Combien de temps et comment conserver les produits AGOUR
How long and how to store our hams?
You should know that the conservation of whole Bayonne Ham with bone is not at all problematic, on the contrary it is relatively long, you can keep it for 3 to 4 months without any problem in a cool room or in a cloth at the bottom of the refrigerator, in the vegetable tray. You can also cover the ham with cling film after having rubbed it with a little olive oil to prevent it from drying out and thus keep it in good condition. These tips for storing Bayonne Ham apply to all other formats: whole boneless, half and quarter.
How long can we keep our pressed sheep's milk cheeses (Ossau Iraty, tommettes, portions...)?
You can easily store your sheep's cheese for 1 month cut and up to 2 or 3 months whole, in a cool room, or in the refrigerator.
How to store our AGOUR cheeses?
The conservation of Basque cheeses is not the same for all types of cheeses. The least fragile cheeses are pressed cheeses (such as our Ossau-Iraty or Tommettes). On the other hand, the conservation of soft cheeses will be more problematic because they will have a shorter shelf life.
What to do if a surface bloom/mould appears on the cheese?
It is important to remember that cheese is a living product, a living artisanal product! During the ripening process, mushrooms form all around the cheese. Under the regular care and love of the master cheesemaker, who rubs and turns his cheeses daily, a beautiful uniform rind will appear. Depending on the season and the storage conditions of the cheeses, a surface bloom may "grow back". No problem! This is absolutely not dangerous for your health and it does not change the taste of the cheese. It is even a good sign; it proves that your product is natural. And at Agour all our cheeses are natural rinds, without colouring or preservatives. To remove this layer, simply rub the slice of your cheese to remove the unwanted film that has just developed. All you have to do is enjoy it!
What are the production stages of a Bayonne Ham?
- Stage 1 - Salting: the Bayonne Ham is massaged and then buried in Salies-de-Béarn salt and spices. It is then left to rest for several weeks, depending on its weight, so that the salt can take hold to the full.
- Stage 2 - Washing: the Bayonne Ham is washed and placed in a cold dryer (winter conditions). It begins to lose weight.
- Stage 3 - Long drying at a moderate temperature: the water migrates and the Bayonne Ham breathes. It is then "breaded", i.e. coated with a mixture of fat and proteins to slow down the drying process and homogenise the texture.
Shipment of products, shipping costs and product prices
Cost of shipping / Amount too high to benefit from free shipping.
We have chosen to be uncompromising on the quality of the delivery (a quality that matches the products). This is to ensure that the products arrive in perfect condition at your home. We ship your products with 3 carriers: DPD, TNT or Chronopost Fresh.
Delivery with DPD can be done in a relay point for 5,90 € (with an option of 3 € to have a cool box to keep your products cool; this option is precluded in summer because of the heat we can experience). This carrier can also deliver to your home for a fee of €8.90.
Delivery with TNT will only be made to your home for €8.90 (with an option of €3 for a cool box to keep your products cool; this option is not available in the summer due to the heat we can experience).
Delivery by Chronopost Fresh is by refrigerated lorry to your home only and costs €14.90. Chronopost Fresh is the most premium delivery service on the market. Indeed, the transport of fresh products is delicate and therefore expensive.
For our customers living abroad and outside Spain, the shipping costs will be €9.90 by the DPD carrier (with an option of €3 to have a cool box to keep your products cool; this option is precluded in summer because of the heat we can experience).
For our customers in Spain, the shipping cost will be 7,90 € by the DPD carrier (with an option of 3 € to have a cool box to keep your products cool; this option is not available in summer because of the heat we can experience).
For your order we only ask for a contribution which is about 50% of the delivery cost (we pay for example up to 25€ to Chronopost food for delivery costs).
Delivery costs are free for orders over 120€ when delivered by DPD or TNT. If you decide to choose delivery by Chronopost Fresh, the delivery costs will be reduced to €5.90
We therefore advise you to either get together with your friends, neighbours, family... to reach the amount of the free delivery costs, or to pay the contribution to the delivery costs, or to contact directly our retailers (cheese shops, supermarkets...) near you.
Cheese and ham prices
By buying directly from the producer you are guaranteed to pay the right price, corresponding to the value of the product. We offer you a wide range of products, within the market prices and consistent with the high quality of our products.
The fair price is our way of identifying the fairest price for everyone: the milk producer, our company, which makes the products with love and prepares your order with care, and finally you, our customers, because our ambition is to make our cheeses and charcuterie accessible to everyone, with the best value for money!
Naturally, if you buy small quantities of cheese you will not be able to afford the shipping costs. In this case, we advise you to contact a retailer near you or to place a group order in order to reach the 120€ and not to pay the shipping costs.
Is it safe to order sheep's milk ice cream on the Internet?
Firstly, you should know that if we offer you this option, it is because there is no risk. We guarantee a perfect frozen food delivery thanks to our partner Chronopost Food. This is a special service for frozen food products. Your sheep's milk ice cream is delivered from our freezer to yours in a frozen lorry. At each moment the temperature is traced and if it exceeds the authorised thresholds (very rare), the parcel is destroyed and we send you another one (free of charge of course).
How does it work? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQpBP8jPfs
Yes, it has a cost (15€90) but it's a guarantee that everything will be perfect! And we don't mess around with frozen food. Our advice: you can order your ewe's milk ice creams once or twice a year and keep them in your freezer for a long time (they have a long shelf life). You can also find our sheep's milk ice creams at our retailers and in our ice cream kiosks.
