- By Charlotte Brown
- June 17, 2024
A BEAUTIFULLY SIMPLE PAIRING: NOUGATINE COMBINED WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE. THAT’S WHAT’S INSIDE ANGEVIN’S FAMOUS QUERNON D’ARDOISE®.
Text by Aurélie Francart, photographs par Laurent Fau and Benoit Martin, with contributions from La Petite Marquise (featured in the June 2024 issue of Pastry1 Magazine)
Regional delicacies
France through its regional specialities
A registered trademark, unique in the world, Quernon d'ardoise® is more than just a delicacy, it belongs to an entirely different world: Beyond chocolate, that of roofing, and the tiles used in covering houses.
Quernon is a technical term derived from slate work. More specifically, it's a block of slate that the slate-maker cuts
to extract the thin layers of this material used to make these deep blue- grey roofs. Slate forms an integral part of Anjou's heritage. Produced from shale mines dating from the 8th century to the mid-2010s, slate has forged the identity of this French territory, notably adorning the roofs of the region's finest castles. And it was to pay tribute to the work of miners and slate quarry workers that, in the early 60s, an artisan chocolatier created this wonderful sweet treat, with the help of an engraving artist, Maurice Pouzet, for the aesthetics. Angers-based René Maillot has created a sweet reminiscent of this piece of slate, made from nougatine and chocolate. This 3 cm x 3 cm square, around a centimetre thick and with bevelled corners, is the ultimate retro product.
Made from a caramelised nougatine of Piedmont hazelnuts and California almonds, flavoured using natural vanilla extract, this little square, shaped using rollers with Quernon's specific shapes, is then enrobed in soft blue-toned chocolate. Until 2015, this colour was obtained using E (chemical) colouring, but since then it has been obtained using a 100% natural combination of spirulina and blackcurrant extracts. A deep blue, reminiscent of Anjou slate.
200 to 300 kg of Quernons are produced every day
Although local in origin, this product has earned its credentials around the world. The idea of René Maillot, founder of the La Petite Marquise chocolate factory, quickly gained a following. The craftsman soon handed over the business to his apprentice Michel Berrué, who continued manufacturing the product until 2007. At that time, Didier Wirtz took over the company to continue the production of this regional product. He soon teamed up with Michel Galloyer, founder of the Grenier à Pain group. Due to his network, expertise and financing capacity, he was able to modernise La Petite Marquise par removing other pastry desserts from the menu, and completely renewing the work tools. But above all, he opened new markets and developed the brand in France and internationally.
While administratively the company is still called La Petite Marquise, the facade of the Angevin store took on the name La Maison du Quernon in 2015. ‘Quernon is really the basis of our expertise,’ assures Romain Wirtz, who took over the now family-owned business in 2013. Two pastry kitchens in Angers and Saint-Léger-des-Bois produce 35 tonnes of Quernons d'ardoise® every year. Their fairly fast production rate means they can manufacture 200 to 300 kg per day.
A popular product... even in Japan
Today, La Maison du Quernon has three shops in Angers, out of a total of 800 sales outlets worldwide. In France,
Quernon d'ardoise® is mainly sold throughout the Pays de la Loire region and in tourist offices and other stores in tourist attractions such as castles, but also in Bretagne, Ile-de-France and the Ardennes. Sales are also strong in delicatessens, hotels and tourist sites around the world, including Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and even Japan. If the product has made it this far, it's par a happy coincidence. ‘A woman from Angers married a man from Japan. The wedding took place in Angers. The bride wanted to replace the traditional sugared almonds with Quernons...This was in 2007-2008, and since then it's been one of our biggest export sales,’ says Romain Wirtz. ‘This product is in demand for many different events. It goes very well with coffee or a dry white wine like a Chenin, for example.
The company
Today, La Petite Marquise employs around twenty permanent employees. This workforce doubles in December to guarantee production and sales. Four people work full-time on the production of Quernon d'ardoise. Five others work on the manufacturing of the company's other products. Since 2012, La Maison du Quernon has diversified. This includes the launch of Maquernons, macaroons filled with caramelised almond paste and enhanced with a mini quernon in the centre. Small Quernon d'ardoise® butter biscuits, with hazelnut praline and nougatine chips covered in blue chocolate, were developed in association with Nantes chocolatier Vincent Guerlais. More recently, a vanilla ice cream with quernon chips was launched, as well as quernon chocolat bars and a nougatine praline rocher. A new product is still under development: a chocolate- covered nougatine marble. What’s special about all these products? They are the same blue as the original Quernon d'ardoise®.
Sources: Romain Wirtz, Michel Galloyer, https://www.ouest-france.fr/, https://www.anjou-tourisme.com/