Treats from Provence & Côte d’Azur, southern France
One of the treats from southern France was Calissons. As I mentioned in the Aix-en-Provence post, Calissons are traditional Provencal candy, made in almond-shape, with finely ground almonds, candied melon, orange peel, with a thin wafer on the bottom and topped with white icing. Le Roy René and Léonard Parli are two brands who have been making traditional Calissons for decades. We bought 10 pieces from Le Roy René and 20 pieces from Léonard Parli (they didn't have a 10 piece box at that time) to compare. In short, they are almost identical and indistinguishable. Maybe Le Roy René's tasted slightly bitter and the wafer on the bottom was tiny bit thicker. But it may just be that this particular box happened to be the case. Either way, they were like somewhat dry marzipan without almond extra. As a marzipan lover, I liked Calissons naturally.
We also bought two Calissons without expiration date. We found ceramic Calissons at a pottery store in Aix-en-Provence. They looked just like edible Calissons. We ate all the edible Calissons within a couple of weeks after the trip. Now we have only those ceramic version.
The two kinds of fruit jam from Le Clos De Laure were wonderful. One was lemon and bergamot from Côte d’Azur and the other was apricots from Provence. I am becoming a fan of bergamot since we enjoyed Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé's Organic Bergamot-Sailor Mustache that we bought in Budapest.
We haven't opened the nougat flavored with lavender from Grasse yet. We are still considering about the best way to enjoy the super soft gooey sweet thing.
'Les Escalettes de Montpellier,' old-fashioned wafer-like biscuits that we bought at Le Comptoir de Mathilde in Montpellier were enjoyable. The texture was crunchy but spongy... it's difficult to explain. There were two flavors at the store: traditional orange blossom and vanilla. We chose the former. The flavor was subtle but pleasant.
The duck terrine with onion confit and the artichoke and truffle spread produced by Le Comptoir de Mathilde were the only savory treats from the trip. We tried the artichoke and truffle spread and it was pretty good. Extremely truffle-y! We will be tasting the duck terrine soon.
We also bought LU brand biscuits at a grocery store in Avignon. Founded in 1850, LU is a French manufacturer brand of biscuits and today part of US based Mondelēz International, an American multinational confectionery, food, and beverage company. LU products are supposed to be available in 100 countries, but it seems that the entire product line is not available in those countries, except France. Surprisingly I see only a few kinds of LU products in Wiesbaden, Germany.
The grocery store in Avignon had several LU products that were new for us. We picked up four of them. LU biscuits are not just supermarket sweets but you shouldn't underestimate them. They are really good! As we expected, these four products were also 'Très Bien'!
