Issue No.26

Apt is apt to bring out your inner cake
monkey
Apt is apt to send the sweet-toothed into a
frenzy. When one Matthew Wood, a British
pudding maker, visited Apt in the
mid-1800s – he fell head over heels for the
glacé cherries and candied fruit produced
there. He started importing the sweet stuff,
adding it to cakes and gaining a reputation
for the best of the best. To this day, Apt
exports most of its candied, or glacé, cherries
to the UK, and is famous throughout the
world for the quality of its candied fruit.
But the history of sweetened fruit in France
goes back much further. The Popes in
Provence, with their court based in Avignon
in the 15th century, were said to be fond of
crystallised fruit from here.
In Provence candied fruit is included in the
famous “13 desserts”, a Christmas tradition.
It’s served at the end of a meal as a treat. It’s
used in cakes (especially the Galette des Rois),
and in cooking up and down the land. And
added to liqueurs for extra flavour and to
cocktails for extra sweetness.
When you’re in Apt, you’ll see plenty of shops
offering the colourful, shining-like-diamonds
fruits of all kinds. Apricots, pears, angelica,
cherries, pineapple, clementines, figs, lemons,
melon, plums, strawberries and more are
preserved in sugar, their flavours heightened.
People come from miles around to get their
sweets here. And if you want to add more
calories – dip the candied treats in melted
chocolate like the locals do!
Find out more at the Musée de l’Aventure
Industrielle, which boasts a whole section on
crystallised fruit. It also has a section
covering traditional faïence d’Apt ceramics
and crockery.
apt.fr/Le-Musee-de-l-Aventure