Scourtins des Vieux Moulins (English)

Version Française Ici

Like they say in France, I felt in an olive oil bucket when I was a child. I love both olives and olive oil. I was lucky enough to taste the best of them both. Each year, my parents had my grand-parents send to our south of France home the quantity of olive oil necessary for our yearly consumption directly from the family olive grooves and press in Morocco. We always had the first pressed, pure, fresh and very fruity. My grand-father personally took care of pressing the best olives for us.

I live in Canada since 11 years and it makes no sense cost-wise to have my olive oil sent from our grooves in Morocco. But I kept my taste for the best olive oil and I’m very peculiar about choosing the best when I buy it.

Obviously, I love olives too. But in my home, only the oldest of my sons and I eat them. Just yesterday I was looking desperately at my husband and my 2 younger sons carefully putting on the side of their plates the olives my sister put in the salad she served us for supper.

Today I finally came around to try a recipe I wanted to make since a few weeks. A shortbread-like sweet cookie flavored with olive oil and studded with olive oil cured black olives. I discovered the Scourtins on The Traveller’s Lunchbox and then I found it on other cooking and recipes sites. All share the same story about these very original cookies.

These sweet and salty bites are a very old recipe from Jean-Pierre Autrand, whose family produced olive oil at Les Vieux Moulins in Nyons, an ancient olive mill, until 1952. Mr. Autrand found this recipe in his family's archives, updated it, and sells the results at the gift store adjacent to the olive mill.
Quoting Susan Herrmann Loomis
On Rue Tatin Cooking School

The word « scourtin » is actually the provence dialect word for the coconut fibers bags in which olive paste (grignons) is pressed to release the olive oil. I think it was brilliant of Mr. Autrand to name the cookies after the olive paste bags.

I recommend you try them following the recipe posted by Melissa at the The Traveller’s Lunchbox. What she says about the taste and feeling of these addictive cookies is right on. I takes 2 or 3 bites to get used to the odd mix of flavors but then, you just can’t stop nibbling on them.

Don’t taste them warm or hot though. They are at their best when room temperature. A tiny detail I add to Melissa’s instruction is I put the scourtins dough to chill 15 minutes in the freezer rather than wait for it to chill a longer time in the fridge. I couldn't wait to see how they'd turn out.

You know what? Some people in my family who claim hating olives, actually ate 3 Scourtins this afternoon at snack time. :-))


Les Vieux Moulins, 4, Promenade de la Digue, 26110 Nyons, France. 011.33.(0)4. 75. 26.11.00.
Les Vieux Moulins