In fact, it was the Crusaders that introduced the candied fruit and Oriental preserves to Europe. These refined sweets arrived in France at the end of the Middle Ages. In 1343, Pope Clement VI named an Apt resident “Confectionary Master”, which contributed to making Apt a privileged location for the fabrication of candied fruit.

The gastronomic 16th century was dominated by the de Medicis family, who introduced to the Court the refinement and the good taste of the Italian Renaissance. Catherine de Medicis named as her personal physician Nostradamus, born in the little hamlet of Saint-Remy. Provence was an extremely poor region, badly irrigated. Fruit grew in abundance, but great quantities were lost each year. Nostradamus had the idea to conserve fruit in sugar, a new arrival in France.

In 1555, he wrote one of the most remarkable French works on candy-making: “Treatise on Beauty Secrets and Preserves”, beauty recipes, and especially recipes for dried sweets, that is, candied sweets. He taught how to go about “candying small whole lemons and oranges, quinces in quarters with the sugar in order to make cotignac (dry preserves), pignolat (pinenut nougat), candied sugar, syrups, candied pears, and marzipan”. The secret of the candying process is simple, but delicate : it consists of slowly penetrating the fruit with sugar, in several consecutive baths, so that the fruit is preserved without losing its form, its colour, or its savour. This tradition has come down through the centuries, from the Renaissance to the present, throughout the entire Mediterranean basin.

Madame de Sévigné

Catherine
de Médicis

Nostradamus

et son livre des confitures