Cruscana from Herblay near Paris since 1965
Cruscana is a French gourmet brand from Herblay, north of Paris, founded in 1965 by Denise and Gilbert Jouneau. It became known for its crustacean butters in a jar – spreadable creams made from lobster, crab, shrimp, or salmon, inspired by Auguste Escoffier.
Cruscana has been making crustacean butter and fish creams in France since 1965. It all started in a suburban house; today the company is based in Herblay in the Val-d'Oise department and is still named after its founders: Cruscana Jouneau. Four crustacean butters form the core of the range, accompanied by over 30 other preparations ranging from tapenade to hummus. The brand calls itself the "official supplier of conviviality."
One house, two Jouneaus, one Escoffier recipe
In 1965, Denise and Gilbert Jouneau mixed the first crustacean butters in their Parisian suburban house. The blueprint was provided by Auguste Escoffier, the chef who organized and documented French cuisine in the 19th century.
They filled the cream into small jars, and the fine delicatessens of Paris put them on their shelves. That could have been the end of it – one workshop, one neighborhood, a loyal circle of customers.
Escoffier's crustacean butter was actually a condiment for restaurant kitchens: boiling down shells, binding with butter, and straining. What Denise and Gilbert made of it was something domestic – a cream with real meat in it that you can simply spread on bread. Buttery, salty, with a hint of the sea.
Why a Dane took over the factory
Knud Hays Thøgersen imported Scandinavian fish and roe to France. Retailers only wanted to stock his goods if he also provided matching products that would round out the shelf. He thought of the Jouneaus' butter and knocked on their door.
That is how Cruscana moved from the delicatessen counter to the supermarket. In 1981, Denise and Gilbert offered him their small factory in Herblay – not to the highest bidder, but to the man who would continue the recipes. He accepted and supplemented the jars with tub sizes in a "beurrier" (butter dish) format.
That is why today a Danish name stands behind a French brand that bears a French family name. It's a bit complicated. But the recipes are alive, and that was what mattered.
Four crustacean butters and thirty ideas to go with them
The core remains the *Beurres de Crustacés*: crab, shrimp, salmon, and lobster, all in 100-gram jars. You will find the Cruscana Lobster Butter, the *Beurre de Homard* with real lobster meat, with us.
Over the years, quite a bit has grown around it: tapenades, caviar creams, tuna rillettes, hummus. There are over 30 preparations today, developed by a chef in the in-house laboratory, all gluten-free and without added colors. Some of them are now organic.
Cruscana specifies the origin of the ingredients to its suppliers in a set of requirements – olives from Greece, lemons from Sicily, lumpfish roe from Sweden with an MSC label. None of it is spectacular. It is simply the kind of care that you cannot see in a jar, but you can taste.
Remained small, remained French
More than sixty years after its founding, Cruscana is still what the French call a *petite marque*: independent, family-oriented, manageable. No corporation has swallowed it, no investment company has optimized the recipes.
That was exactly the condition under which the factory changed owners back then, according to Denise and Gilbert. Recipes and brand were to live on. They do.
How we like to serve the lobster butter best
On toasted baguette, a squeeze of lemon on top, done – that's the fastest way it disappears at an aperitif. Stirred warm into a Breton fish soup, it shows its other side and adds depth for which one would otherwise prepare a stock.
Those who like French fish creams will also find the fine terrines from other canneries from France with us – from Brittany, the Basque Country, and the Vendée. Taste your way through.
