Buying fruit confit for a Provencal christmas has now become a part of my French traditions. Each year in November, it’s time for a special trip to La Maison du Fruit Confit in Apt to buy my fruit confit. Not only can you purchase a wide variety of fruit confit, but you also have the chance to taste each one.
As someone who’s not usually fond of overly sweet things, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the confits weren’t as sugary as I expected. Instead, they were packed with the natural flavors of the fruit. My favorites were the Amareno dark cherries, which I preferred over the standard red cherries, and the ginger, lemon, and lime confit.
Fruit confit, or candied fruit, is available year-round in Provence, as local producers make good use of the region’s abundant seasonal fruits. However, to the French, it truly shines during Christmas, when it’s often given as gifts or used in the traditional 13 Provençal Desserts enjoyed on Christmas Eve. These desserts include pâte de fruits (intensely flavored fruit jellies in little cubes), and whole fruit confit such as melon, apricots, cherries, peaches, vibrant green angelica, and lemons. In fact, nearly all the fruits typically available in summer are represented in confit form
Also part of the 13 desserts are nougat, and calissons, tiny iced cakes made with almond flour and flavored with candied melon, orange, and ginger – all of which you can find at La Maison du Fruit Confit.
The shop itself is a delight to visit. There’s a spacious viewing area with seats and a large screen where you can watch the traditional process of fruit confit making. A small museum showcases the history of this age-old craft, and there’s a Salon de Thé where you can enjoy coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and artisanal fruit juices. For a sweet treat, you can also try mini cakes made with candied fruits or sample the mini gapalians, a traditional cake from the city of Apt.
If you’re visiting during November or December, don’t miss the chance to see the shop decked out for Christmas. The decorations are especially charming, adding to the festive atmosphere and making it a perfect stop during the holiday season. If you are not near Apt look out for other Maison de Confit shops . . . for instance there a super one in L’Isle sur La Sorgue also.
La Maison du Fruit Confit
RD 900, 84400 APT
Lilamand Confiseur
13 Rue République
84800 L’Isle sur La Sorgue
My visit to a fruit confit shop in November is in preparation for making a deep dark boozy fruit cake that has been a part of my Christmas past since I was born. I never made it as there was a very dear person in our family who was the outright master of making this cake. She has passed on now however she oversaw me the first time I tried this recipe using a recipe from the old editor of Gourmet magazine Laurie Colwin’s book Home cooking.
Of my childhood family Christmas cake Laurie Colwin, of Gourmet Magazine, in her book, Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen said of this cake, “Black cake, like truffles and vintage Burgundy, is deep, complicated and intense. It demands to be eaten in a slow meditative way. The texture is complicated, too – dense and light at the same time.” I love the fact that Colwin referenced this childhood cake of mine with French truffles, and vintage Burgundy wine, two world-reknowned products deeply associated with France.
I also love that we admire the same cookbook writers, and I agree with her whole-heartedly when she says “No one who cooks cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers. In my kitchen I rely on Edna Lewis, Marcella Hazan, Jane Grigson, Elizabeth David, the numerous contributors to The Charleston Receipts, and Margaret Costa (author of an English book entitled The Four Seasons Cookery Book”.
The raisins, sultanas and fruit confits I bought are now minced and soaking in a mixture of spiced rum, and cherry kirsch, as I have still to find cherry wine, which is what my family member used. Around the second/third week of december I will do the final preparations for making this cake. So far 3 generations of my family love this cake, and my grandson who is coming back home to Provence from his university abroad will be especially thrilled as he’s been a firm fan since he was small. Don’t worry the booze burns off with the baking, as I’ve been told by my great grandmother, and grandmother, ever since I was a small girl!!
If you are here for Christmas, take a trip to one of these specialty shops, to try some fruit confit for a provencal christmas.
