Ponthier SA

Benoît Dulou, originally from Pau, has been working in Geneva for 4 years. He is a pastry chef at the “Auberge du Lion d'Or”, working alongside chefs Gilles Dupont and Thomas Byrne, who have made the establishment a gastronomic “must” in Geneva, rewarded by a Michelin star.

Benoît Dulou was trained in cooking as an apprentice at the Hotel School. He naturally turned towards pastry cooking after working in various gastronomic establishments, including Auberge Labarthe in Bosdarros, Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier, and Les Bories in Gordes.
At the Jardin des Sens restaurant he discovered the Ponthier product range, starting with the vacuum-cooked chestnuts, then the purées, which he heard about in the press in an article with Thierry Marx.

He was delighted to find that our Swiss distributor, Vittorio Meli, offers the Ponthier frozen purées that he loves to use in his cooking. Where these purées are concerned, he particularly appreciates the fact that that the product is so close to the fresh fruit, in terms of both flavour and colour. Benoît says “there is no need for any additional flavouring”.
His favourite is the green apple purée “because of its texture and flavour, which are identical to those of a good green apple. Its grain is very interesting to work with and its taste lingers on the palate.”
In some of his desserts, he even combines a green apple sorbet with cooked chestnuts, marrying the silky sweetness of the chestnuts with the acidity of green apples.
He also very much likes the lemon product, which he combines with a little cinnamon.

Benoît Dulou also uses Ponthier frozen fruit, for example in a bilberry tart with a fromage frais sorbet and a whipped yoghurt with a zest of lemon.
Not forgetting Ponthier’s rhubarb, which he poaches in order to use the juice in making a sorbet. He marvels at “the magnificent colour”!

Ponthier products, in Benoît’s opinion, have a sufficiently intense taste to need only a little sugar to produce a modern, very light dessert.
 

Originally from Saint Germain en brionnais, France, Gregory Doyen now lives in Moscow where he is working as Pastry Chef for the famous Maison Hédiard.

Gregory Doyen has an exceptional career behind him: he won several pastry competitions and has worked worldwide for prestigious hotels.

Gregory Doyen has recently started using Ponthier frozen fruit purees, and he tells us they suit him perfectly.

This year for Valentine's Day, he created a magnificent dessert "Le Coup de Coeur by Hédiard" made with the Ponthier raspberry puree and strawberry puree.

Originally from the Aveyron area, Mathieu Castex is a graduate of the Hotel & Catering School of Saint-Chely d’Apcher in Lozère. He served as an apprentice with Michel Truchon at the Sénéchal hotel and restaurant (which has a one-star rating in the Michelin Guide) at Sauveterre de Rouergue near Rodez.

Mathieu Castex fell in love with Germany at the very beginning of his career and eventually decided to set up home here. Today, eight years on, he works alongside Chef Rolf Straubinger at the Burg Staufeneck hotel and restaurant, a five-star establishment in the Stuttgart area which has a Michelin star and 17 Gault Millau points to its credit.

Mathieu Castex has known Ponthier for a long while thanks to the quality of its vacuum-cooked chestnuts. However, it was Gastrofresh, (Ponthier’s distributor in Stuttgart), which introduced him to its range of fruit purées.

As Mathieu explained to us: "What I like in particular with Ponthier’s fruit purées is the ripeness of the fruit, something which can be appreciated the moment you taste the products as you sample the authentic taste of the fruit. There's also the delicate consistency. I particularly like the raspberry, ruby peach and apricot varieties. The apricot’s acidity is superbly balanced and it has a very fresh, fruity taste. With this flavour, I can produce an excellent and extremely fresh apricot sorbet".

Mathieu uses Ponthier’s fruit purées for a wide variety of dishes: apart from his sorbets, he also produces fruit mousses, cream fillings, fruit crumbles, petits fours (small appetizer cakes) and fruit pastes (pâtes de fruits).
He has also produced his own version of an asian speciality known as "kroepoeks" using apricot or raspberry purée to produce these crunchy fritters, which are generally savoury.

This year Mathieu Castex is very proud to have received a special distinction to reward his work: he has been selected as Head Pastry Chef of the Year for 2011 by the jury at Schlemmeratlas, the German gourmet restaurant guide.

Mathieu Mandard is a young and gifted pastry chef. He started his career with Patrick Chevallot and Philippe Segond, both M.O.F. Mathieu came to live in Paris in 2002 and worked at the Four Seasons Hotel George V. In 2004, he won the famous French desserts championship.
In 2005, Mathieu Mandard met Emmanuel Ryon (M.O.F.), who offered Mathieu to come and work with him at the Café Pouchkine Pastry in Moscow. Mathieu said yes and left France to live in Russia for 3 years.
In 2009, Mathieu came back and decided to start a new ambitious project: opening his own patisserie. Called Art Macaron and located at 129 boulevard Montpartnasse in the 6th arrondissement in Paris, the opening of the shop occurred on april 7, 2009.
Art Macaron sells various macaroons and pastries, but also offers brunches, breakfasts and lunxh boxes.

