Cauliflower is mainly Breton in France: 75% of the French production comes from the North coast of Brittany, also called the golden belt.
If you're touring by there, you'll see signs: Prince de Bretagne (the main supplier of cauliflowers here) has many partners that deals with their vegetables : restaurants, shops... And probably those you get over the Channel come from here and are send by the Brittany Ferries from Roscoff.

Caulyflower has a second name Cyprus cabbage... because... even if it was known during the Roman time, the culture of the vegetable declined and disapeared until the late Middle Ages... It was brought back probably from Cyprus and called then coleworts Cyprus.

West of France today dominates the French market ... There are also varieties of purple or orange.
Cauliflower can be eaten from September to January. It is a good autumn vegetable, ideal for weight watchers (full of water, low in calories and rich in vitamin C and B9, the famous folate for pregnant women).

Cooking
Cabbage is not appreciated by everybody ... Because some people don't supporter well, they suffer from flatulence ...
Well, you have two solutions:
- Growing it in the garden, collect and eat it the same day ... It won't bother you...
- The second, for almost anyone, is to cook your cabbage in two waters. It will be more digestible. And to keep it white, add lemon to the cooking water.

Conservation
You can eat the leaves of cauliflower. Cut them into small pieces for the same cooking time as the cabbage.
These recipes are possible with cabbage or broccoli Romanesco or both.
My great grand father was Italian... I do like these two ways of eating it but they're unusual... Italian cuisine...



Baked Italian meal with Cauliflower

It is a sort of gratin made with an olive oil bechamel with thyme.

Ingredients
1 medium cauliflower
Butter
Crumbs
100g grated cheese

For the sauce

3 tablespoons flour
2 cups cooking water
5 tablespoons olive oil
Thyme (1 tablespoon dried thyme or a little less fresh)
Salt
Cut leaves, wash the cabbage and separate the bunches. Let it boil in salted water. If you are cooking with two waters, the second (5 to 10 minutes depending on cabbage) for a cooking al dente.
Cook it in butter.
Meanwhile, prepare sauce. Warm the oil. Remove from heat, mix the flour, cooking water, a pinch of salt and thyme. It's a sort of bechamel sauce.
When the sauce is homogeneous, pour over the cauliflower. Sprinkle with grated cheese and some breadcrumbs.
Bake for 20 minutes at 6 (180 °) until a beautiful golden crust.

Italian cooking : cauliflower with olives and provolone

Ingredients
1 cauliflower (good size)
150 g provolone (Italian cheese)
100 grams of black olives
1 onion
1 glass red wine
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Toast

Wash and separate cauliflower parts.
Cut into thin slices provolone and onion.
Pit the olives and cut them into pieces.
Put in a saucepan with oil, onion, a layer of cabbage, some slices of provolone and pieces of olives. Spice with salt and pepper.
Repeat with remaining ingredients. Sprinkle with oil and add the diluted wine with a glass of water.
Put the saucepan on the stove and cook over low heat for an hour. Avoid cooking too fast. If during the cooking liquid has evaporated add boiling water. Cauliflower should be tender.
Serve with toasted bread and a salad of beans and julienne carrots.

Read this post in French : Deux recettes à base de choux-fleurs au four ou à la casserole

The peak season for artichokes lasts several months : from May to November.




The artichoke is a domesticated thistle ... Have you seen it blooming ? The flower looks like the thistle’s one and it smells so good…

The reproduction of the artichoke is often done thanks to a rejection from an other artichoke that grows beside and must be replanted. The plant is almost a bush, which can reach 2 meters high and provides several artichokes (big ones) for 2 or 3 years.
.
Its name comes from the Italian language which took it from Arabic. Originally, the plant is Mediterranean. Already known in Italy during the 9th century, the marriage of the French King Henry II with the Italian Catherine de Medici (1533) who loved it made him popular in France.

Even if it is a Mediterranean plant, it grows well in Brittany- the culture began early 19th century-, specially on the North coast, where the climate is quite mild. The famous golden belt around Roscoff is the coast for early vegetables and 75% of the artichokes produced in France come from the area.



