Description
The Agneau de Lozère PGI is lamb obtained from the Blanche du Massif Central breed.
Production Area
The production area of Agneau de Lozère PGI comprises 259 municipal areas in the departments of Cantal and Haute-Loire in the region of Auvergne; in the department of Ardèche in the region of Rhone-Alps, and in the department of Lozère in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon.
Production Method
The lambs are not separated from their mothers and are nurtured by them until their natural weaning. The use of artificial milk is forbidden. The farming method is based on the optimization of the area pastures, and the flock is kept in the open air as long as possible. At the end of the farming period, in addition to the breast milk, the lambs receive an integration of diet which contains 50% of cereals and cereal byproducts. The lambs are put down when less than 130 days old.
Appearance and Flavour
Agneau de Lozère PGI meat is white-rosy colour, whilst fat has a solid consistency, is malleable and white in colour. The weight of the carcass spans from 7 to 19 kg.
History
The Agneau de Lozère PGI is obtained from the Blanche du Massif Central breed, which could be found in far times in the production area. This breed is considered, from an historical point of view, one of the most numerous ovine breeds. In the past, the farmers of this ovine breed were called Caussenards because they lived in the Causses, a calcareous tableland which runs along the Massif Central. It is immense, desert and thirsty and was worked by the man and animated by the presence of flocks.
Gastronomy
The Agneau de Lozère PGI may be conserved in the refrigerator for a few days, wrapped into its purchasing paper and stored in the coldest compartment. Different meat cuts are ideal to be prepared in different ways: from the classic leg roasted in oven with season vegetables to the grilled cutlets. Some peculiar recipes, elaborated by the French gastronomy, propose unusual combinations of tastes like lamb cutlets in anchovy butter, orange lacquered leg, and roasted lamb with herbs in salt crust, lamb's compote with four spices and aromatic vinegar leg.
Marketing
The product is sold as Agneau de Lozère PGI. It is marked fresh, whole without head, or in medium slices or in pieces ready to be cut in portions ready to cook. They are packed in trays with protected atmosphere to guarantee a longer conservation and to protect the excellent organoleptic features of the lamb.
Distinctive Features
The peculiarity of Blanche du Massif Central breed, from which the Agneau de Lozère PGI is obtained, is its ability to adapt to the various situation of farming, sometimes even difficult, which go from the areas almost free from shelters, thirsty and dry to the more continental climate on the mountains. This feature enables the farmers to obtain sheep able to face the worst weather conditions in tablelands without shelters and to content themselves with anything they find to eat, in addition to cover long distances to find better pastures.
