Bonjour French Market Friends,
After several years of preparation, the Olympic Games are opening in Paris in a week’s time. One of the goals of the French government, in doing structural work preparing Paris for the Olympics, was to have long term beneficial 
ecological impact on the country and community. One of these goals was the cleaning up the water of the River Seine as it flows through Paris, in order that it would be clean enough for swimmers to bathe in it for many years to come. 
Some of the Paris infrastructure for disposing of effluent dates back to the 1800s. Investment of E1.4bn in the upgrading of the effluent system and connecting of house boats and other residences along the banks of the Seine started in 2015, with the result that the river was tested this week (again) and declared sufficiently clean for the swimming races and future users. To prove the point the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo went for a swim in the Seine near the Pont de Sully, accompanied by several sportspeople and journalists and came out smiling. (Image courtesy Archysport.com-Topshots)
The Tour de France is in its final week with the final race between Monte Carlo and Nice on Sunday. It was relocated from Paris to Nice, for the first time, due to all the activity around the Olympics. At present the cyclists are still racing through the French countryside after 3
weeks of gruelling competition, yesterday Ecuador cyclist was the first Ecuadoran cyclist to win a stage at the Tour. (Image courtesy Wikipedia)
Here at the far end of Africa we celebrated the 14th of July by supplying the various official French celebrations around the country with over 100kgs of cheese. I was really proud 
that the French Market was selected as the French cheese supplier. The cheese arrived safely at each destination. The spread at the French Embassy in Pretoria looked amazing. In Cape Town, the official celebration was held in the Zip Zap circus tent with trapeze artistes decorated in the tricolour. For the Cape Town event we supplied the cheese cut into bite sized pieces on large platters, ready to serve. Do contact me if you would like a quote to supply similar cheese platters for a party or corporate event.
Tonight is the official opening of Parliament with our new GNU, all the streets around the City Centre were roped off and there were loads of Police cars around. Let’s hope it all goes peacefully.
This week we have plenty of cheese in stock. I suggest you try some Reblochon, a raw milk cheese from the Savoie. It comes in a small wheel with a dry crust and creamy inside. Made with the evening milking from cows that graze on the summer Alpine pastures, this cheese has a pronounced aroma and a great texture. It can be eaten in its natural state or baked in various traditional dishes, served in the winter, to warm you up after a day skiing. The most famous dish is Tartiflette, a combination of layers of potato and bacon, topped with a whole reblochon that is baked in the oven and oozes out over the potatoes.
Another classic mountain cheese from Savoie is Beaufort d’Eté from Beaufortrain. The milk for this cheese comes from the 
Tarine and Abondance cows, that graze in summer on the rich grass and herbs on the alpine slopes. These cheeses can weigh from 20 up to 70kgs. It takes 11L of milk to make 1 kg of cheese- that’s an awful lot of milk! This cheese has an unmistakeable concave back shape, made from pressing the cheese in a beach wood press. The cheese is usually matured for 12 months. The texture is firm, the crust dry with a unique aroma and the taste is dense.
In our fresh meat range, we have the delicious pure duck liver mousse from France, coarse textured rillettes and pork terrine. Tomorrow for the first time we will have some cooked, sliced ham sourced locally, which I discovered at the French Consul’s event, it’s great, good texture, moist and full of flavour.
In our dry goods sections, at Monsieur Marcel, the best French store in Los Angeles, I found some delicious crisp mini-crepes filled with Boursin garlic cheese. These mini-crepes are made in Brittany and are ideal to serve as a nibble to accompany a cocktail or a glass of wine. I brought some back with me, so we have a small stock in the shop but hopefully we will get more in the future.
In our wine section we have received a new stock of Marsala wine. This is a fortified wine made on the west coast of Sicily around the town of the same name. The production was identified and developed in the late 1700s by an English wine merchant who also worked with Sherry and Port. Marsala became famous and was ordered in large quantit
ies by the British navy’s Admiral Nelson. This fortified wine can be drunk as an Apero or after dinner drink and is used in various dessert recipes as well, such as Tiramisu.
In this cold weather we have a lot of demand for soup ingredients such as leeks and sweet potatoes. The Jerusalem artichokes are still in season as are the fresh black winter 
truffle. These truffles are currently selling at R40/gramme and are on a preorder basis, we can usually bring in the stock 24 hours from order. We have plenty of fresh fruits including pomegranate and pineapple.
Our fresh traditional French style patisseries are proving very popular to the point where we are being asked to supply them for clients travelling by private jet around the country, which is great. Over the next few weeks we are building up our unique range with some additional, traditional French style, sweets with products such as nougat and other delicious bons bons.
For my recipe this week I decided to share my bite sized cheese biscuits recipe, ideal for an “Apero” the abb
reviation for Aperitif (cocktail). I love the taste of toasted cheese combined with the flavour of sesame seeds. The best cheese to use is a strong, hard cheese,
I prefer Comte or Beaufort d’Eté. The biscuits are quick and very easy to make. You can keep the raw biscuit pastry in the freezer until you need it, when you have unexpected guests pop in. You can increase or decrease the quantity in this recipe as long as you use equal quantities of the ingredients. See recipe below, with acknowledgement to my sister Julia who makes the best ones. I suggest pairing with a full-bodied red wine from the Toulouse region, such as La Cabane Cabernet Franc grown and created by Comte de Thun.
I hope you enjoy a riveting Opening of Parliament speech by our President this evening. Have a great weekend.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team