Sunday, January 22, 2012

ONLY IN NORMANDIE

Roadside still
Where I come from this sort of contraption would have been nefariously hidden in the backwoods. In Normandie, however, licensed artisanal stills used to transform apple cider into the famous 40% Calvados alcohol are scattered around the countryside. 
Calvados, named for the Normandie apple-producing department, is served dry, on ice, in cocktails and as a digestif; it's used as well as a cooking ingredient in sweet or salty recipes, and for flambéing. So much has it been used to lace coffee that if one orders a café nature in Normandie it would likely be understood to mean without "Calva." 

Vocabulary
un alambic:  a still
un cidre:  a cider
un café nature:  ordinarily means coffee without sugar

©2012 P.B. Lecron

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