Description
The Volailles de Vendée PGI include different breeds of free-range winged animals.
Production Area
The production area of Volailles de Vendée PGI is located in the department of Vendée and in the neighbouring cantons of Charente-Maritime, Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire and Deux-Sèvres, in the Pays-de-la-Loire and Poitou-Charentes regions.
Production Method
Volailles de Vendée PGI are raised in the open air or free with a cereal-based diet. Slaughtering takes place at a minimum age, established for every breed. The selection takes place after slaughtering.
Appearance and Flavour
Volailles de Vendée PGI are characterised by compact fowl with very good, organoleptic features. They include white and yellow capons with softer and more velvety fowls, which have a slightly game aftertaste. The forest free-range, white chickens are tasteful due to the specific type of food which they find in the brushwood as well as yellow chicken raised in the open air and farm black chickens.
History
The Volailles de Vendée PGI have a historic reputation. Indeed, there was the tradition to raise different breeds in all the region's farms, small or big, and this is confirmed by numerous documents going back to the beginning of the 19th century. In that period, the breeding of winged animals took place in every season. These animals were sold on the most famous regional markets but also at the small local fairs.
Gastronomy
The Volailles de Vendée PGI can be conserved in many ways: fresh, in slices and filleted or frozen. At the same time, there are a lot of recipes based on Volailles de Vendée PGI, famous due to the compactness of fowls and their exquisite taste. Tasteful and elaborated dishes are made with breeds of this denomination. Roasted or sauté with aromatic herbs or cooked with precious wines; they are the base of flavourful dishes, often accompanied by sauces and creams and trimmings of cooked vegetables of potatoes.
Marketing
The Volailles de Vendée PGI include different types of products, depending on the specific varieties of poultry of the denomination which are individually written on the package. Amongst these, there are poulet fermier (jaune, noir and blanc), poularde noir fermière, pintade fermière, dinde fermière à rôtir, chapon fermier and chapon de pintade fermier, caille de Challans, oie fermière, dinde fermière de Noël (yellow, black and white farm chicken; farm black pullet; far guinea hen; farm turkey to roast; farm capon and farm guinea-hen capon; quail of Challans, farm goose, Christmas farm turkey). The product is sold fresh, whole or without head, or in slices, packed in suitable trays with protected atmosphere to guarantee a longer conservation and keep unaltered the organoleptic features of fowl.
Distinctive Features
The specific selection of the breed, the butchering age, the diet rich of cereals and peculiar breeding method in line with the climatic characteristics of the Vendée area make the nutritional features of Volailles de Vendée PGI very specific, with more proteins and less water content, in addition to be rich of mineral salts and vitamins.
