In France, we call it "astuces de grand mère". Tips from Grandma... when you have a problem and no solution... You'll have to be tricky like Grandma !!!

Remove red wine stains : cover with fine salt the whole stain of wine. Wait until the salt absorbs the stain Wash the stain, put some soap on it and let it dry in the sun.

Remove burn spots in your ashtray : a cloth soaked with salt will remove them.

Cooking meat Wait till the last moment to add salt. Otherwise, the meat will not be tender.

Preserving meat with salt. Oil it and sprinkle it with salt. Back in the fridge for some more time.

Long lasting liquid dishwashing : salt will thicken it. Add a half teaspoon of salt in the bottle and let sit for a few hours. Shake the liquid it has become thicker.

A candle does not run if it has made a good salt water bath.

Read it in French : Trucs et astuces de grand-mère avec du sel fin

Beauty

Anti cellulite massage: massage areas of your body with a old tight full of salt . Ready for the beach!

Health

Remedies against mouth ulcer : wash your mouth several times a day with a teaspoon of salt in 25 ml hot water.

Hot salt compresses against pain : heat salt in a saucepan. Pour into a thick sock (tennis sock) the pain (sprain) for 15 minutes.

Headaches : pour water into a hot tub and add a handful of cooking salt. Immerse your feet and ankles in it. And try to keep them it has to be really hot. Continue till the water is hot

Wellness

Need a relaxing bath! Add a large handful of cooking salt in your bath. It works very well for children.

Tips

If your silver jewelry get black : in a plastic or glass pot, put your silver on an aluminum foil, pour a handful of cooking salt and cover with boiling water.

Your tea will have more flavor if you drop some salt in the teapot.

Embers of the barbecue do not smoke and remain red if you throw a handful of cooking salt on it.

Read it in French : Remèdes et astuces avec du gros sel

Easy recipe.
Cooking time : 20 to 30 minutes.

Ingredients

A whole fish with thick skin (bass, sea bream, salmon ...)
Coarse salt
A trickle of olive oil

Preheat the oven (T 240°C / 8).
In a dish for the oven, place your whole fish. Add olive oil and a generous handful of salt. Bake the fish and cook according to the size of the fish (20 minutes to 30 minutes).

Once cooked, the skin comes off really easily. The fish is perfectly salted. Not bad with new potatoes.

Read it in French : Recette de poisson au gros sel au four

Salt dough ! In France we use it as clay for children. It is so salty that your youngest child (even the last born, your baby) can use it, if he/she tastes it, he/she won’t do it twice !

It is quite nice to do when your « normal clay » is gone, dried, hard…

It's easy to do, you can keep it in an airtight jar for a while.

Recipe

A cup of salt
Two cups of flour
A cup of water
A tablespoon of oil
A teaspoon of lemon

Mix flour and salt. Add gradually water until you have a fine mixture. Add oil. The dough should not stick to fingers. Otherwise, add a little flour.

And your creative or artistic side has to express itself... delusional forms, small animals, fingerprints ...
You can cook it in the oven and then paint it. Even if these works have a fleeting life ...
I read that the glue for wallpaper, added to the dough, is good if you want to keep your works of art (it hardened the dough, it is less fragile) but I have not tried it.

In any case, it is a nice clay, safe for your children, with no preservatives, no dye or chemical products.

Read it in French : Loisirs pour enfants : recette de pâte à sel

The area around Guérande (gwen = white in Breton and rann = countries) has been known since the dawn of time, for the salt activity. For centuries even milleniums, salt has been THE mean of food preservation.

- Since when?
- Where?
- How does it work?
- Natural Process?
- Why do we see colourful marshes?
- Harvesting
- Fleur de sel and cooking salt
- Visit the saltmarshes

Since when?
Long before the construction of those salt marshes, we go back to the Iron Age..., another technique was used for the production of sea salt…
Sand or clay salt was collected during the summer and « washed » to extract a highly concentrated brine. It was then poured into pots and heated in clay oven until crystallization of salt. This technique was widespread throughout the Armorican coast, it even led to a deforestation.

The current saltmarshes began before the 9th century and lasted for several centuries. Around the year 1500, the marshes reached 80% of the current surface. The latest were built around 1800. In the middle of 19th century, a gradual decline started for different reasons : competition from the salt mine, lower consumption of salt as a product of conservation and improvement of transport by land.
The salt of Guérande used to be trade throughout Brittany, tax free until Napoleon. The Emperor decided to tax it and it was the beginning of the decline of salt activity. And the last attack came with the refrigerator in the 70’s.

But never say never… as we say in French. The amateurs of Guérande little by little, with energy and enthusiasm will help the activity to recover. They created a training course and a cooperative to promote quality with a label (the french Label rouge). Today around 250 workers live on the salt marshes.

Where ?
Until recently, the whole region was a large salt marsh. But the coastal villages Le Pouliguen and La Baule soon preferred buildings and tourism as the salt activity. There are still 2,000 hectares for the production.

