Partner focus: the Michallet farm
The novëm team will introduce you to the Michallet farm, its history and their harvesting process. We will also introduce you to our partnership.
The history of the Michallet farm
In 1882, Frédéric and Auguste Michallet became the owners of Givors in the Chaponnière estate. In 1962 Léon and Aimée Michallet bought the farm and transformed it into a head office.
During the 1980s, the surface of the farm doubled as well as the surface of the walnut plantation. During the same period the activity of Charolais cows stops following the mad cow affair and the building intended for breeding is transformed into an operational walnut station.
The farm settles within the Agricultural Group of Common Exploitation the GAEC thanks to Christophe and Joseph. In 2004, the cultivation methods must be totally transparent and traceable, the farm must therefore be updated. A few years later, the farm opened its first store where they could sell their PDO walnuts and walnut oil.
Between 2014 and 2020, thanks to an association of family members, the farm develops and converts into an organic farm in order to embrace current challenges. Today, the Michallet farm continues to expand and helps us transform cosmetics into a more sustainable and responsible field.
We invite you to discover the collection process adopted by the Michallet farm.
Info from the pros: the washing station and the processing of nuts into oil
The nuts are washed to remove the earth, then they are put in a stone bin to eliminate the stones collected. Subsequently, the nuts are directed to the shelling washer used to remove the green skins of the nuts. After that, they are sorted by passing on a belt to get rid of the remaining impurities such as small wood, shells and damaged nuts.
The nuts then move on to the drying stage where they will remain for 3 to 5 days at a temperature of over 30°C. The last step is calibration. In order to benefit from the Noix de Grenoble appellation, the nuts must measure more than 28 millimeters.
To obtain the walnut oil you know, the farm uses an external miller. The farm breaks the nuts into kernels and then sorts them by color. Walnut kernels intended for oil production are brought to the mill.
The mill uses a traditional method to obtain the walnut oil that we use in our novëm treatments!
At first, the miller empties the nuts on a plate, the grinder will grind them until a paste is obtained. This dough will be recovered and then taken to the heating room where it will be heated (and not cooked) to a temperature of more than 100°C! This block of walnuts will then be transferred to a scourtin (cotton canvas), which will be placed in an electric presser. Once the press is finished, we can see our beautiful walnut oil flowing!
The walnut oil is then brought back to the Michallet farm where it will be filtered, bottled and labeled before being transferred to the laboratory.
Our partnership
Currently, Novëm is growing and the collaboration with the Michallet farm allows us to offer the best products to our customers. Our goal being to make cosmetics and care more sustainable, responsible and respectful of the environment, the partnership with the Michallet farm is in perfect harmony with our values. Our collaboration also allows us to promote local producers with real know-how. Their PDO nuts mean a lot to us. Being the basic ingredient in all our treatments, we are very proud of this fruitful partnership!
