This is a preview of the content in our French Food Decoder app. Get the app to:
  • Read offline
  • Remove ads
  • Access all content
  • Use the in-app Map to find sites, and add custom locations (your hotel...)
  • Build a list of your own favourites
  • Search the contents with full-text search functionality
  • ... and more!
iOS App Store Google Play

croquets and rochers de Saint-Mihiel

almond biscuits and chocolate ‘rocks’

croquets et rochers de Saint-Mihiel

Saint-Mihiel in the Meuse was the birthplace of one of France’s great Renaissance sculptors, Ligier Richier and the Croquets de Saint-Mihiel. These were invented in 1854 by Charles Bourchette, who initially called his blond vanilla and almond biscuits petites bourchettes. French president Raymond Poincaré (1913-20) was famously addicted to them.

Saint-Mihiel’s second speciality, dark chocolate and hazelnut rochers came about in 1922, when the daughter of the a pastry chef named Rollot asked him to come up with a sweet that looked like the fossilized coral reefs north of the village.

Grand Est

Sweet stuff

Text © Dana Facaros

Image by La Meuse