the Golden apple and its highly prized PDO

On the shelves of supermarkets in France, among all the apples, only one has the precious AOP label: the Golden du Limousin. A reassuring logo for consumers. But is this PDO apple, 1 euro more expensive per kilo than the others, really a guarantee of quality? Laurent Rougery’s orchard is 50 km from Limoges (Haute-Vienne). “We are between 300 and 500 m above sea level. To produce fruit, it is already a high altitude. It is thanks to this somewhat harsh climate that we obtain very high quality fruit”, he explains. Qualities particularly sought after by cooperatives.

It is by sampling that everything is then checked, three tests are carried out. “We are going to test the crunchiness, the sugar and acidity levels, which makes it possible to direct the apple towards a PDO condition or not”, explains a manager. If the apple’s score is below five, it will not be PDO. Above it will be. Another Limousin producer would like all old varieties grown without pesticides to also be labeled AOP. Imported from the United States in the 1950s, the Golden is the most consumed in France.