A potted history of Muroise

We’ve all been there at the holiday breakfast table, the scent of fresh croissants and hot coffee tantalising the senses, dithering bleary-eyed between the numerous flavours of jam on offer. Raspberry? Blackberry? Well now you don’t need to choose, thanks to Muroise jam.

Muroise is a raspberry/blackberry hybrid which has been produced in amongst the vineyards of Vallet, in the western department of Loire-Atlantique, for the past 35 years.

Childhood friends Estelle Sauvion-Durand and Magali Beck are the directors of Muroise et Compagnie, a family business in Vallet, not far from Nantes, which produces 200,000 pots of jam a year. They say it’s delicious on hot buttered toast, on a crêpe or swirled in a natural yoghurt.

The Muroise was discovered in the 1950s by a family doctor and amateur botanist in Vallet, who came upon an unknown bramble in his garden. He died before working out what it was, but not before sharing his discovery with a neighbour, Michel Sauvion. After a great deal of research, Monsieur Sauvion found that the fruit was native to California and was the result of a cross between two varieties of wild mulberry and a red raspberry. He went on to experiment with the fruit, which he named Muroise, and before long it was popping up in jams, sorbets, coulis, liqueurs…

Now Michel’s daughter, Estelle Sauvion-Durand her friend, Magali Beck, have taken over production of Muroise jam, which received the Epicure d’Or at Les épicures de l’année 2021. Certainly one to watch out for at the breakfast table

Lead photo credit : Muroise Jam from Muroise.com