Bonjour French Market Friends,
The year is flying by, this week in Paris was the Paris Fashion Week for Womenswear Fall/Winter season of 2025, it seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were watching the latest Summer Fashion trends. The beauty and originality of the designs never ceases
to amaze me, how do the designers create endless new styles. I did think that one of the hats a model was wearing looked just like a tea cosy, and another model was definitely wearing a matching lamp shade, but its innovative! It’s a bit like the Budget, our Government have to come up with some new ideas every year. However, unlike the Fashion industry, the Budget is not as enjoyable. We hear that the Vat increase will be spread over 2 years, which means a considerable amount of work for all business owners as we have to adjust all our accounting systems.
On a brighter note the Cape Town Cycle Tour was a great success last weekend with perfect weather. This weekend we are celebrating the Festival of Francophonie at the Belgian Ambassador’s Residence at 2 Boshoff Avenue in Newlands on this Saturday 15th March. This multi-cultural event is supported by The French, Belgian and Swiss Consulates plus several other Francophone countries. The grounds will be full of entertainment, music, dance and lots of food and drink stalls. We shall have a French Market stall in the main house, where we will have some of our most popular French cheese and wines for sale. Do come along and join in the fun of Francophonie.
Our newest cheese to arrive from France is the Tomme des Croquants. A Tomme is general name for a small wheel of mountain cheese. The Croquants is a reference to crunchy nuts as in walnuts. This is because the cheese is washed in the liqueur of walnuts which comes from Sarlat. This cheese has a firm texture and a beautiful flavour from the walnut liqueur. You definitely have to come and try some.
Another interesting cheese that arrived is the washed rind Livarot. This cheese is named after its town of
origin in the Aude region of Normandie. Livarot has been made since the 1500s with milk from the local Normande cows. The cheese has an orange crust, a soft texture and a pungent aroma. It has a distinctive triple reed band around the cheese, making it resemble a “Kepi” the French Army Colonel’s hat which gave rise to its nickname “The Colonel”.
Another favourite cheese that is back in stock is Epoisses. This is the soft and very pungent cheese from Burgundy that is washed 
with the Marc de Bourgogne (a clear brandy from Burgundy) over a period of a few weeks. Epoisses is reputed to be one of the smelliest cheeses in France, you just hold you nose and eat it as the taste is milder than the odour.
In our fresh meat range we have received new stock of the Mousse de Canard, duck liver mousse, from St Orens in the Landes region, in the South West of France. The St Orens ducks are all raised on the farm and fed with maize grown on the farm. The mousse has a rich, smooth texture and tastes amazing. You can serve it on fresh crusty baguette or on a sweeter lightly toasted brioche, pair with some figs and a glass of chilled Sauterne.
In our wine range this week we received new stock of Chablis from J.Moreau. This company started producing wine in the 1800s in the Chablis region. The Cistercian monks started planting the vineyards in the 11th Century and discovered that the limestone marl 
soil had a composition of fossilised oysters and a minerality due to the Kimmeridgian ridge which runs underneath Chablis at the northern end of Burgundy. This soil translates through the chardonnay grapes that flourish here, into a wine with a unique minerality. This is why this region’s wine is always referred to as Chablis, rather than the broader Chardonnay name.
In our dry goods range from Sabarot in France, we have received stock of Quinoa. The Sabarot family started to p
roduce dried pulses, mushrooms and cereals in the early 1800s. This famous company is well known in the culinary world for the quality of their products. This week we brought in 3 different types of Quinoa, white, black and tricoleur a mixture of white, black and red. Known to have been cultivated by the Incas over 5,000 years ago, some of the quinoa comes from Peru and Bolivia. Quinoa is highly nutritious as it contains protein, vitamins and antioxidants. Quinoa can be served as a nutritious dish on its own, or combined with other 
ingredients such as a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice, fresh herbs such as mint and baby tomatoes and chunks of feta. See recipe below for a fresh summer salad made with the Trio of Quinoa. Pair this summer salad with a glass of La Cabane a handcrafted Cabernet Franc wine from Comte de Thun.
I hope you have a warm and enjoyable weekend, we look forward to seeing you on Saturday at La Fete de la Francophonie, 2 Boshoff Avenue, Newlands.
Regards,
Suzanne and The French Market Team