In France the favorite one is the camus de Bretagne,the largest species (2 to 3 kg per head), the one eaten peeled. The southern one is much smaller and often eaten like in Spain or Italy, in oil.

Read it in French : Artichaut de Bretagne

Winter is the season for soups and stews, good simmered dishes and rich meals... Apple pies and roasted chestnuts are also part of the winter menu... and the excess of Christmas time...

It is also the season of cold, where diseases are more predictable ... Therefore vitamins of fresh produces and food are even more recommended ... to fight your bad cough... Fresh fruits or vegetables are the best natural source of vitamins... and the best way to loose weight after the plenty of New Year... Some days of a diet of fruits and veggies, that the best way to recover...

So let's see what we can eat... to enjoy the winter production without worrying ...

Some vegetables are edible all year long if they are well kept : Beets, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes and Onions.
Same thing for nuts...
Exotic fruits, even if they are produced in warm lands, are also connected to seasons.

Better than eating food supplements in winter, try the natural vitamins and the right minerals...

Links are connected to recipes or specific vegetables and fruits produced here ...

Vegetables
Beet, Horseradish, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Carrot, Celery, Chicory, Cress, Crosne, Fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Salad, Salsify, Turnips
Fruits
Apples, Clementines, Kiwis, Mandarins, Oranges, Pears
Dates Nuts
Exotics Banana, Grapefruit, Lychee, Papaya, Pineapple



Vegetables
Avocados, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Chicory, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Salads, Salsify, Turnips, Watercress

Fruits
Apples, Blood oranges, Clementines, Kiwi, Lemons, Mandarins, Pears
Nuts
Exotics Bananas, Grapefruit, Mangoes, Passion Fruit, Pineapples



Vegetables
Avocados, Beets, Carrots, Cabbage, Celery, Leaves, Leeks, Mushrooms, Onions, Potatoes, Radish, Salsify Spinach,Turnips
Fruits
Apples, Clementines, Kiwi, Mandarins, Oranges
Exotics Bananas, Mangoes, Pineapples

If you want to eat the right products at the right time, the easiest way to do it is to go to the market next and buy the vegies and fruits produced in your area.
You'll discover vegies that we do not eat often anymore and you need just a bit of imagination to accommodate some vegetables! Bon appétit

Read this post in French : Fruits et légumes de saison : calendrier d'hiver

Have you heard about the Copenhagen Summit... Of course... States and men have to act together to change the habbits we have for years...

One step can be simple : eat the right vegetable or fruit at the right time...
But as most of us don’t grow anymore vegies, we have forgotten when it is the right season to eat that kind of vegetables or this type of fruits…
And it is not just politically correct, it is also healthy (fresh vitamins) and wise (less expensive if you buy them when they're naturally mature.... cheaper...) to eat well and good (better taste)...
To help you through and to discover some of our regional products, I have done this calendar for the autumn production… October, November and December...

Some veggies can be kept through the year, if well preserved : beets, carrots, celery, potatoes and onions...
We often forget that exotic fruits are also related to the seasons.
Autumn is also the season to collect and enjoy fresh nuts (chestnuts,wallnuts...).

Enjoy the recipes and the local production clicking on links.



Vegetables
Artichokes, Beans, Beets, Horseradish, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflowers, Celery, Chicory, Cucumbers, Fennel, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Radish, Romanesco cauliflower, Roquette Salad, Spinach, , Turnips, Zucchini

Fruits
Apples, Dates, Figs, Grapes, Lemons, Oranges, Pears, Persimmons, Quinces
Almonds, Chestnuts, Hazelnuts, Walnuts
Exotics Pineapples

NOVEMBER

Vegetables
Beets, Broccoli, Carrots, Cabbage, Celery, Chicory, Fennel, Jerusalem artichokes, Leeks, Lentils, Onions, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Salad, Salsify, Spinach, Turnips Fruits
Apples, Grapes, Kiwis, Mandarins, Oranges, Pears
Chestnuts, Dates, Walnuts



Vegetables
Avocados, Beets, Horseradishes, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celeriac, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Salsify, Turnips

Fruits
Apples, Clementines, Mandarins, Oranges, Pears
Almonds, Dates, Hazelnuts, Walnuts
Exotics Bananas, Guavas, Lychees, Mangoes, Pineapples

Read it in French : Calendrier des fruits et légumes à consommer en saison d'automne

Here is a recipe for a cookie that crumbles... at least it did for my first try...

