A different liqueur fills each colourful textured ball of white chocolate or chardon lorrain first made in Nancy since the 19th century.
Their shape evoke the thistle symbol of Lorraine introduced by René I, the Angevin kings of Naples; when his son René II defeated Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, in the Battle of Nancy in 1477 he adopted the slogan to go with the thistle: ‘Ne toquès mi, je poins’ (Don’t touch me, I sting).
The papaline d’Avignon is similar.
Image by chardonslorrains