Mathieu Mandard has been using the Ponthier fruit purees for several years.
“I discovered Ponthier in Moscow. Emmanuel Ryon and I made tests on several fruit purees brands, and we picked Ponthier. We started working with Ponthier right after we tried it. The quality of the purees is the most important advantage to me. There is such a fruit concentration, it’s a huge difference! The flash-pasteurization process keeps the purees color bright and vivid. I especially like exotic flavors, for instance coconut, mango and passion fruit. Those flavors are exceptional. I use the coconut in my macaroons, and their taste is unbelievable.

For the winter season 2009/10, Mathieu created a wonderful chestnut macaroon recipe made with the Ponthier chestnut puree.
 

At only 23 years of age, Matthieu Bijou is a highly ambitious young Pastry Chef who for several months has been part of the team at Michel Rostang’s two-Michelin-star restaurant.
Matthieu studied at the Colmar Catering College, specializing in “dessert à l’assiette”, and completed his training at Sucrécacao with James Berthier, the former Pastry Chef of Le Meurice. Matthieu is teeming with ideas and plans and is working hard to fulfill his ambitions; with the encouragement of James Berthier, he has participated in a great many competitions, winning many awards. Matthieu is currently preparing for the semi-final of the 2009 French Dessert Championships.
“I discovered Ponthier at a trade show while I was looking for new suppliers for my competition preparations. Their products, particularly their raspberry and white peach pulps, which I found to be exceptional, passed the taste test with flying colours: with your eyes closed, you would think that you were biting into a fruit that had just been picked in the garden. Therefore, I obviously choose Ponthier for its natural flavour, but I also feel that Ponthier is a very innovative company, always on the look-out for new ideas, as shown by the launch of its 100% pure fruit purées, for example…
I love to make a special strawberry or passion fruit jam for macaroons or petit fours using Ponthier pulps: the taste of the product is completely authentic. Or marshmallow: it’s so rare to be able to find that real natural fruit flavour... But those are not the only ideas that I have – far from it…”

Self-taught talented Chef with the prestigious « 3 Michelin stars”, Michel Trama settled in Puymerol, after his early stages in Paris, in a Thirteen’s century country house. Since then, l’Aubergade became one of the favourite rendez-vous of the worldwide gourmets. Drawing his inspiration from the exceptional gastronomic local production and traditional cooking, Michel Tram imagines a new way to prepare them with a touch of subtlety, using every sense and giving birth to creation such as its famous foie gras hamburger with ceps. In 2001, Michel Trama opened its own “Atelier des Sens”, a unique place where cooking lessons are given “a la carte”.
“I discovered Ponthier’s products when the sugar-free range was launched. I was looking for a natural and genuine fruit pulp to cook sauces. I needed some purées with no added-sugar. To be served with a lobster, I prepare a mango sauce with a pinch of ginger, olive oil and the mango purée 100% fruit. Then I mix the lot. Even with sugar-free products, I add some spice to restrain the taste of sugar coming from the fruit maturity. I use this sauce for plate decoration.”
 

With his southern origins, Michel Portos never dreamt of a Chef career. Yet, he worked under Pierre Troigros authority in Roanne during a fulfilling experience, giving him the opportunity to travel a lot abroad. Chef of the Saint-James in Bouliac since then, where he is expecting his second “Michelin star”, he is deeply inspired by the gastronomic products from Aquitaine Basin especially sea products, with strong and iodine flavours. Michel Portos provides a light, innovative and quite uncluttered cooking to keep only the essence.

“First, I heard about Ponthier’s purées by my friend Thierry Marx. I was using a famous brand then, which is correct; I didn’t think about changing it. As a chef, I have to be open-minded and eager to try new products. As soon as I have tasted Ponthier’s purées, I really enjoyed them, especially the coconut for its genuineness. Since, I prepare espumas with it, alongside chocolate and celery. A strawberry gustative test convinced me for good; I was searching for a product as close as possible to fresh strawberries to intensify the juices I serve for breakfast, made from fresh mixed strawberries.”
 

Born Basque but settled in Bordeaux, Philippe Etchebest is a former athlete: playing rugby and boxing a few years ago. Hyperactive with a strong character, he is always achieving his goals like obtaining his second “Michelin star” in 2008. Chef of the “Hostellerie de Plaisance” in Saint Emilion since 2003, he proposes an inventive and attractive cooking where flavours from the French traditional cuisine are married with international culinary culture creating dishes branded by its distinctive signature.