Germans do all sorts of small cakes and biscuits for Christmas. The second recipe, Linzer torte, can be kept longer, at least 8 days before being eaten. But it is hard to keep it that long. At your calendars to be ready for Xmas !

Here are two recipes for sweets, recipes brought from my last stay with my German friend. real ones from natives, easy to do. Exclusive! And still without pictures ... My computer is still out of order with pictures.

Ingredients
50 grams of dark chocolate
50 grams of walnuts
60 grams flour
30 grams sugar
60 grams butter
1 teaspoon of spices (clove and pepper)
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Finely chop the chocolate and nuts into pieces. Put in a bowl. Flour, sugar, butter cut into small pieces and spices are to be added to the nuts and chocolate mixture.
Put your hands and mix until a smooth dough, which held together.
Roll the dough into rolls 2, 3 cm.
Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
After the break, preheat oven to 200 (6 / 7)
Cut into pieces and cook 15 minutes.
Leave it to cool down and dry before serving.

(which is originally an Austrian recipe!)

Ingredients
170 g butter at room temperature
170 grams sugar
1 egg (white and yolk separated)
100 g crushed hazelnuts
200g flour
1 packet yeast
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 to 2 tablespoons brandy
120 grams of rosehip jam (but I have made it with raspberry jam)
1 tablespoon milk
Icing sugar
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Melt butter. Mix sugar, flour, egg white, yeast, chocolate and spices. Add butter. Then the alcohol. If the dough sticks, add a little flour.
Cover and let stand one hour in the fridge. Not too much because after it was very hard to spread.
Preheat oven to 200 (6 / 7).
Take half or a little more dough and roll to put it in the pie dish. Spread generously with jam. Leave the edges without jam and cover with dough.

With the remaining dough make strips and lie them on the jam.
Brush with milk mixed with egg yolk.
Bake 30 minutes. I burned my first torte, be careful it cooks fast.
Sprinkle with icing sugar out of the oven, wrap and try to keep fresh for several days. To be able to enjoy it during the Christmas week ...

Read this article in French : Recette de Noel : sablés chocolatés aux noix et Linzertorte

Book the last week end of November to go to the first Breton gastronomy fair in Brittany (salon breton du livre et du gourmet). We won’t talk about French cuisine but Breton cuisine…
Go to Saint Brieuc with an empty stomach !!! Because lots of breton chefs and wine waiters will be there, cooking or showing their cooking secrets !!! You will also taste fine local products, see professionnal tools, discover plenty of recipes and cooking tips. You will get the signature of famous breton chefs that will present their books.

And you’ll also enjoy the evening meals that are prepared by those local stars for the event in their restaurants (you have to book now !). Or you can taste chocolates that will be done on the fair. Or appreciate scallops specialities !!! (Saint Brieuc is on the Breton coast).

Love goes through the stomach, I think you say,then you’ll leave the fair with a love feeling!!!

It is the first time of the fair, it is free, don't miss it and enjoy it !!!

Read it in French : salon breton du livre et du gourmet à saint brieuc fin novembre

It took me some time to peel the rose hips but here I am with those high concentrated vitamin fruits !!! I’ve done two different recipes with them : jam and syrup.



The more difficult in the recipe is to peel the rose hips. You have two different ways to do it : for the lazy ones (read 1), for the meticulous ones (read 2).

Ingredients :
Rose hips
Sugar

To take away the itching powder, you need time and you can either :



1 – Put the rose hips through a colander and save the pulp.

Or

2 – Cut the rose hips in two pieces and take out the fine hairs with a knife. I know it is quite long…

Once you’ve done that, it’s easy.
Add to the pulp sugar (400 g rose hips, 200g sugar) and boil till you have a nice thick orange mixture.

