This small fish, native to Lake Geneva, is nowadays caught and eaten as a fry in restaurants. Before it became a delicacy, this fish was caught to make fake pearls.
According to the legend told by his great-grandson, Maître Jaquin invented this substance in the 17th century. Renowned for his fake pearl jewellery, Maître Jaquin sank into despair at every sale. He knew that his mercury-coloured pearls gave off toxic fumes and could damage the health of even the best-dressed ladies. When his son married his neighbour's daughter and she vowed to obtain one of his creations, legend has it that Jacquin broke out in a cold sweat. To save his future daughter-in-law from this intoxication, he went to the banks of the Seine to think. His attention was caught by iridescent reflections coming from a band of Ablettes and he had the idea of extracting their scales. After a few tests, he developed a substance called "Essence of the Orient".
This process consisted of pounding the silver scales into a mush in fresh water, which a worker turned over and over again. This mush was then sieved and preserved in ammonia. The older the porridge, the more valuable it was. Then it had to be dried with a blowtorch and blown into round or oval glass globules, depending on the shape of the pearl.
Between the 19th and 20th centuries, another method was developed on the shores of Lake Geneva. It consisted of applying this pearly mixture to glass beads in successive baths. In Savoie, only the scales were exported to Paris.
For 1 kilo of ventral scales, the only usable ones, 40 kilos of Ablettes were needed.
As demand increased, catch quotas were reduced from 15 to 10 cm in order to increase fishing in Lake Geneva. Prohibited fishing techniques proliferated, deceiving the vigilance of the fisheries guards. In February 1941, two fishermen caught almost 21 tonnes of Ablettes.
During the Second World War, these shucked Ablettes were sold as food. Otherwise they were fed to pigs or buried as fertiliser in gardens.
These days, you can find imitation pearls called Majorcan or iridescent pearls. They are made from a variety of materials, including glass, ceramic, shell and even plastic. There are still a few companies that continue to use Ablette scales, but with new processes.
Information from the book 1000 ans de pêche en Suisse romande and L'invention de l'essence d'Orient.
