CANNERY

Created on the 3rd of September 1997, thanks to the contribution and the participation of many persons, the BIPIA traditional cannery is nested in the heart of Espelette chilli pepper production area, right in the midst of the Basque country.

BIPIA is established in Larressore, (about 5 km away from Espelette), in an exceptional place, at the bottom of the old small seminary,  very close to Edmond Rostand house, just in a meander of the Nive River, surrounded by our green country side.

Today, 6 employees work for BIPIA and our cannery yearly reaches a 650 000 € sales (4, 2 Millions of Francs), the products are distributed through out all the different networks, including exportation, (Great Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Germany).

Every year, approximately 20 000 young plants are planted by the farmers: The harvest of chilli pepper is then converted in our traditional cannery. We give way to a local agricultural production every time it is possible.  We definitely make it our business to carefully analyse each ingredient we buy in order to promote the Basque Country., (Espelette chilli peppers, Sweet peppers, Piquillo peppers, cherries, apples)

This very fact gives us the opportunity to product our own ozpina, (apple cider vinegar) in collaboration with the Txopinondo cider House, Sagarno* producer, (*typical Basque cider, quite similar to the Breton cider): The final product is highly flavoured and enables us to give more taste and savour to the sauces we elaborate.

The most important moment of the year corresponds to the harvest. Indeed, the quality of the products we elaborate directly Depends upon the quality of the harvest of the year.  We wash the fruits and let them drip dry; then, we eventually select them and get rid of the chilli peppers which don’t correspond to the standard required. Afterwards we remove the peduncles, by hand, and 1 by 1, in order to keep the very best of the fruit, this job requires a lot of patience*These steps are necessary in order to maintain a high quality for our products, and it would be impossible if we didn’t select our fruits, whatever the price to pay is.

We speak of a traditional production because it is done by hand; we favour the know-how, to which we owe our Master craftsman qualification. We perfectly control our technical knowledge which gives organoleptic and preservation qualities to our products in a rather matchless way.

   *An average harvest of 9000kg corresponds to 230 000 to 250 000 chilli peppers to be selected.