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Le Pays Basque, première terre du chocolat en France ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Les fêtes de Pâques ont été l’occasion de déguster toutes sortes de chocolats, pour le plus grand bonheur de tous.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Saviez- vous que cette denrée est apparue en France par le Pays Basque ?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              C'est d’abord en Espagne que le cacao est introduit au XVIème siècle. Il était apprécié par les Indiens d’Amérique, consommé sous forme liquide et mélangé avec des épices. La boisson portait le nom de "xocoatl".
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Les Espagnols adaptent le breuvage et remplacent les épices par du miel et de la vanille.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Représentation Maya d'une boisson de xocoatl

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Expulsés Expulsés d’Espagne puis du Portugal, les juifs marranes s’installent à Saint-Esprit, face à la ville de Bayonne, sur la rive droite du fleuve Adour.
Ils importent avec eux le chocolat et le font découvrir au couple royal Louis XIII et Anne d’Autriche lors de leur passage à Bayonne en 1615.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Cette pratique est amenée à la cour de France, quelques décennies plus tard, par Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche, épouse espagnole de Louis XIV qui en raffole (ce qui lui vaut d’avoir les dents gâtées très jeune).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Portrait de Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche par Charles et Henri Beaubrun, conservé au château de Versailles. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 L’usage L'usage de cette boisson se cantonne à la cour. Elle est cependant recommandée de manière médicinale comme remède à la dysenterie, la goutte, la toux sèche, mais également comme aphrodisiaque.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     A Bayonne, la première mention, conservée, du mot « checolatte » remonte à 1670, date à laquelle un jurat de la ville offre de cette denrée à un hôte de marque.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          En 1691, les marchands de la ville de Bayonne demandent que les « étrangers » de Saint–Esprit (les Juifs portugais notamment), ne soient pas autorisés à faire commerce de leurs marchandises, dont le chocolat, dans Bayonne.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              En effet, le port de Bayonne à l’activité très intense entraîne l’installation de plus en plus de personnes à Saint-Esprit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Seconde vue du port de Bayonne, prise de l'allée des Boufflers par Claude Joseph Vernet, 1755, Musée de la Marine à Paris.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Ce Ce règlement est peu respecté et les maisons chocolatières de Bayonne se développent grâce à leur savoir.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     En 1761, les chocolatiers obtiennent la création de la « Corporation des chocolatiers de Bayonne » « dans le but de faire naître l’émulation et à perfectionner le métier, d’autant qu’une infinité d’étrangers inondent la ville et infecte le public par la mauvaise composition qu’ils y débitent… »

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Au Au XIXème siècle, les maisons de chocolat de Bayonne et des alentours dans le Pays Basque  prennent un essor considérable.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Jean Fagalde, fondateur d’une fabrique de chocolat à Cambo, devient en 1855 « Fournisseur de Sa Majesté l’Empereur des Français ».
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Napoléon III et l'impératrice Eugénie lui rendent même visite l’année suivante.                                                                                                                                                                 .

Le couple impérial Napoléon III et Eugénie de Montijo.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Également Egalement installé à Cambo, le chocolatier François Harispe est quant à lui « fournisseur breveté de Sa Majesté Alphonse XII et de Son Altesse Royale Isabelle de Bourbon, Infante d’Espagne », comme le clame une publicité parue en 1876.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Ces deux maisons ont également obtenu une médaille d’argent lors de l’Exposition Franco-Espagnole de 1864 qui célèbre l’inauguration de la ligne de chemin de fer Madrid-Irun.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              De nos jours, plusieurs chocolatiers sont héritiers de cette tradition ancrée dans la région.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             On On peut citer la maison Cazenave à Bayonne dont la boutique du 19, arceaux Pont-Neuf a été fondée, en 1864, comme l’indique la date gravée sur l’arcade qui surplombe l’institution.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Mais du chocolat est fabriqué dans ces lieux depuis 1760.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Terrasse de la maison Cazenave dans les années 1920

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Cette tradition chocolatière de la ville de Bayonne est encore célébrée chaque année lors des Journées du Chocolat organisées lors du week-end de l'Ascension.