Readers may have seen the motorway sign on the A68 Albi-Toulouse indicating the "Pays de la Cocagne", indicating literally "land of plenty". Actually it is pointing to the area where the Toulouse region gained its wealth - the production of "pastel", a yellow flower used to create the blue dye by "teinturiers" - dyers.
It can take about a tonne of flowers to produce a kilo of dye, hence its high value, which lead to its demise in the face of cheaper indigo dyes from overseas. Now a Tarn farmer at Cambounet-sur-le Sor has been reclaiming the fields with the wild plants still growing there and gradually improving the crop over the last four years to start production of the dye. Using traditional methods the final product will be 100% natural.
It is said that the traditional door-knockers we see with a ball held in a hand is a representation of a ball of the paste produced in the process.
There is a very interesting museum at Lectoure where pastel dyed items are for sale. It was said that an important factor in the process of fermentation was the quality of liquid used in the vats, and that male urine was the ideal. Local men were paid in beer to provide the necessary quantity. We dont know if the Tarn establishment is looking for volunteers - but women need not apply.
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