Which French food products to offer to foreigners?

When you travel abroad to visit friends, you are sure to please by bringing some French products for them to discover.

But when you are immersed in your own culinary culture every day, it's not easy to know what will seem rare and wonderful to them or, on the contrary, banal.

I therefore offer you a selection of ten typically French products that will hit the mark every time.

1 - Buckwheat flour

The savory pancakes (or pancakes) that make Brittany famous are prepared with buckwheat flour, this gluten-free flour that gives them a unique roasted taste. This buckwheat flour grown in France can be used in baking or of course to make the famous pancakes.

2 - Canned sardines

The French passion for canned sardines is partly explained by the quality of the sardines caught in the Atlantic and the know-how of the artisanal canneries - especially the vintage sardines. For my part, I always have a can of sardines on hand for an easy and delicious lunch, improvised sardine rillettes for an aperitif with friends or this pasta recipe from the cupboard.

3 - Flower of salt

When sea salt is harvested in salt marshes, the top layer is set aside: it is these delicate and slightly crunchy crystals that will be sold under the name of fleur de sel. It is used rather as a finishing salt on fish, meat and vegetables or in baking as for these shortbread cakes.

4 - Artisanal mustard

The French table would be nothing without a jar of very strong mustard to use as a condiment with just about everything or as an essential ingredient in mayonnaise and vinaigrette. Most mustard manufacturers today work with imported mustard seeds (hello to our Canadian friends!) so I choose the Edmond Fallot brand instead. This family business based in Burgundy produces its mustard with a stone grinder and promotes the local production of mustard seeds.

5 - Chocolate

So-called bean-to-bar chocolatiers control the entire chocolate-making process from cocoa bean to bar, and the resulting chocolate has a lot of personality.

6 - Ripened Comté

Comté is the favorite cheese of the French, no doubt because it is both a very good cheese for cooking and an excellent tasting cheese. The cheese factories offer it at different stages of maturity. For everyday life, I prefer young Comté (7 or 8 months) or fruity (12 months) but to offer you can choose a Comté matured for 24 to 36 months which develops aromas of truffles and fine crystals of salt.

7 - Sausage

Pigs are raised almost everywhere in France and the sausage is undoubtedly the most symbolic charcuterie product. What could be more French than an aperitif with slices of sausage, pickles and fresh bread? A whole sausage keeps well at moderate room temperature.

8 - Artisanal butter

The taste of a good real French artisanal butter can knock you out of your chair. Prefer churned butter which denotes an artisanal production I personally have a weakness for semi-salted butter.

9 - Salted butter caramel in the form of candy or spread

Salted butter caramel is a confectionery and a traditional gourmet culinary specialty emblematic of Breton cuisine, made from caramelized sugar, salted butter, and fresh cream.

10 - A packet of Breton pancakes or Breton palets.

The Breton puck or Breton shortbread is a shortbread biscuit and a traditional culinary specialty emblematic of Breton cuisine, made from shortbread dough.