Anise, a small white candy made around a fragrant seed, is the fruit of a very long history.
It started in an abbey built in the 8th century.
It continues today thanks to a family of entrepreneurs, from father to daughter!
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The village of Flavigny, in the heart of the Burgundy countryside, is built around an abbey founded in the 8th century.
Behind its thick stone walls, nothing ever disturbed the silence of the monks.
Except the sound of small round marbles rolling in large vats ... A document attests that, in this place from 1591, the Benedictines were making sweets which they offered to popes and bishops passing through.
The famous anise of Flavigny!
The recipe is still secret today.
Even more secret: few gourmets who love anise from Flavigny know that behind these sweets hides a unique family story, a story of entrepreneurs.
"My grandmother came from Jura, from the forest. And a forest, we always plant it for the next generation. When I arrived at 27, I wanted to do lots of things but I thought that in 3 years everything would be settled. I still have not finished. It takes 15 days to make a beautiful anise and it takes time to build a solid business ", assumes Catherine Troubat today at the head of the" Anis de Flavigny ".
"It takes 15 days to make a beautiful anise"
To find the origins of anise, it is in fact probably necessary to go back even before the construction of the abbey of Flavigny.
Nearby was the site of Alesia, the very site where Julius Caesar came to defeat Vercingetorix.
In his luggage, he would have brought a small seed from the Mediterranean Basin.
The idea of making a candy around the anise with several layers of sugar and some aromas would have come then.
Discover Flavigny anise in the "Marques de famille" podcast
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But this confectionery did not take long to find its worshipers.
We know in particular that Louis XIV had a small bezel to hide his own candies.
We also know that in 1763, the fantastic Chevalier d'Eon, Louis XV's spy, offered anise from Flavigny as a gift to George III, King of England, to soften him before the signing of a peace treaty.
But in 1789, the Revolution rumbles.
The privileges are abolished, the goods of the clergy are seized.
The abbey is empty and some do not hesitate to transform it into a stone quarry.
Eight inhabitants then decide to take over the tradition of anise from Flavigny.
They set up their workshop for this between the walls of the abbey.
The first candy sold in the corridors of the metro!
But this craft needs more to continue to develop.
In 1923, Jean Troubat finally created a real company and installed machines to bring the recipe for anise from Flavigny into the 20th century.
This entrepreneur is teeming with ideas to make his recipe known throughout France.
He therefore installed candy vending machines directly in the corridors of the Paris metro.
It then does the same in cinemas, department stores, train stations or at funfairs.
When Jean Troubat handed over to his daughter Catherine, who had started her career in design and did not imagine taking her suite one day, he obviously passed on all his know-how to her.
It is now up to this new generation to perpetuate this tradition.
Without changing the romantic decor that adorns each box of Flavigny anise: we see a shepherd offering a young girl candy.
These characters have become the image, all over the world, of anise made in Flavigny.