Today began at the market.
When I say 'market' I mean MANY meandering streets with awning covered stalls lining both sides, as well as a purpose built building.
When I say 'market' I don't mean stalls of cheap crap being sold at budget prices. I mean produce. LOTS of BEAUTIFUL produce!
This is just one glimpses of many that I caught on camera! Presented in baskets & bowls beautiful fruit & vege. It took every ounce of strength not to buy a little of everything! It all looked so good! We decided on a few things to try for our evening meal & then left before we could be further tempted.
Our next appointment with food was at the Moutarderie Fallot. This is the 4th highest producing mustard factory in France, but it is the only one of those 4 to be owned by a French company (the family who has run it since1840).
We learnt a lot about the production of mustard & were even given some seeds to keep in our pocket for good luck. However, the best part of the tour was the tasting! We had no idea that there were so many potential flavours that could be included in mustard. We were given a platter of yummy bits to try with our mustard samples. Over all, we tried 10 different flavours & a mustard confit. Our favourites were pinot noir mustard, walnut mustard & basil mustard. I also had a happy flavour moment whilst eating gingerbread & ham sandwiches with ginger bread mustard!!! Trust me...taste sensation! I can honestly say I have never enjoyed mustard as much!
In the afternoon we had another appointment with ingestible goods! Bouchard Aine & Fils are a very old family winery & they offer a '5 senses' trail in their cellars, with wine tasting. We arrived early at their very grand location to ensure we got a place on the tour. We were so early....none of the staff were even there.
We had fun whilst waiting though!!
This tour was all in French, so I had to wait for the guide to stop talking, so that my interpreters could feed back to me the essence of what had been said. One of the most interesting rooms for me, was the smell experience room. Eighteen jars were spaced around the room containing; lemon, cherries, cassis, rosewater, violet, mint, mixed spices, truffles, moss, tobacco, liquorice, cloves, cocoa, honey & coffee. Not only was it interesting to discern what the smells were (some weren't very obvious) but to learn that wine goes through stages, where at the start of it's life it may have aromas of fruit, but those aromas might change as it ages to cocoa or coffee!
Another room that was interesting was the 'texture' room, where we had a rail covered in various surface textures & that each of these could be experienced at different times in a wines maturity. It was fascinating to feel the fabric & say "yes" I recognise having drunk a glass of wine that feels like that in the mouth. Although we didn't buy any of the wine available here, we enjoyed the experience very much.
To finish the day we took a walk out of the centre of town to a shop that specializes in escargot (snails). It is a relatively new venture & the proprietor was offering a special of 12 escargot & a glass of wine for 13 euros. How could we resist that! It also proved to be the perfect way to celebrate our daughter having passed all her exams from her time in Strasbourg!
I think that these are the most tender escargot I have ever tasted & they were YUM!
The escargot were the starter for our evening meal. After it we walked back to our apartment & laid out our purchases from the day's adventures. What a feast we had, & we each felt truly blessed to be partaking of so much goodness!
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