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Sweet stuff

This section is a bit of a catch-all for anything sweet that’s not a pastry or a dessert; over the centuries, France’s confiseuses and confiseurs (sweet makers) have come up with some exquisite bonbons and other sweets, many of which are closely identified with a certain town or place—or major attraction.

Carambar and Haribo (who make those gummy strawberry marchmallow Tagada things French kids love, and who have a Musée du Bonbon in Uzès), are the two biggest French candy companies. The sweet-toothed visiting Paris might consider a pilgrimage to the Bonbon au Palais, which stocks the finest bonbons from all around France.

Anis de Flavigny

an aniseed in every bonbon

bergamote

bergamot and candy from Nancy

berlingots

boiled sweet or hard candy

Bêtises de Cambrai

sweet minty ‘mistakes’

biscuit

sweet biscuit

biscuits roses de Reims

pink biscuits to go with your bubbly

bonbons

sweeties

Bouchons de Bordeaux

almond paste corks

boudoirs

lady finger biscuits

boulets de Metz

chocolate covered ‘cannon balls’

boulets de Montauban

chocolate coated ‘cannon balls’

Buchettes du Berry

little logs of butter caramel

Cachou

black breath-sweetening pills

Caillou du Faron

crunchy chocolate ‘pebbles’

caisses de Wassy

light almond meringues

calissons

luxury sweeties from Aix

canistrelli

crunchy Corsican biscuits

caramel au beurre salé

salted butter caramel

caramels d’Isigny

creamy toffees

Cassissine de Dijon

liqueur-filled black currant sweets

chardons lorrains

booze-filled ‘thistles’

chichi frégi

French churros

chocolat

chocolate

Chuque du Nord

coffee caramels

coing

quince

confiture

jam

confiture de lait

caramelized milk

coquelicot de Nemours

poppy candy

coucougnettes

sweeties in honour of Henri IV

coulis

sauce made from puréed fruit or vegetables

croquets and rochers de Saint-Mihiel

almond biscuits and chocolate ‘rocks’

croquette de Vinsobres

hard almond biscuits

Croquine comtoise

gooey praline filled dark chocolates

Crotte du Chien de Montargis

chocolate dog poop

crottes de Dahu

chocolate covered raisin ‘droppings’

crêpes dentelles

crunchy crêpes

Doigt de Jean Bart

chocolate and almond ‘finger’

dragées

Jordan almonds

Etriers normands

chocolate ‘stirrups’

falculelli

Brocciu fritters

Florentin

almond, chocolate and fruit confits biscuit

Forestines

chocolate-filled candy cushions

friandise

sweet treat

fruit confit

candied fruit

fruits déguisés

dates and prunes in disguise

ganache

chocolate cream

glace

ice cream

glacés minces

Dijon’s spicy biscuits

Griottines de Fougerolles

sour cherries in alcohol

Grisette de Montpellier

possibly France’s oldest bonbon

guimauve

marshmallow

guinettes

boozy cherries

Kanouga

caramel and dark chocolates

Marguerite d’Angoulême

daisy-shaped chocolates

massepain

marzipan

mélasse

molasses or black treacle

Mendiants

decorated dark chocolate discs

Mentchikoff

sweets from Chartres

Michelettes

chocolate filled cigarettes russes

miel

honey

moinillons

sweet ‘little monks’

Muscadines d’Azay-le-Rideau

‘little nutmegs’

Négus de Nevers

candy coated chocolate or coffee caramels

niniches

Breton lollypops—or candy from Bordeaux

Noisettines du Médoc

hazelnut candies

nougat de Montélimar

France’s most famous nougat

nougatine

brittle

orangettes

candied orange peel

oursons guimauve

chocolate covered marshmallow bear cubs

palets bretons

salt butter biscuits

palets solognots

boozy rum biscuits

papalines d’Avignon

oregano liqueur-filled chocolates

pastilles Vichy

good for your digestion

pâtes de fruits

fruity and sweet

pavé de Blois

sticky nougatine cubes

petit beurre

butter biscuits from Nantes

pralines

toasted almonds or hazelnuts in sugar

Quernon d’ardoise

nougatine and blue chocolate ‘slate’

réglisse

liquorice

Rigolette Nantaise

fruity sweet named after a cat

roudoudou

sweet goo to lick out of a shell

sarments de Médoc

chocolate vine cuttings

sorbet

sorbet

spéculoos

spicy biscuits from the north

suce miel

medieval honey stick

sucette

lollipop

sucre

sugar

sucre d’orge

barley sugar

sucres de pommes

Rouen’s apple candy

tuiles

edible ‘tiles’

Text © Dana Facaros

Image by Fabio Alessandro Locati, Creative Commons License