Apricot Bergeron – Extra Jam

Abricot Bergeron Apricot Jam from the Rhône Valley

Alain Milliat’s Abricot Bergeron Jam Extra is a French apricot jam made from the Bergeron variety, grown south of Lyon. Intensely fruity, creamy, and not too sweet. Not an industrial product, but fruit harvested fully ripe and gently cooked.

Apricot jam like this is a rare find: Alain Milliat’s Abricot Bergeron features a single variety in every 300g jar—the Bergeron, a classic French apricot from the middle Rhône valley south of Lyon. It tastes of ripe fruit rather than sugar, and that is exactly how it should be.

Intensely fruity, creamy, not too sweet

Even as you open the jar, it fills the air with the scent of juicy, sun-warmed apricots.

The jam is a deep orange, creamy and interspersed with fine pieces of fruit. On the palate, the Bergeron shows its true character: a fresh, light acidity that provides contour to the sweetness. Fruity, sunny, and vibrant on bread—more apricot than jam pot.

That is the difference of a "Jam Extra": there is plenty of fruit in the jar and little else. The sugar takes a backseat, allowing the apricot to lead with its typical blend of sweetness and fine acidity. This is how fruit tastes when it is picked ripe and processed quickly, rather than being cooked into a tired mush in a pot.

You can see the jam's origin: not a smooth, overcooked mass, but a warm, luminous color with real pieces. It feels lively, not tired, and brings a piece of southern French summer to your breakfast table, even in January.

On a butter croissant and in shortcrust pastry

This apricot jam is at home wherever France belongs: on a fresh croissant with good butter.

It is just as suitable for crusty baguette as it is for warm pancakes, yogurt, or quark. It also has its place as a filling in shortcrust pastry or as a fruity note alongside mild cream cheese, which is a wonderful pairing. If you like, place it next to the fig jam, which pairs especially well with cheese.

A spoonful of apricot glaze adds a summer sweetness to a light roast or a piece of chicken in the kitchen. You can find more for your set breakfast table right next door, from butter to bread.

The Bergeron, an apricot with a history

The Bergeron variety originated quite by chance in 1920 in Monsieur Bergeron’s orchard in Saint-Cyr and is now one of France’s most popular apricots.

It grows primarily in the middle Rhône valley, and as soon as it takes on a reddish shimmer, it is ripe. It is hand-picked in mid-summer—depending on the weather, usually at the end of July—because the flavor develops on the tree, as Alain always emphasizes. The riper the fruit, the fuller the aroma, and the less need there is for additives.

Alain Milliat, himself a fruit farmer from Orliénas near Lyon, took over the family farm in 1983 and managed it for 15 years before he began bringing fruit to the high standards he knew from wine in 1997. He sent his first six juices to 60 top-tier restaurants, and the enthusiasm of the sommeliers proved him right.

The apricot jam is produced in the Rhône department near Lyon. What has been true for the juice since 1997 also holds true for this jar: fully ripe fruit, gently processed. The full story is told in the portrait of Alain Milliat, and you can find further varieties under jams. Hats off.