Fruits
Rustic varieties with distinctive tastes
Savoie and Haute-Savoie's unique geographical position and climate give locally grown fruits a truly distinctive taste. Apple trees dominate the area's orchards and apples are used in many local specialities: rissoles, doughnuts, cider, etc.
Pears and apples
A large range of varieties are grown, including Golden delicious, ‘Reinette Blanche', ‘Grise du Canada' and Idared apples, and ‘Passe Crassane', Conference, Williams and Louise Bonne pears. Since 1996, 19 varieties of apples and 6 varieties of pears have been awarded an Indication Géographique Protégée (IPG).
Recipe: Rissoles aux Pommes
Quince
Quinces are usually eaten in the form of fruit jellies, purées, compotes or jams. In Savoie and Haute-Savoie they are often used as filling for rissoles.
Red fruits and berries
Bilberries, blackberries and wild raspberries are common in Savoie's forests. The best areas for red fruits are in the Chablais, on the hills overlooking Lake Geneva, and between Aix-les-Bains and Annecy: areas with particularly sunny microclimates. Machilly, a few kilometres from Annemasse, is famous for its raspberries.
Recipe: bilberry tart
Honey
The different scents of alpine flours and pine trees give Savoie Mont Blanc's honey a distinctive and much sought-after flavour.
