Mogettes du Val de Loire

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Mogettes (also mojhettes or mojettes) are the white beans of the Loire Valley — specifically the Vendée, Poitou, and western Loire regions — and they constitute the legume backbone of the Loire’s cuisine in the way that tarbais beans define Gascon cooking and flageolets define Parisian bistro tradition. The mogette is a medium-sized white bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) of the lingot or coco type, grown in the maritime-influenced soils of the Vendée and harvested in September. When fresh (demi-sec, available for a brief 2-3 week window), mogettes are plump, jade-green to cream, and cook in 25-30 minutes without soaking, producing a bean of extraordinary creaminess with a thin, almost undetectable skin. Dried mogettes require overnight soaking and 1.5-2 hours of gentle simmering. The canonical preparation — mogettes à la Charentaise or à la crème — begins with the soaked beans simmered from a cold start (never boiled from hot, which toughens the skins) with a bouquet garni, onion piqué, and a piece of salted pork belly. When tender, the beans are drained (reserving the cooking liquid), enriched with crème fraîche (150ml per 500g dried beans) and a generous knob of salted butter, finished with chopped flat-leaf parsley. The finished mogettes should be creamy, glossy, and slightly collapsed — each bean tender enough to crush between the tongue and palate. They serve as the filling for fouées, the accompaniment to grilled andouillette, and the base for salades de mogettes (cold, with vinaigrette, shallots, and parsley). During the mogette’s brief demi-sec season, the Foire aux Mogettes in Marennes draws thousands.

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