Put in jars.

The recipe of the syrup now…

I would say it is an homemade medicine for sore throat : it has no chemicals and plenty of Vitamin C (you remember that rose hips have 20 times more vitamin C than lemon and when you catch a cold you have a vitamin C deficiency) and honey (everybody knows that honey is good for sore throat).

You have to use 65g of fruits for 35 of honey. The savour of honey is stronger than the rose hips (but they are the benefits of the vitamin C). Anyway it is good for your health…

Take care…

Read it in French : Recette de la confiture aux cynorrhodons d'églantier

Even if China and India share 70% of the world production, three-quarters of the French production of cauliflower are grown in the North West of France, on the breton coast ... If you arrive with the ferry at Roscoff, you'll see fields of cauliflowers everywhere... Prince de Bretagne the main supplier of vegetables of the region...



Cauliflower belongs to the very, very, large cabbage family ... that have so many different colors, shapes and even sizes. Cabbage season never stops... all year long...

Origins
Asia Minor. Cabbage is a very old food already eaten by prehistoric people ... Cauliflower disappears however in Europe after the Roman time and reappeared in Italy in the late Middle Ages. In France, it is cultivated again in the 17th C. In England, a bit earlier...

Vitamins and co
This vegetable plant has many advantages: rich in vitamin C (good for healthy bones, cartilage, teeth and gums ... It also protects against infections, promotes the absorption of iron content in plants and accelerates healing. ) It was good for sailors wishing to fight against scurvy (No fresh food on boats for days...a lack of vitamin C makes you loose your teeth!).
Studies say that cauliflower is also appreciated against cancers (lung, ovary and kidney). And good for pregnant women (contents folate (vitamin B9 used for the growth and development of the fetus ...).
It is a low calorie vegetable (high content of water: 20 calories per 100 grams).

Culture and Consumption
It is an annual plant. Thanks to the mild climate of the region of Roscoff, we can eat them September to January.

How to choose a cauliflower
A fresh one will have still green water-soaked leaves and a white heart...
But ... very often, unfortunatly, the cauliflower arriving in our plates has done a long journey before ending in a saucepan of boiling water... Leaves are all dried, the white is often spotted (these are signs of decay).
However ... It is a very good food that I recommend as a dipping appetizer

Italian raw cauliflower recipe in spicy sauce

Ingredients
a cauliflower 800 g
Chopped parsley
Anchovies thinly cut
Juice of half a lemon
100g butter
Salt

For this recipe, the ideal is to have a cauliflower extremely fresh, white, with no trace of passing time ...
Remove leaves, divide the clumps of cabbage and soak in salted water.
In a saucepan, melt butter, add anchovies that you've previously cut into thin slices and parsley. After a few minutes, remove from heat.
Drain the cauliflower florets and arrange in a dish, pour sauce and lemon juice.
Serve as appetizer ...

Read this article in French : Le chou-fleur de Bretagne

Some weeks ago, I did some nice elder flowers fritters, and now that the berries are being eaten by birds, I ‘m hurrying to make a nice jelly. As it is my first elderberry jelly, I tried to find on internet the best recipe. Well, none appealed to me… So after some tries, I’ll tell you what for me is the best.

Ingredients :
berries, (for 3 pots of 300 g of jam, you need a full bag of berries)
sugar,
an orange if you have one (recipes usually use lemon but orange is good)
and some water.

Harvest your wild berries in the countryside, you’ll find them everywhere. Choose the ripest ones, full of water and not the one already tasted by birds that are no more watery. Because the secret for a good jam is liquid.



Pick berries off the stalks, keep the black ones, and weight them before doing anything else. Because thanks to its weight, you ‘ll have to add one third of sugar later one.
Once you weighted them, put the orange juice into a pan with the water and let it boil for some minutes. It smells really strange and not nice but go on. Crush them. Then use a food mill to remove the seeds. I first tried with the berries and seeds, it is inedible.

