15. Cooking a cake to send the receipe
to our Comenius partners with the
French ยซ crรจme de marrons ยป
16. Les 13 desserts: a tradition from
south of France
Les 13 desserts: a tradition from south of France
The thirteen desserts are the traditional dessert foods used in celebrating
Christmas in the French region of Provence. The "big supper" (le gros souper)
ends with a ritual 13 desserts, representing Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles. The
desserts always number thirteen but the exact items vary by local or familial
tradition The food traditionally is set out Christmas Eve and remains on the table
three days until December 27.
Dried fruits and nuts: Four beggars
The first four of these are known as the "four beggars" (les quatre mendiants),
representing the four mendicant monastic orders: Dominicans, Franciscans,
Augustinian and Carmelites.
Raisins (Dominicans), Walnuts or hazelnuts (Augustines)
Dried figs (Franciscans), Almonds (Carmelites)
Dates, representing the foods of the region where Christ lived and died.
Dried plums from Brignoles (a town in south of France)
Fresh fruits: Apples, Pears, oranges, winter melon, grapes, tangerines
Sweets:
Calissons d'Aix en Provence: almond-paste pastry with sugar icing (marzipan)
Casse-dents of Allauch (biscuit)
Cumin and fennel seed biscuits
Fried bugnes
Fruit tourte
Oreillettes, light thin waffles
Pain d'รฉpice Les quatre mendiants: the four beggars
Pompe ร lโhuile or fougasse ร l'huile d'olive, a sweet cake or brioche made with
orange flower water and olive oil
quince paste (Pรขte de coing)
Two kinds of nougat, symbolizing good and evil
Black nougat with honey (Nougat noir au miel), a hard candy made with honey
and almonds
White nougat (Nougat blanc), a soft candy made with sugar, eggs, pistachios,
honey, and almonds.
