From the Orchard Fruit Tarts, Desserts, Preserves & Liqueurs

France has long been a paradise for fruits, hot enough in the south to grow citrus and cool enough in the north for apples, pears, and quinces to flourish. Along the Garonne River in the southwest, I picture plums and other stone fruits, with Brittany’s Plougastel Peninsula as the home of strawberries. As early as the sixteenth century, the French astrologer Nostradamus celebrated fruits with an entire book on jams. A century later, a profusion of new fruits were nurtured by Louis XIV at Versailles. His gardener, La Quintinie, cultivated citrus trees in grand, sunlit glass houses called orangeries, an architectural model that still inspires us to this day.