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Les pêches plates as they are called in France - or the Donut Peach in America.
The original flat peach variety was introduced to the United States from China in 1869 but it never became very popular. New varieties of the flat peach have been gaining in popularity since the 1990s and have been fairly recently seen in the south of France. They are grown in France, Italy and Spain.
The flat peach comes with white or yellow flesh, as do their bigger cousins, of course - the round peach - but these have a very subtle flavour, delicate perfume, and are particularly sweet. Apparently they are easy to grow in our climate and are really catching on. Last week I saw about six stalls selling them in Menton market. Yesterday, when I took this photograph, only one, but that's because the season is coming to an end.
  In Menton, May 1st doesn't only mean the day we give Lily of the Valley for luck (see yesterday's post) - it's also the day of the big Brocante organised by the Lions Club of Menton. Each year it gets bigger and bigger with more and more stalls, not just here - by the Bastion - but throughout the town. By the port, in the side streets, outside the market - hundreds of stalls and thousands of visitors.
Come and spend a few days with me as we explore the wonders to be found as we search the stalls and meet some of the characters. Don't you just love flea markets?
This was yesterday - the Christmas market in the rain. You can just see one of the steeples of the Old Town in the misty background. Today, happily, the rain has gone away, the sea is dark blue, the sky clear and bright - and the market traders will hopefully have a better time of it. It's unusual to have rain here at Christmas. Normally, you can eat Christmas lunch on the terrace but this year it's rather chilly for the south of France.
Santons are small figurines made of terracotta and can be purchased painted or unpainted. They are used to build nativity scenes and are a traditional product of the Provence area of France. Menton has its own santonnier with an atelier in the Old Town. The santon comes from the Provençal santoun or 'little saint' and the figures became popular during the French Revolution when the churches were closed and the larger traditional nativity scenes in churches prohibited. Smaller figures began appearing in homes and quickly gained popularity.
Apart from the standard figures and animals associated with the nativity (including elephants and camels), there are countless other santons depicting traditional characters from Provençal village life, including the motley fool, the miller and the blind man. You saw a different style of santon in yesterday's post.
The Christmas Fair is a great place to buy gifts, the majority of which are created by artisans. You'll not find mass production here. Many stall holders are specialists - here you see part of the honey stall.
Which flavour of honey do you prefer?
You want a pot? Look no further. Come to Menton. Every December the area near to beach and the Bastion is covered in pots of every shape you could dream of - they come from north Africa - I think probably Morocco and are part of the Christmas Fair which is over to the right of these photographs and which I'll show you another day.
You can see Cap Martin in the distance in the first two photos and in the third photo, you'll recognise the steeples of the Old Town.
Here you see bread rolls but bread rolls with a difference. These are called grisettes provençales. How about anchovy rolls, fig rolls, rolls with Roquefort cheese and nuts, rolls with goat cheese, pine nuts and mint. There are tomato and pistou rolls, rolls with tapenade, rolls with bacon and gruyère, or with onion or with olives. Are you feeling hungry? How about we order half a dozen - mixed? Take them home with a soft goat's cheese, sun dried tomatoes in oil and a good bottle of rosé - say a Bandol? What do you think?
It's autumn - and autumn means mushrooms! Glorious wondrous mushrooms. Not cheap, as you see, but so good. Actually I've girolles in my garden but I put my life in danger clambering down the steep hillside to get them so this year they might just have to stay there. What's your favourite mushroom?
You saw some of the food on sale last week. Now, here's part of the beautiful market building where you'll find stalls inside and out.
This lady has a small fish stall outside the market. Fish ranges from the large tuna to the tiniest prawns and always so fresh. I've lived here 16 years and I still don't know half the fish that appear in the markets. My favourites are rouget (red mullet) and loup sauvage (sea bass) - note the word sauvage, as opposed to 'farmed' fish. There is a world of difference!
Each spring, we see tiny, tiny fish for sale - these are poutines and are cooked into a local speciality: l'omelette de poutines.
What's your favourite fish?
If it's fruit, it can be preserved. Here you'll find preserved pineapple, ginger, kumquats, cherries, oranges, lemons, angelica and more - as well as dates and nuts.
Tomorrow? Come meet the fish lady.
So many olives to delight your palate. You can choose olives with basil, garlic, pimentos, herbes. Some are stuffed, some not. Perhaps the tiny but oh so tasty Niçoise olive. Which would you choose?
The olives are in the middle section of this stall - on the left he sells prepared food like pickled onions, seafood salads, sundried tomatoes in oil, grilled slices of aubergines in oil, pickled cloves of garlic, anchovies - the choice is endless. At the other end, he sells fruit confit. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you the fruit.
Let's have a few days of Menton market's wonderful food. Today: cheeses - made from the milk of goat, sheep or cow. Top left, look at the round cheese in the centre foreground. This is a Banon from Provence, and is wrapped in chestnut leaves and tied with rafia. Delicious. How many cheeses do you recognise?
Come back tomorrow - we'll be buying some olives.
(I'm in Germany to judge the Old English Sheepdogs at the Bundesseiger show so forgive me, but I won't be able to comment much before getting home on Monday evening. )
Fun with a watering can in one of the fountains that were for sale at the recent plant fair in Menton.
Seller and buyer amidst a sea of colour at the recent plant fair in Menton.
Each year, two days are dedicated in September to a wonderful garden fair on the Esplanade Francis Palmero, below the Old Town. This photo shows one tiny part of it and I'll show more detailed joys of the plants and people in future postings. The place was packed, impossible to find a parking place -it's a hot day and the visitors are out in force.
Throughout the two days of the fair, there are guided visits to all the famous gardens of Menton. There are facilities for children to make flower hats, learn pottery or how to grow a vegetable. There's are displays of wondrous old cars by the Automobile Club of Menton (I'll show some of these too at a later date) but most of all there are plants and trees to buy - orchids, roses, palms, cycads, tillisandia, bulbs, trees, shrubs. There's a slight breeze and with it comes the wonderful aroma of rosemary, thyme and tuberose. Can you smell it?
Magic! It seems to be everywhere at the moment. Here's a stall in the night market doing a roaring trade. Eat in a restaurant and you'll have magicians around your table doing tricks and enthralling you. When I went to a dog show in the Vosges earlier this year, the cabaret was a magician. Is 'magic' popular in your city? or is this a French phenomenon? Maybe everyone wants to be Harry Potter?
During the months of July and August there is a night market located between the old market building at the base of the Old Town and the sea. More stalls can be found in front of the market building itself. Lights are hung between the palm trees and here you'll find jewellry, paintings, pottery, belts and bags, gifts to take home and much more. The stall holders begin to set up around 8 p.m. and stay open till late. All part of summer time in Menton.
This is a view of Menton I've not shown before. You've seen the beautiful facade of the Old Town with its jumble of houses HERE. This photograph is taken from the other side - the steeples will give you your bearings. The long double-roofed building in the foreground is the Moorish style market - again, you can see details of that HERE.In front of the market building - amongst all those palm trees is where the Menton Boules Club have their premises. There is much consternation at the moment because this area is where the Mairie plan to build a Museum to Jean Cocteau following a generous bequest by (I believe) an American collector. The Boules club is waiting to hear of an alternative site for their club. Come back tomorrow when you'll see a gift I have for Isabella from Naples Daily Photo. Don't forget!
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