“I have discovered Ponthier through Jean-Christophe Gratet, my distributor, someone I really rely on, because of his search for high quality products.
I have been seduced by the 100% fruit purées which offer a wide range of cooking and pastry creation possibilities. I keep in mind that, at present, our customers are looking for sugar-free desserts; in my opinion the sugar provided by the fruit is self-sufficient. I really appreciate the sugar-free raspberry purée. I serve it with a “Fontainebleau” fromage frais in its gauze. The purée is presented in a small dish, alongside two different flavours; then everyone can dress the fromage frais the way he wants.
 

 Endowed with a solid reputation, Pierre-Yves Lorgeoux, is Master Chef of France and Chef at the N3 restaurant (N3 for New, Natural and Nutrition) and the Bistrot Albert Londres from the hotel les Célestins in Vichy. He is a creative, passionate chef, who artfully combines flavors, lightness, gastronomy and dietetics for the benefit of gourmets.
Praising lightness as a religion in his cooking, his passion for well-being led him to publish works such as «Passions équilibrées. Gastronomie diététique» issued in 2003: which received a Cook Book Award in the nutrition and health category, and « Légèreté et Saveurs. La grande cuisine diététique au fil des jours » issued in 2008.
““Every chef has a habit of comparing every product. It is the only way to progress and discover what we call “a gem”. I heard about Ponthier’s fruits purees by reading about them in a cooking magazine. I enjoyed the presentation so I decided to order samples which I received within a couple of days. I was impressed by the quick delivery, the reception I received on the phone and the reliability that made me committed right away. Let’s talk about the product now… Well, it’s simply a question of taste…a taste of fruits which is quite obvious. When you taste these purees, you realize that everything is there: first, the colour is magnificent, so, you dip your spoon into it… and feel an incredibly smoothness. Your palate is eager for another taste, so you dip back immediately, to meet the fruit again.
I am constantly searching for taste, my passion, my quest, my source of inspiration... I even created a dessert illustrating what Ponthier’s products represent to me: light raspberry mousse with grated chocolate and cereals…”
 

In 2006, THIERRY MARX was twice recognised as "Chef of the year", first of all by GAULT & MILLAU, then, just recently by his peers.
Holder of a CAP vocational training certificate in pastry cooking, he completed his training as a journeyman or "Compagnon du Devoir" making the traditional "tour of France", then worked for some of the most renowned patisseries (LEDOYEN, TAILLEVENT, ROBUCHONÉ). This chef, today doubly starred, has followed a career than can be described as anything but ordinary. A pronounced taste for travel, some significant and sometimes traumatic experiences, and above all extraordinary powers of observation have forged his style and guided his inspiration, which, verging on the philosophical, is based on respect for produce and an open mind. His cooking is an authentic expression of this concern for authenticity.
Although he sees creation as a solitary activity, he is nevertheless convinced of the enrichment that sharing can provide and with a group of young chefs has created a dynamic association called Génération.C, which works hard to circulate information, promote the profession and encourage new vocations among young people.
He has been the initiator of a cuisine that overturns the established codes and refuses the diktat of convention and opposition to change, and which in the end delights the spirit as much as the eyes and the taste buds. In his laboratory, he tests over 1600 recipes a year. But he refuses to be categorized as a proponent of "molecular cuisine", which would be simplistic and a caricature. If he does de-structure products and dishes, it is only so that he can better reconstruct them, and propose solutions that restore as closely as possible the taste and texture, whilst smoothing out the difficulties of preparation or the gustatory discomfort of the original product.
This inveterate nomad and lover of Asia travelled the length and breadth of the continents before, it seems, provisionally setting down his bags in the Médoc, "lured by the challenge offered by Jean-Michel CAZES: to create a fine table in the middle of this isolated region". An important meeting between two men that everything seemed to set apart, but who, for the last 7 years, have worked together on a very successful project.
When Thierry MARX discovered the PONTHIER range, he tasted all the flavours one by one and gave his overwhelming approval to the authenticity of the flavours. His visit to the factory confirmed his first impressions; he found there the rigour and respect for the product that he appreciates.
His desserts demonstrate perfectly the gustatory excellence of these purees, "this is truly the product itself", free of unnecessary tricks or parasitic additives.

"About three years ago we discovered Ponthier products on the Spanish market. At the school since that point, we use only this brand for all our preparations that require fruit ­ mainly in courses for pastry, restaurant desserts, ices and sweets etc.

In my opinion, this range of products stands apart from all the others for the following reasons: the taste of the fruit is clean and direct without added flavourings, the colour is each fruit's natural colour and it is reassuring to know that there are no colourings and that the production is constant. There is also the new, modern and functional packaging, perfect for use in our laboratories".

The Ponthier family has aimed at just the right level. The service is personalised, the packaging is carefully designed to protect the fruit and there is a very good and constant product quality. It's a winning formula".

Laurent Lherisson: www.laurentlherisson.com