After a 6 year process, open air chicory producers in the North of France have managed to get the Label Rouge for their product, the Pévèle chicory.
“It is a real recognition, the result of hard work for those like myself who were born into chicory” says Annick Rouzé who is proudly wearing her Label Rouge apron. It took years of hard work and passion for the quality of the vegetables to be recognised.
According to Pascal Delebecque, Head of Development at the Phalempin market, it took such a long time because once handing in a requirement form to the National Institute of Origin and Quality they must then “respect three big criterias : traditional farming, good preservation and a crunchy texture.”
Whilst Label Rouge products are sold at prices only a little higher than normal, the label is a real guarantee of quality for the consumer.
Chicory farming used to be entirely manual, from planting to harvest. Small mobile heaters were used for the forcing, which consists of making the leaves regrow in the dark and in constant heat. A large part of chicory farming used to be family run.