Bresse

The PDO application file describes Bresse poultry as the white variety of the French or Bresse breed, raised in the Bresse region across parts of the Ain, Jura and Saône-et-Loire. The file cites municipal records of Bourg-en-Bresse from 1591, royalties collected in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and Brillat-Savarin's praise of the flesh in 1825. Since 1862 Bourg has held the "Glorieuses de Bresse" competition, and a judgment of the Bourg-en-Bresse court defined the designation of origin in 1936.

After a start of no more than 35 days, birds are raised on grass, which supplies part of their food, with local cereals and skimmed milk: 9 weeks for chickens, 11 for young hens and 23 for capons. Chickens are then finished for at least 8 days, and capons and young hens for 4 weeks, in coops in a dim, quiet place. After slaughter, capons and young hens are rolled in a sewn cloth of linen, cotton or hemp.