Once you have the sauce, put it into a saucepan, add sugar (one third because once you removed the seeds and skin, you have not a lot left) and mix.
The best is to wait the next day to cook it. Boil it then for some minutes. Your jam is ready when using a teaspoon, the jelly is covering your teaspoon and dropping very slowly. The drop must almost stay on your teaspoon.
Pour the boiling jam into pots and seal them and let them cool down upside down. And again store them upside down till eating. The pots can be kept for a long time (a year or so).



Be careful with the berries : never eat them raw, they are toxic, as are the leaves, the roots and the bark.

Read it in French : Recette de confiture aux baies de sureau

April is the month for harvesting dandelions. Take your knife and pick flowers, some buttons and young leaves. You’ll make the meal of the day. Try to avoid to places where dogs like to … or where foxes run (the disease they transmit is hard to heal) or where cars leave their gaz…



The jelly is so nice. It looks like honey (colour, smell and texture) and it is really good.
No wonder because the flower is melliferous (it attracts insects that make honey). Taste a flower. It is honey…

Well the recipe now

Quantity for a mug of flower well packed. Harvest as much mugs as you want and add the quantity necessary.
250 ml water
175 g sugar
A quarter of lemon in slices

Remove stems. Wash the flowers.
Pour into a saucepan with the water. Boil softly (5 minutes for a mug, 10 for 2…). Filter and strain the flowers to collect all ther liquid.
Add sugar.
Cook over low heat until the consistency of a syrup. Times varies on the number of mugs you used (for 2 mugs about 45 minutes). Transfer to pot and let cool upside down . Store also upside down.



Salad with buttons of dandelions, leaves, potatoes, soft-boiled eggs and bacon

Like bitter salad. You’ll love it… Pick some young leaves and buttons.



Ingredients
Dandelions
Lardons
Eggs (2 per person)
Potatoes (2 to 3 per person)
Dressing (with french mustard)

Wash them. Cook the potatoes in slices, the eggs (6 minutes). Fry in a sauce pan the lardons.
In the bowl, put the salad, add the potatoes, the lardons and the eggs cut in half. Finally the buttons of dandelions.
Delicious, is n’t it ????

Read it in french : Miel de pissenlit et salade aux boutons et fleurs de pissenlit

You want to try recipes with walnuts, well learn too about the tree that produce them. It is a nice one…



The walnut tree comes from Asia and is known in France for several centuries already (800). Charlemagne wanted it throughout his empire and thanks to him it was spread out in Europe ...

The walnut is native to warmer lands (Asia), he does not like the cold weather. When it blooms in April or May, the flowers do not like frost ... Otherwise the precious harvest of nuts may be compromised ...

Nut is very nutritious: 60% fat for 20% protein. They were advised for women seeking fertility ...

The walnut tree has a nasty reputation ... We strongly advise against taking a nap under its shadow ... not for fear of receiving nuts during your sweet rest, but rather because under it, vegetation grows with a lot of difficulty. The grass is sparse and the flowers wither. If you want to plant with a walnut tree around, do it but at a certain distance.

The tree can life 70 years to … 300. It produces walnuts with 20-25 years… It is 20 to 25 meters high.

In the Middle Ages, people used the walnut oil for massage to relieve pain of rheumatism or arthritis: 4 to 5 kg of nuts per 1 liter of oil ... Peeling and peeling again and again.

Walnut oil is very good, very tasty ... but it turns rancid very fast.

For longer storage, it must be stored in a cool place, away from light in a dark bottle. It helps by adding a few grains of salt in the bottle.

Use it as seasoning, as salad dressings, it is excellent, it can not stand to be heated.

The walnut wood is highly prized by carpenters. The quality of its wood and itsdark color are valued for furniture, table, desk, library ...

The walnut is a producer of nut husks : the green envelope that protects the fruit. The liquid it emits is used to produce inks for dark stained wood.

Inside the husk, the shell hides the edible part : the kernels.

The nuts have interesting nutritional benefits : they provide good essential fatty acids (the so-called omega 3 and omega 6), vitamins and minerals (especially magnesium).

Want to try my recipe : mashed potatoes and nuts in the oven.

Read it in French : Le noyer un arbre remarquable à planter dans le jardin