How it works?
The principle is simple. Channels that feeds the water reservoirs with sea water using the tides. Salty water will evaporate in different dams till there are only a few centimeters of seawater left. That is the last step, where the salt crystallizes and produces the fleur de sel and coarse salt.



Natural process?
Yes, sea, sun and wind !!! And the know-how of the workers.
It is a 100% natural product from a listed site! explains Ronan Loison, director of Terre de Sel. Unlike refined salts, the one from Guérande undergoes no washing, no chemical treatment or additives. After harvest, it is just sifted, milled and packaged.

Why do we see colourful marshes?
Red micro-organisms and algae live in seawater.



Harvesting?
The harvest (12,000 tons of salt per year) takes place from June to September. Here are salt granaries from yesterday



and today ...



The rest of the time, you must maintain the marshes.

Fleur de sel and cooking salt
The cooking salt is most of the harvest. If it is gray, it still contains a hint of earthy substance. The best for chefs is the flower of salt.. These few kilo are harvested and collected separately. For 12,000 kg of gray salt, you’ll get 80 kg of fleur de sel!

Visit the salt marshes?
First of all because it is an exceptional heritage (listed since 1996). Then because it is beautiful, yes it is ! Also because you’ll discover nice animals and flora. And finally, to understand better how salt is produced.

In the village of Saillé, former village of salt, the maison des paludiers is a museum. There is also one at Batz sur Mer. At Guérande Terre de Sel, the cooperative, offers guided tours of the marsh. And in La Turballe visits are made in carriage. (00 33 //(0)6.26.45.25.58 )



Read it in French : Les marais salants (salines) de Guérande

If you want an easy and quick recipe… here you are… with algae mustard…

Ingredients :

Fish fillets

The sauce :
- algae mustard (french strong mustard (moutarde de Dijon) is also ok, but don’t use sweet one !!!)
- double cream
- salt, pepper

an oven

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : 20 minutes , oven to 7

Mix the same quantity of mustard and double cream. Brush the fillet generously with the sauce. Add salt and pepper. And bake for ... 20 minutes. It’s done.
Bon appétit.

Read it in French : Recette de poisson au four sauce moutarde aux algues

Ready for a hike … As I used to work as a guide for walkers and cyclists ... I have some tips and advices to tell you.

1 - A map, it is always better to have one, even when you think you know the place … Cut paths or heavy rain that causes a forced retreat (I know ... I survived an amazing rain with a group in Jersey …)... It is always better to be abble to find a place to hide... Just in case ...

2 - Two is better as one... You never know ... A little twist (again, I had that problem once) ... and you're so happy not to be alone... with your bad foot !

3 - A minimum of "fast food" ... Water and something to eat... depending on the walk ... Classic cereal bars (I'm not a fan), dried fruit, a bag of cookies or chocolate ... (be careful, in summer, it melts ...). If it's a day's hike, think picnic with carbohydrates (bread) and protein (meat, fish, cheese ...), some fruits ...

4 - The minimum for your health ... dressings against blisters ... disinfectant and an advise that may be unuseful in the nowadays mobile phone's world... walk with an onion in your bag (for a "natural" home remedy...)... ... My aunt, a former scout, was in charge of several young girls .... They were singing while hiking .... and she (my aunt) did swallow a wasp or a bee that stings her throat ... Panic on board ... A farmer working in the field,gave him an onion to chew slowly ...... The swelling has deflated ... An old treatment that helped then... She still lives ...

5 - Clothing. Light clothes for summer, warm clothing for winter and the whole year a raincoat. Summer cap or winter cap ... Sunglasses ...

6 – Bike tour ... The minimum... pump, patches and tools or even the bomb. An elmet too...

7 - Walking tour : good shoes ... (waterproof if possible), and already used ...

8 - Worrying about the weather : it's better ... and avoid the coastal paths and cliffs on windy days ...

9 - Telling someone what you do ... It's easier if we are looking for and you've been eaten by a wolf ... Include in your mobile phone under the name ICE (in case of emergency) the person you would like to call if necessary).

10 - Have fun ... Touring is great... Enjoy the Tro Breizh , our paths Compostela ...

Read this article in French : Randonner à pied ou à vélo : les 10 conseils

If you're visiting France with your teenager and if you want to enjoy a medieval town while he wants to skate, you should go to Dinan. It is nice for you and for him…



Yes, Dinan is a nice touristic town and 15 minutes away from the historical city center, you have a skate park that is safe and enjoyable.



Listen to one of the riders :

It is a nice place hidden by trees… 15 minutes away from the pedestrian quarter, close to Quevert. Ask for a shop called Titi Gil, everybody knows it.



We do have nice objects like mini ramps, funboxes, quarters, half pipes …and others that I can’t translate... even if the “French words” are English ones…

We sometimes play at a game called in French SKATE. You have to do tricks and everytime you fail, you get a letter from the word skate. Once you can spell it entirely, you lost…


Teenagers to young adults (10 to 20) ride in the skate park Cordier – mostly or even exclusively men –. Roller blades or kick scooters (push scooters) are welcome.



