What I ate at Pari Fermier

OK I didn't eat these goodies but I bought them and more at the Pari Fermier Autumn salon this past weekend.
 

A Fall cornucopia waits just down the escalator at Espace Champerret.

Metro ligne 3 Porte Champerret. All kinds of delicious events take place here including the dollhouse miniature salon.

And all manner of animaux du France are waiting.
 

Plus miles of fromage straight from the farm.

Some cheeses as big as your head. Of course Geraldine says,"How old are they? That's what counts not size".

France has the best prunes on the planet if you ask me.

These are mi-cuit from d'Agen in the Sud-Ouest. They go in a special oven for 15 hours to roast to absolute lusciousness. They're made into everything imaginable - confiteur, jus de fruits, Prun'choco, crepes and.

Pruneau Eau de Vie of all things - brandy. I mentioned to Geraldine that the French make Eau de vie out of everything including probably water. She corrected me,

"No, only fruit goes into Au de Vie".

Lots to learn in France besides just your conjugations.

I've been rambling but the reason you should check out Pari Fermier (they take place once a month in Paris, sometimes more) is it's your best chance to buy directly from regional producteurs. The prices are great and you get to taste/gouter like crazy. Plus you can ask the makers-farmers lots of questions. They're thrilled to tell you about their products and extremely proud of the awards they've won in competitions.
 

Like this Medaille d'Argent from 2008. These annual contests keep producteurs on their toes maintaining product quality. Look for these badges.

Look out for all the ducks and chickens and cows at the show. Such playful touches in the displays.

It might have helped to know I was tasting rillettes de lapin/rabbit if I'd bothered to look at the rabbits on the shelves.

I did buy their eggs which were marked with the date and area on the shell/coque.

Other shoppers came better prepared with big laundry baskets and granny bags for their purchases. Ha! I thought I would just browse. Instead I had to go to the ATM for more euros.

I did buy this jambon de Bayonne. Who could resist?
 

Perfect example of why French taste buds are more finely tuned then the rest of us. They get trained to try new foods from the get-go.

This little kid got to taste every single jar of jam and honey on the table. His mom and dad did too. They had a fit when he tried to DOUBLE DIP. No Way! I was a little surprised when they didn't buy a thing. Was that lunch?
 

I tried every product made from chestnuts at this stand. Did I have a choice? No. I bought the crème de chataigne nature.

And I bought  a kilo of chestnuts in the shell(2.2 pounds). Gawd only knows what I'll do with them. The sirop de chataigne looks tempting to throw in an apero/cocktail.
 

Same here at the Basque espelette stand. You could not taste just one thing. Every product was offered. I bought the marmalade d'Espelette...no clue what I'll do with it but this is such fun and the girls were adorable. I'm such an easy sell.

Believe me when I tell you there is probably a museum and a fete for every single product in France. So please mark you calendars for next years raspberry festival! Where the heck is Ajou? They had a fabulous sparkling framboise drink (no alcohol). I only resisted because I ran out of money.
 

When is the caramel fete? This one I must attend. So much I didn't show you like the picnic tables where you could sit down and dive into your foie gras or freshly shucked oysters. Or the pictures of all the farmers (looking deadly serious) posted on the walls. PLEASE JUST GO to Pari Fermier when you're in Paris.