At the entrance to Roscoff (Finistère), planted in the land, at the bend of several farms, there are greenhouses that protect citrus fruits and other fruits that are rather rare in the region. “Given the dodger today, the lemon caviar has already been well harvested”, slips Jacques Jacob, producer of mini-vegetables with the Sica of Saint-Pol-de-Léon.
It was he who graciously lent some 2,000m² of space to Gilles Le Bihan, the originator of this challenge: growing lemons of all kinds, from citron to yuzu via bergamot, meyer or the hand of Buddha. This diversity, hitherto unheard of in Brittany, is a crazy gamble that this organic tomato producer from Plouénan has taken on. All in organic conversion and in the ground!
And now, passion fruit?
“Five or six years ago, I was looking to diversify my activity, explains Gilles Le Bihan. I watched a lot of Top Chef-type shows, and I was interested in these exotic or luxury fruits. We went to take a look around Sicily to see, first of all, what was being done there. When we saw plants leaving for the Nordic countries, we said to ourselves: why not us ? ».
One thing leading to another, containers therefore made their way to Finistère. “There are a multitude of microclimates here that benefit all types of plants well. In Roscoff, on the island of Batz, or elsewhere, we have incredible exotic gardens. And I confirm, for lemons, it works too! “.
For the moment, given his young production, Gilles Le Bihan mainly sells only to starred or gourmet restaurants in Brittany, as well as to specialized shops all over France. “In three or four years, we hope to be able to produce more,” he concludes. In the meantime, he would like to continue experimenting with other crops: ginger, turmeric and passion fruit, among others…