Read it in French : le skate parc Cordier à Dinan Bretagne

You can make this soup with pumpkin or butternut squash.

Ingredients :
1 kg of butternut squash
250g chesnuts
Salt and pepper
One clove garlic
Ginger
10 minutes in a pressure cooker



Cook garlic in a pressure cooker while you cut the butternut squash in large sized cubes. Pour your cubes into a pressure cooker and add water to almost cover. Add ginger powder or slices of ginger. Simmer for 10-12 minutes until the squash is very tender. Flavor with salt and pepper. Mix the soup and add the chestnuts. Mash them just a bit and enjoy the soup with some pieces of chestnuts.

Read it in French : Recette de soupe à la courge musquée et aux châtaignes

I tasted fried salvia leaves at my neighbor’s place. In amuse gueule for the aperitif, the French “apéro” as we say, or a cocktail party as you say, it is so nice!

Sage or salvia in latin, you know ... Is this small shrub with fragrant leaves that aromatize so well our vegies...

Long ago, sage was commonly used as a medicinal plant ... She was used to almost anything ... if you believe that French saying ...

Who has sage in his garden, does not need a doctor.

In any case, it was very useful but, as there are about 900 different species, I will not say too much and make you tired of reading ...

Sage was used as aromatic plant, in decoction, against plantar warts, against hay fever (leaves were smoked during the 18th century), for its hallucinogenic properties (that's for the other side of the ocean, the New World) ...

I stop and go back to my recipe. My neighbor has a beautiful salvia shrub at home, facing south. It grows so much, she has to prune it very regularly.

Ingredients

20 leaves of sage (large ones with the stem) 80 g flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
7.5 cl beer
1 / 2 teaspoon baking powder
Coarse salt.

Let it rest for an hour.
In a bowl mix flour, egg, baking powder, milk, beer.
Let stand one hour (if you are in a hurry, you can do it straight away).
Heat oil. If it is hot enough, the drop of dough you let fall in the boiling liquid will rise to the surface.
Put the leaf in the dough, pass it between the tines of a fork to remove the excess of dough.
Cook it in the oil. When the stem is yellow, remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Sprinkle with coarse salt.
Eat it hot and enjoy it.

Read it in French : Recette végétarienne de beignets à la feuille de sauge

- I bought a black cat in France, better in Britain ...
- Hmm, risky !!! Yes, yes, you don't know them ? ... ...
- The advertisement was : black cat for sale for good care ...
- Oh, suspicion ... If, in addition, his master or mistress tells you his name is Paolig ... Sure, you look for trouble, disappointments ... this animal is a strange beast ...



Since the Middle Ages, the black cat has a really bad reputation in France... It is a close, very close friend, even the best friend of the devil ...

In Britain, it's worse, it is not only a friend of the devil ... it is a reincarnation. Many stories, all with the same hero, are told... a black cat named Paolic (or Paolig, little Paul) who brings wealth but also misfortunes.

The classic story is this one : A French (no, a Breton) family in wooden shoes, very poor, just had a baby. They see an end to their miserable fate when they're proposed to buy a black cat ... He loves porridge and breast milk .... The contract states (written very small on the bottom of the leaf) that the cat will bring gold every morning ... (don't forget the pact with the devil ... But this is incidental and the poor man quickly forgets that this is part of the contract ) ...

The cat well groomed, (the first breast feeding is for him), the family is soon rewarded. Paolig brings back every day a purse of gold to his masters. Very soon the poor French becomes rich.
But ... the contract only lasts a year... Once the time gone, the "rich" man has to honor the 2nd part of the pact .... (Give his soul).
The man, being human, tries, anxious, to find another solution (get rid of his loyal colleague who had patiently enriched his master in response to the good treatment he received).

Many tricks are tempted:
- Sell it (once a year there was a black cats fair once a year, but it stopped ... Too many people from all over the world were coming , it was too successful and it became impossible to organize).
- Call the priest who was often requested by those honest flock to help (against a good sum of money!)....

Or you can try an abominable trick to your cat ...
This story don't always tell if the family who won the money so honestly had a peaceful life ...
What is known is that one day the black cat took revenge... The poisoned air contaminates the potatoes and give them the mildew ...

Brittany is a land of legends and superstitions, but beware ... If, unfortunately, you meet Paolic at nightfall at the crossroads of several paths ... You have the evil eye and you have been "spotted" ... Go and ignore the call of the cat ... Because traditions are being lost ... Priests do not know "manage" this type of case, the fair is over ... You will only get away! Faced with this witchcraft of another century!

Do not take too many risks: if you want to buy an animal for your family, the best advice to give you is to go to a good pet store (they guarantee the pedigree cats) or cross the Channel and, in Great Britain, buy an English black cat : there beliefs and symbols are different: black cats bring luck... And forget the witches ...

Read this post in French : Chats noirs à vendre