Bonjour French Market Friends,
Happy Women’s Day, to all my female clients, I hope you are enjoying your day off and that you are relaxing somewhere 
in front of a warm fire. I believe that we Women work really hard to look after our families and special friends, so today should be spent relaxing and indulging ourselves, eating very special treats with your closest friends and families. If you are looking for an extra special treat to spoil yourself today, then pop into our shop we are open until 5 
today. We have laid on lots of delicious individual chocolate cakes and macaroons that are made by our Master French Baker Cedric who trained at the top Lenotre Culinary Institute in Paris. In addition, our baker uses imported Callebaut chocolate. This iconic chocolate gives a unique depth and quality to the flavour of the cakes, one bite and you are hooked (this is not a warning it’s for real). We also have nougat made with Callebaut chocolate and Madeleines dipped in Callebaut chocolate created for us by Tina, a very special female chef from Lebanon. Tina and Cedric have both employed and trained other women from our city to help them create these products. I am really glad that we can support local female employment as well as showcase the best of French gourmet food.
If you prefer a savoury treat, we have an extended range of Terrines from France, these come in various sizes from 180gr 
jars to 78gr tins and different textures and flavours. Traditionally made from pork, wild boar, pure duck, goose and chicken meat. Some are smooth pates, and some are coarse
textured. The small tins are ideal as a snack for one or two people, perfect to have in the cupboard to use when you have unexpected guests. They are very practical as well for picnics and long journeys when you want something different and tasty on a cracker. I had a female mariner come in and buy up a large stock for her boat, as she was sailing around the world and needed easy tasty meat spreads. She won the race, probably because she had good French terrines on board to sustain her.
We also have an amazing array of French cheese for you this week. I find the most popular cheese selected by my female clients are the Triple cream Delice, its rich soft and quite delicate in flavour, the Vacherousse which is creamy with a slightly more tangy flavour and orange coloured crust, the Brie with the layer of truffle cream which is addictive if you like truffles. In the firmer textures the most popular are the raw milk cheeses, the Morbier with a layer of ash that gives a distinctive taste to the cheese and the Comte which has been aged 16 months, this gives the cheese an intense fruity taste.
New in stock in our food flavouring range are loose Bourbon vanilla pods from Madagascar. These unique beans have an intense perfume, if you leave one in sugar the whole jar is perfumed with the aroma. Some of my favourite French perfumes from the House of Guerlain are vanilla based, I just haven’t got round to stocking French perfume yet (that’s an idea for the future). We also have saffron filaments from Iran in tiny jars, you only need a few filaments to spice up your dish and colour it a beautiful dark orange.
Finally f
or the ultimate treat today is to have a glass of Champagne, we have a wide range in stock from the finest Crystal Champagne produced by Louis Roederer, the favourite champagne of the Tsars, to smaller Champagne houses such as Le Mesnil Grand cru and Tribaut Schlosser. I will say that for me, champagne is the ultimate treat, I find that all champagne tastes amazing but when I taste the Roederer Crystal, the flavour is worlds apart in depth and complexity from any other champagne and merits the additional price tag.
If you do manage to come to the shop in the next few days you will see I have redone the layout
and added more shelves so its easier to see the products, especially our range of Champagnes and wines. I also added a new fridge, currently the lights are a bit too bright but that will be fixed! You won’t see me for the next few days as I just had an op on my hand (it was worn away, probably due to cutting hard cheese for the last 18 years!) I have a great support team in the shop who will look after you. I can be reached anytime on WhatsApp and my phone. Remember, if you wish to save yourself time, you can also order online www.frenchmarket.co.za/shop/ as all our products are live on the site. We will pack the order, and you just pick up in the shop or we deliver to you, if you prefer.
The French often make dishes using chestnuts. The Romans planted chestnut (sativa) trees to feed their soldiers, as 
they settled in countries across Europe. The trees grew well on hilly surfaces such as the Ardeche and provided highly nourishing nuts which could be ground into flour. King Charlemagne encouraged the planting of chestnut trees extensively in France particularly in the Ardeche, to save the population from starving. These chestnut forests are harvested in November. There are festivals to celebrate the harvest in the local towns where chestnuts are roasted in the streets. Chestnuts are gluten free which is an advantage for certain diets. Whilst there are many different recipes using chestnuts, this week I am sharing a Chestnut cake recipe named after the refion of the Ardeche. The bitter chocolate topping is delicious. I accompanied the cake with Crème fraiche this complements the sweetness of the cake. This recipe comes from my favourite Good French Cooking book by Mapie, Comtesse de Toulouse-Lautrec. I recommend pairing with a glass of Champagne from our shop.
I hope you enjoy your long weekend, watching the Summer Olympics in Paris and have lots of tasty French gourmet treats.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team