Moulin à huile

In Piégros la Clastre, there's one place where an age-old tradition still lives on: the oil mill. And so, 15 days a year, in winter, always under the old moon, as tradition dictates, the oil mill comes back to life.

In the past, oil was produced from All Saints' Day to May... The mill even produced flour before 1914 and oatmeal in the 1940s.
Before the war, the mill was fed by water from the canal which ran from Saillans to Aouste sur Sye and was used for irrigation, lime kilns and spinning mills (built under Louis Philippe). In 1943, the canal ceased to operate, and the paddlewheel was replaced by a gasoline engine, then by an electric one.
Today's installation can boast the weight of the years. The Crussol limestone millstone is polished by so much use.
In the past, nuts were pressed by hand, then pushed by 5 or 6 people using a winch, which is still in use today. Today, we bring our nuts to the mill: cernels that are often unmarketable. In the "Moulandou" millstone, they are ground for a few minutes (the stone weighs 400 kg), until a fairly homogenous paste is formed. This is then poured into the "poële" over a wood-fired hearth, where it is gilded to perfection for around twenty minutes. This requires the experience and eye of the master, at the risk of producing oil of inferior quality. The smell of roasted ground walnuts fills the room. The 15 to 18 kg of walnuts used for "one pass" are collected in two "crates" and poured into one of the two presses, where they are wrapped in two "packets" in scourtins. A heavy plate is placed on top, the "sheep" (or "donkey") is pulled and the pressure is applied (up to 20 tons). Soon the oil is flowing, clear and unctuous, into a decanter used for measuring. A kilo of kernels yields around half a liter, depending on their quality. The waste, the oil cake, can be used to feed animals.

And so, 15 days a year, in winter, always under the old moon - tradition dictates - the oil mill comes back to life. The room resounds with the sound of the millstone and the wide belts, delicious aromas fill the air, the convivial atmosphere is reborn and the golden liquid fills the oil cans.