The Fruits of Quebec: History and Traditions of Sweet Treats

Who remembers the Montreal peach and melon? The Bon-Chrétien pear, with its granite-like flesh? The Fameuse apple, also called the Snow Apple, which was once exported to England by the barrelful? The Montmorency cherry, from the Morello cherry family? And the Damascus plum, also called the small Habitant plum, whose unique fragrance is still used in French perfumery? Who remembers that our ancestors quenched their thirst with cherry water, raspberry ratafias, and currant wines? That they also picked hazelnuts and tender walnuts?
Each of these fruits, and many others, has its own history that goes back a long way, even before the arrival of the first French in the case of wild fruits. The Fruits of Quebec: History and Traditions of the Sweets of the Table lifts the veil on a fascinating part of our relationship with nature. Paul-Louis Martin shows the essential place that religious communities and their orchards occupied in the development of fruit growing and in the protection of the wealth that these species represent.
Both a page of agricultural history and our food traditions, Les Fruits du Québec invites us to rediscover ancient flavors and, above all, to preserve a plant heritage that is as original as it is precious.