What are the delivery methods/prices?
There are 5 delivery methods when you place an order on our website:
Home delivery by TNT or DPD: 8€90
Point Relais via DPD: 5€90
Home delivery by Chronopost fresh: 14€90 (refrigerated truck)
Outside metropolitan France, Corsica and Spain, home delivery by DPD: 9€90
Spain, home delivery by DPD: 7€90
Why go to retailers?
Why do we encourage you to visit our dealers?
Our main job is to produce the best charcuterie and cheeses from the Basque Country and Gascony with love. Many cheesemongers, butchers and supermarkets have trusted us for many years.
However, it is impossible for us to offer you a wide range of products all over France (and the world) near you. Therefore, many of you have asked us to send you products by parcel that you could not find in your local shops.
Nevertheless, if you are lucky enough to find a retailer near you offering your favourite Agour products, we can only encourage you to buy them there. You will not have to pay any shipping costs.
Payment method
What are the payment methods ?
In order to facilitate your order and to ensure maximum comfort, we offer you a wide choice of payment methods, all of which are secure.
- Credit card (via Crédit Agricole / E-Transactions)
- Secure payment by Paypal
- Payment by cheque
- Payment by bank transfer
Labels : what guarantees ?
What does the PGI Bayonne Ham guarantee?
The Protected Geographical Indication officially guarantees the origin of products that have a history and tradition in their area, such as Bayonne Ham. It is a sign of quality and origin set up by the European Union in 1992. The PGI informs consumers about the specific characteristics of the products.
The registration of this name reserves its use to producers located in the defined geographical area and respecting the production conditions described in the specifications, thus protecting the geographical name against any imitation or usurpation.
Since October 1998, Bayonne Ham has had the Protected Geographical Indication.
Bayonne Ham PGI is produced in the heart of a strictly defined geographical area: the Adour Basin, made up of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and the neighbouring cantons of Landes, Gers and Hautes Pyrénées (in Hagetmau for our company). The pigs are well reared, exclusively in the South West of France in an area comprising 22 departments and mostly fed with cereals prepared on the farm itself. The Bayonne Ham PGI is necessarily salted with Salies de Béarn salt, also a PGI.
What does the Ossau-Iraty PDO guarantee?
The PDO guarantees the consumer that all the stages of production of the ewe's milk cheese take place in the geographical area defined by the designation, in accordance with traditional and ancestral methods, from the production of the ewe's milk to the maturing of the ewe's milk cheese.
The Ossau-Iraty PDO guarantees ewe's milk cheeses made according to a very precise traditional recipe of uncooked pressed paste, made from the milk of ewes from the 3 local breeds (Manex tête noire, Manex tête rousse, Baso-Béarnaise). The ewes are fed with pasture, local fodder and cereals, without GMOs. Silage is forbidden during milking.
To ensure the animal's well-being, milking is seasonal between December and August, so that the ewes can rest the rest of the time and devote themselves to their lambs.
What does the OA (Organic agriculture) label guarantee?
As defenders of sustainable agriculture, supporting producers, and high gastronomy of the Basque Country and Gascony, you will logically find on our site a range of Basque cheeses, sausages and cold cuts certified organic; delivered directly to your home from the Basque Country.
The organic label guarantees that the products are the result of sustainable agriculture, better animal welfare and a fair distribution of income between the various participants in our industry.
However, PGIs and PDOs have specific specifications that are deeply linked to the soul and history of the products they defend. They therefore offer more added value than an organic certification (which alone does not guarantee geographical origin, for example). The ideal is double certification, like our Organic Bayonne Ham and also the Geographically Protected Indication.
Where do our products come from and how are they made?
Where are our Bayonne hams made?
As certified by the PGI, our Bayonne Hams are produced in the Landes region, in the commune of Hagetmau. Nearly 95% of our Bayonne Hams and other hams come directly from pigs reared by our loyal suppliers, the majority of which are located in Gascony and the Basque Country. In addition, our Bayonne Hams are "massaged" to facilitate salt intake. The salting is done with salt from Salies-de-Béarn. The original Bayonne Ham approach is thus pushed to its logical conclusion: a local product with local ingredients only.
Where does the milk used to make our Ossau Iraty cheeses come from?
The production of Ossau-Iraty PDO sheep's cheese is a seasonal activity: the ewe flocks produce milk daily only for 8 months of the year, from December to August. The rest of the time, the ewes rest and devote themselves to their lambs. We collect milk from nearly 150 farmers in the Iraty, Saint-Pée-Sur-Nivelle, Sare, Cambo-les-Bains, Hasparren, Hélette valleys... A farmhouse raw milk production chain has been developed (40 producers). Since 2008, we have been involved in raising awareness among farmers about the development of organic farming.
Where are our cheeses made? What are the stages of cheese making?
Maison AGOUR produces and markets a menu of more than 40 Basque cheeses: PDO Ossau-Iraty sheep's cheese, raw milk sheep's cheese, organic sheep's cheese, cow's cheese, goat's cheese, etc. in different formats. These Basque cheeses are produced and matured in the Basque Country in the cheese dairies of Hélette and Irati.
Agour collects the milk daily from the producers from 7pm to 5am. Many stages follow before they arrive on your table 4 to 18 months later.
