
monks as a cure for snakebites, jaundice and 'wretchedness'.
Boozing with Blackcurrants
Taken a step further the Burgundians have made a Crème
de Cassis - a black current liqueur. Forget your
Margaritas and forget your Pina Coladas, here in Burgundy
you drink Kir. Kir is white wine mixed with Crème de
Cassis, a local liqueur made from blackcurrants. Cassis mixed
with a pinot noir (red wine) is known as
a 'communade' or a 'communist'. And a Kir Royale
is cassis with Champagne.
The drink suffered a lapse in popularity around WW2, as the
sugar was substituted with cheaper saccharine. It was championed,
however, by Canon Felix Kir (hence the name),
a priest who was a leading light in the French resistance
and was later elected Mayor of Dijon. When local distillers
were having a hard time after the war, he insisted on offering
all visitors to the town a blanc-cassis - dry white wine mixed
with crème de cassis. Crème de cassis is only
made in Dijon with blackcurrants grown in
the nearby Hautes Cotes region. |
