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THE PROVENCE TRADITION IS HEAVEN FOR THOSE WITH A SWEET TOOTH For those who love sweet treats, one area of France has a Christmas tradition that is sure to get your mouth watering -  les

Treize desserts.  WHAT ARE THE TREIZE DESSERTS? _Treize desserts_ are a tradition from the Provence region, which involves… serving 13 desserts at the Christmas table, typically on Christmas

Eve. The tradition has existed since the 17th Century, but no precise number was officially acknowledged until 1925 when a local newspaper mentioned ‘13 desserts’ specifically. The number

is believed to honour each of the 12 apostles and Jesus, during the Last Supper. There are no specific 13 desserts, however, and local tradition even suggests there is actually a choice of

55 desserts. There are, however, mandatory ‘categories’, as described below. Each person must have at least some of each of the 13 desserts in order to get good luck for the upcoming year. 

_Treize desserts_ are usually served with a fortified wine. WHICH ARE THE CATEGORIES? The first mandatory category is caramelised fruits. There must be four desserts of this type, and they

are called the ‘four beggars’ in reference to four religious orders as follows: * Figs because their grey colour represents the Franciscans * Grapes for the Dominicans * Almonds for the

Carmelites * Chestnuts or nuts for the Augustines Some families now include other fruits too, such as grapes, melon, mandarin oranges, dates, pineapples, kiwis, or mangos. The next mandatory

desserts on the Christmas table are sweets, mainly two types of nougat. The last mandatory feature is a pastry called _pompe à l’huile_, a sourdough-based sweet pastry, which should not be

confused with other local desserts such as _gibassié_, which is drier, and _fougasse_, which is more of a savoury bread. _Pompe à l’huile_ is a dough made with flour, sugar, sourdough, eggs,

and olive oil, which is cooked at 150 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Other desserts can include _calissons_ from Aix-en-Provence, a candied fruit diamond-shaped biscuit; dates stuffed with

almond paste; _biscotins_, a type of rounded, almond biscuit; _oreillettes_, a variety of crispy, thin pastries; and _papillotes_, foil-wrapped Christmas chocolates.