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Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
A small pink ball bristling with spikes, two layers of chocolate and, at its heart, the liqueur of herbs from Mont Ventoux: the papaline, a sweet created in 1960 for the city of the popes.
Confectionery from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
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The papaline d'Avignon was born in 1960, created by the master pastry chefs of the Vaucluse—more specifically their union—who were seeking an emblematic sweet for the papal city. Rather than a speciality with no regional connection, they drew on the local terroir and the herbs of Mont Ventoux. Carpentras has its berlingot, Aix its calisson, Montélimar its nougat: Avignon simply had to have its own delicacy.
Its name pays tribute to Avignon's pontifical history, and the pink of its coating recalls the robes of cardinals. Yet the sweet arrived more than six centuries after the popes first settled in the city: neither Clément V nor Jean XXII ever tasted one.
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Beneath its two thin layers of chocolate, the papaline conceals a heart of Origan du Comtat liqueur. It is not a liqueur of oregano alone: it blends some sixty aromatic plants from the foothills of Mont Ventoux, extracted through maceration, infusion and distillation, and sweetened with miel de Provence.
The liqueur is older than the sweet, though sources do not agree on its age: 1835 according to Anecdotrip and Grand Sud Insolite—the latter attributing it to the liqueur-maker Auguste Blachère—and 1870 according to ICI. It is distilled in Châteauneuf-du-Pape by Maison Blachère, one of the oldest distilleries in Provence.
The union of master pastry chefs has since disbanded, succeeded by the association Les Pâtissiers des Papalines d'Avignon. In 2018, its president, Patrick Mallard, explained that he wanted to protect the papaline and prevent it from being sold everywhere like the calisson—in every grocery shop, motorway service station or market stall. Without an official label, the association had established its own specifications.
At the time, it designated a single manufacturer, 'Croquettes de Aujoras', which produced around 3 to 5 tonnes a year, and the association numbered some fifteen retailers, a mix of grocers and pastry chefs. Today, ICI places production in Morières-lès-Avignon, notably at Maison Lesage, with the papalines then sold by artisans and shops across the Vaucluse. Listed in the national heritage inventory of French specialities, the papaline also features among the Vaucluse desserts highlighted in the Tables & Auberges directory.
Appearance
A small pink ball bristling with spikes reminiscent of a thistle, coated first in dark chocolate, then in pink-tinted white chocolate.
Taste
Chocolate, followed by the Origan du Comtat liqueur, sweetened with miel de Provence.
Texture
A runny centre beneath the two layers of chocolate; the delicate sugar shell holding the liqueur dissolves within a few days of contact with it.
the Ventoux plants are macerated, infused and then distilled, and the liqueur is sweetened with miel de Provence.
the mixture of liqueur and syrup is poured into starch, where the confectioner has pre-formed hollows.
after drying, the sugar crystallises into a shell around the liqueur.
the first coating, with 72% cocoa dark chocolate according to the association.
the second coating, with white chocolate tinted pink.
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You bite into the chocolate shell to release the runny Origan du Comtat liqueur. As for how to enjoy it, reports Le Grand Pastis, no instructions are needed.
No official quality sign (PDO (AOP), PGI (IGP), Label Rouge…) protects the papaline d'Avignon. The association Les Pâtissiers des Papalines d'Avignon has nonetheless established its own specifications, and the sweet is listed in the inventory of the national heritage of French specialities.
No producer is listed for this product yet.