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Nord-Pas-de-Calais
To the west of the marais audomarois, the carotte de Tilques grows into long, russet roots, as thick as a tool handle, and awaits the winter beneath the straw of a silo.
Vegetable from Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
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The birthplace of the carotte de Tilques is the village of Tilques, to the west of the marais audomarois, near Saint-Omer. Its cultivation developed there at the end of the 19th century: the earliest written record of carrot growing in Tilques dates back to 1862, and the first reference to the variety known as the "carotte de Tilques" appeared in 1925. Its origins may stem from a cross between the Rouge pâle des Flandres variety and the Longue lisse de Meaux.
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Cultivation reached its peak between the 1930s and 1950s, under a part-worker, part-farmer system. Carrot silos, long heaps covered with straw then earth, dominated the agricultural landscape at the time. Agricultural reports from the beginning of the century recorded the know-how: a silo, aligned north to south, represented around 2,500 kilos of harvest and did not exceed eighty centimetres in height.
In the late 1970s, decline set in and the silos gradually vanished from the landscape. A few farmers nevertheless continued to carry on this cultivation in the traditional way, ensuring the variety's survival by propagating their own seeds themselves. A handful remain today, around Tilques, Serques, or Moulle. The carotte de Tilques does not exist in isolation: it grows alongside the market-gardening activity of the marais audomarois — above all cauliflowers, but also artichokes, leeks, or endives.
Appearance
A large cylindrical-conical root, 20 to 30 cm long, topped with abundant foliage.
Aroma
Highly fragrant, according to the description in the Arche du goût.
Taste
Mild, slightly sweet flesh, more flavourful cooked than raw.
Texture
A large, tender core that becomes meltingly soft when cooked.
this late variety is sown from the beginning of May in the sandy-loam soil of Tilques and its surroundings.
the carrot grows slowly throughout the summer; it appears to have little susceptibility to the carrot fly.
it is harvested in autumn, in October.
before sale, they are brushed rather than washed to keep better; silo storage allows them to be sold until mid-April.
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Less flavourful raw, the carotte de Tilques is eaten primarily cooked: in soups or veloutés, or steamed with a knob of butter or a drizzle of hazelnut oil. It lends its roundness to pot-au-feu and is ideally suited to potée or carbonade flamande.
The carotte de Tilques benefits from no official quality mark (PDO (AOP), AOC, PGI (IGP), TSG (STG), Label Rouge). It is listed in Slow Food's Arche du goût, which catalogues endangered traditional products, and bears the brand of the Parc naturel régional des Caps et Marais d'Opale, which is restoring its renown.
No producer is listed for this product yet.