The Touraine is rich with high quality produces. Sweet or salty, there is an answer to any hunger…

Fromage de chèvre de Sainte maure de Touraine

GOAT CHEESE

It looks like a cylinder with a diameter of 5 cm, a greyish color and a rye straw crossing its entire length. It can especially be found in the little town of Sainte Maure de Touraine. It is a delicious PGI goat cheese.

 

RILLETTE AND RILLONS

Cooked pork meat is one of many Touraine prides. Especially rillette and rillons. The rillette was born in Touraine in the 15th century. It consists in meat, usually pork, cooked in its own fat. It is then manually mashed and seasoned with salt and pepper. There are several local recipes in which spices may vary. It looks like a rather filamentous paté spread on toasts. It can be found in a jar with a thin layer of upper fat, or by weight at the butcher’s.

As for the rillons, they are pieces of pork breasts, browned and cooked in their fat.

Spécialités de Touraine Val de Loire

THE ANDOUILLETTE

The andouillette looks like a very large sausage made from the pork’s alimentary canal. It is then cooked and contains spices, condiments, wine or alcohol depending on the recipes.

THE NOUGAT DE TOURS

The Nougat de Tours should not be mistaken with its Provence homonym. It is not a candy, but a cake made of pie crust and filled with mashed fruits or marmalade (apple, pear, apricot), candied fruits and almonds. It is a historical pastry and was often used as a “travel cake”. It can nowadays be found on most of the Touraine bakeries.

 

THE POIRES TAPEES

In the Renaissance period, a new way of preserving pears developed: the poire tapee. In the early 20th century, the production of poire tapees in Touraine was high and renown.

The Poire Tapée is a homemade technique, consisting in the long dehydration of the pear. It is first boiled, then peeled. It is then cooked in a traditional oven that needs to heat up for 3 days and 3 nights beforehand, so that the bricks are very hot. After a week, the pears are taken out of the oven and hit with a “patissoire” to remove all the inside remaining air.

They are served nature, but also rehydrated in water and wine, and can be parts of a full traditional menu.

THE FOUEES

Cuisson des fouées au feu de bois

The fouee is a small loaf of bread whose name and recipe vary depending on the region. In the past, once a week, the whole family gathered by the fireplace to share fouees. Waiting for the bread to be cooked, we prepared fouees with the rest of the dough. The fouees were then eaten filled with rillettes and beans.

GELINE DE TOURAINE

Queen of the barnyard, the géline de Touraine almost disappeared due to industrial chicken breeding. But this white meat fine chicken is back on the local market shelves. Soon to be protected with a quality label, this traditional poultry is a high standard produce.

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Chenonceaux by boat
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Unique in Touraine!