Praloupe’s know-how
Pra Loup and its valley do not only live to the rhythm of the ski seasons or the summer trails. Here, the mountains can be tasted, shared and invented on a daily basis thanks to women and men who have chosen to create, transform and transmit. Their know-how is rooted but alive. Authentic, but looking to the future.
Through three portraits, discover this unique artisanal energy, born from passion, local nature and a spirit of altitude.
Les Gaillardises de l’Ubaye The art of jam in Bayasse
At the bottom of the Bayasse valley, a stone’s throw from the wide open spaces of the Mercantour National Park, nestles an extraordinary workshop: that of Béatrice Bellon, jam maker and craftsman of taste. At an altitude of 1,800 metres, she makes exceptional jams, internationally award-winning, in a small hilltop hamlet where the air is pure and time seems to stand still.
Since 2014, Béatrice has been cooking by hand, in a copper cauldron, original recipes that sublimate the fruits of the territory. Its credo: respect for the seasons, varieties and raw taste, without added flavours or compromises. Strawberry-mint, peach with Sichuan pepper, raspberry-dark chocolate or larch bud jelly… Each jar is a signature, a canned mountain souvenir.
More than a jam, it’s a philosophy. On the farm, it also offers a jam bar, where you can enjoy generous toast, homemade syrups and hot fruit mousse while contemplating the peaks. An experience in its own right.
Les Gaillardises de l’Ubaye embodies a local, creative and respectful know-how, to be discovered absolutely during a visit to Bayasse or the Barcelonnette market.
The ravioli of Fours A living tradition with a taste of the mountains
In the heart of the Bachelard valley, the hamlet of Fours perpetuates a unique culinary tradition: that of mountain ravioli. Born in the 1930s in the kitchen of Pauline de Fours, these little wonders of stuffed dough have become over the decades an emblematic dish of the Ubaye.
Today, it is Esther Barberin, a passionate cook, who continues the gesture. In her perched inn, she makes ravioli by hand every day with potatoes, candied onions, garlic and herbs depending on the season. The ritual is precise, respectful, passed down from generation to generation, without ever giving in to the easy way.
In summer, hikers stop to taste this simple and nourishing dish, which speaks of the mountains, its resources, its women. Nothing is set in stone: the recipe adapts, evolves, but keeps its soul intact.
The ravioli of Fours is more than a meal: it is an encounter with a territory, a culinary heritage, a cuisine of the heart and of the relief. To be enjoyed on site… or to take away in memory.
