Brittany - The Market Garden of France

July 19, 2010 - PRLog -- There are over 750 miles of coastline in Brittany, so it is no shock that Brittany's main speciality is seafood.  Everyday fresh seafood is caught such as oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, lobster, winkles, crab and prawns.  On the north coast in Roscoff is known for its lobsters as they are considered especially succulent.  Go East and you will find brilliant meaty oysters in Cancale and Belon.  Erquy is the place to go to for scallops.

In many of Brittany's best restaurants the highlight of the menu is usually a seafood platter.  They hold it such a high regard, to the extent that most have signed a charter that guarantees that the dish is “an authentic Breton platter of fresh seafood.”  One of the traditional dishes is the fruits de mer which is a cold but cooked seafood platter featuring most the produce found in the sea.

If you have a sweet tooth then Brittany caters for you there are various different sweets, pastries and cakes.  Crêpes are a French pancake that are considered a national dish by the French and has become increasing popular in countries all over the world.  Galettes are the savoury equivalent of the crêpes in Breton and Normandy it replaces bread in some households.  The most popular variation is the galette complète (a complete galette) which is a galette covered with grated Emmental cheese, a slice of ham and an egg, cooked on the galette.  A popular traditional dish in Rennes is the galette saucisse which is basically a hot dog but rather than the hot sausage having a bun it is wrapped by the galette.  There is also the Kouign amann which looks like a plain cake but looks can be deceiving as this is a sweet buttery treat.  In Breton kouign means cake and amann means butter. It is slowly baked until the butter puffs up the dough which results in the sugar caramelizing into layers.  Chocolate is another one specialities plus there is the world famous Chatillon Chocolatier in a factory just outside of Brittany and a few other chocolate factories nearby. There are plenty more that I haven't even mentioned such as the Far Breton.

Brittany is one of the main producers of Cider in France it is said you will see orchard trees everywhere when you travel around the country side areas.  The popularity of the cider from Brittany has gone so high so don't be surprised  to see it on your shelves at your favourite supermarkets.  Cider is usually meant to accompany crêpes and sometimes is offered with other meals in Brittany.  If you stay in a gite in Brittany  don't be surprised to find an orchard apple tree in your backyard.  Brittany produces a a large amount of France's vegetables in fact 65% of French artichokes , 70% of cauliflowers, 70% of shallots and 33% of spinach are  grown in Brittany

The popular meat in Brittany is Pork, one of the local meat specialities is the Andouille.  It is a special kind of sausage which dates back to the 18th century.  It is pork, pepper, onions, wine and seasoning wrapped in a beef casing, smoked and dried (this can range up to nine months.)  Then it is cooked slowly in stock and hay.  The sausage is so loved that it was brought over to America by the French colonists of Louisiana.  Where it was slightly modified and is used in other dishes such as gumbo and jambalaya.

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