Bonjour Dear French Market Friends,
This week in France the government was reaching out to listen to the Farmers with the aim to reach solutions to the genuine 
concerns raised in the Farmers actions across France. As Arnaud Guillot, the President of the Jeune Agriculteurs (Young Farmers) union, found out this week when President Macron paid a surprise visit to his farm, to talk and to listen to the him face to face, without the surrounding press. Arnaud clearly identified that Agriculture is one of the 4 pillars of the French economy and the absolute need for the Government to supply more support, if the Agricultural industry is to survive. Apart from heading up the JA Union, Arnaud raises Montbeliard cows on his farm up in the Doubs, these are the beautiful cows that produce rich, creamy milk for some of my favourite Alpine cheeses, Comte and Morbier.
President Macron also stopped in at the Bar-Tabac in Rolans, a coffee bar on his way to the farm, much to the
surprise of the owner Marcel Gauffre, who thought his staff were joking when they told him the President had dropped in for a coffee. Marcel served the President an espresso, the President stayed for half an hour and Marcel found him very approachable and listened to everyone discussing their challenges (Photo credit DR L’Est Republicain). 5Can you imagine our Cyril and the Blue light brigade dropping in at the local Bootleggers for a coffee.
Back here in Cape Town this week we have hosted a successful Mining Indaba, with several thousand people attending over a period of a week. Traffic has been horrific around the city, and tonight is the opening of Parliament with the President giving the State of the Nation address. Late this afternoon I watched a couple of SAAF Gripen jets flying past overhead and racing out over the Ocean into the setting sun, the pilots must have had a spectacular view, and its good to see we still have a couple of jets working.
Prior to 
SONA the French and other EU representatives host a spectacular cocktail party for the South African politicians and City of CPT dignitaries, and I supply the cheese for the event. It is always a bit tense prior to the event
, hoping the cheese does not get held up, only the Roquefort didn’t make it out of Paris due to the delays caused by the Farmers around Paris. Apparently everyone loved the cheese.
Apart from all our wonderful French cheese I have received a new cheese for the first time. This is a genuine Cheddar made in Cheddar Gorge. This one is a new creation combining their delicious cheddar with summer truffles. The cheese is flecked with truffles and tastes great, it is tart, with a dense texture and a great truffle flavour. 
We have received stock of the first fresh black figs of the season, they are the beautiful Persian figs grown on the Osdrift farm near Worcester. We have them in 1kg boxes or you can buy the figs individually.
On Wednesday is Valentine’s Day, if you are thinking how to spoil that special person in your life, you could start by making a breakfast with our French croissants and pain au chocolat – accompanied by a glass of Mailly Champagne. For dinner I
suggest order some shucked fresh oysters from us, we get them from the West Coast they have the most beautiful flavour of the sea. (Order by Monday morning latest). Serve these with a glass of Rose Champagne from Tribaut Schloesser, followed by confit de canard with roast potatoes, a light salad, some French chocolate patisseries and a platter of French cheese. Finish the evening with a bottle of Cristal Champagne from Louis Roederer. That should please even the most difficult person.
In the French countryside, my neighbours tend to make a lot of their own preserves and liqueurs from the produce of their potager (vegetable garden) and orchards. The summer sun helps kilos of fruit and vegetable to ripen, but it all ripens at the same time so to keep it edible through the winter, fresh products are bottled or pickled and packed away in large a cupboard, usually outside in a cold barn to keep the temperature low. You will also find jars of terrines and pates made from the bag of the “Chasse” hunt.
From the abundant orchards many liqueurs are also made with the fruit harvest. My French neighbour, Corinne gave me an interesting Fig Liqueur recipe, which I thought I would share with you because I have not come across something like this before. I know most of us in the Cape have fig trees somewhere close by, so it is easy to find the baby fig leaves. She uses “Eau-de-Vie”(Water of Life) clear white spirit which I presume can be found in a bottle store otherwise use a bottle of schnapps as the base. The young fig leaves are cooked with the sugar and Eau de Vie then preserved. The flavour of this liqueur is similar to Chartreuse, the green liqueur made by the monks from herbs in the Grenoble region. Serve the liqueur slightly chilled with some little sables (small butter biscuits) or pistachio macarons.
I wish you a very romantic Valentine’s Day….. and I wish you a Happy Chinese New Year on Saturday, here comes the Year of the Dragon
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team