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----CALENDAR

France

Learn about your gopher, make a request or ask a question - You are under no obligation to buy. Why not send a care package to a friend overseas?

The origins of Poulain, the famous French brand, can be traced back to the beginning of the chocolate revolution.  Up until the industrial revolution, chocolate was the preserve of the wealthy and was seen as a health drink.

"Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power. it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits."
--Baron Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) German chemist

The invention of the steam engine enabled the cocoa bean to be mechanically ground lowering the price of cocoa.  The 1728 cocoa press was even more efficient leading to even lower prices and better quality cocoa. The English were the first to combine melted cocoa butter, sugar and coca power to create the first chocolate bar in 1847.

Who was Poulain?

The well-known Poulain chocolate brand was invented by Victor-Auguste Poulain, who was born in 1825.  Auguste Poulain wasted no time after the creation of the first chocolate bar across the English Channel only a year earlier and opened a confectionary-chocolate factory in Blois (Loire Valley, France) in 1848 where it has stood ever since.

That year Poulain created the first flavoured ganaches (a mixture of chocolate and cream) in the world and called them "Bouchées imperials". Poulain believed that chocolate should be a sweet  - at a time when chocolate was mainly eaten as a health food.  He believed that all children should have chocolate - a 19th Century Willy Wonka perhaps?

Poulain today

The British chocolate firm Cadbury's bought Poulain in 1988. Poulain is famous for its eating and cooking chocolate such as the 76% Noir 100 gram bar, 55% Cocoa bittersweet praline chocolate, chocolate truffles, cappuccino crisps in milk chocolate and mint or coffee chocolate.

Buy some Poulain Chocolates now by making a request to the French Gopher who will purchase the items on your behalf.

Foie Gras

Foie Gras is one of France 's most famous exports (another being truffles). The delicacy has its roots in 2500 BC Egypt when birds would store up food before migrating. The birds were much sought-after as they were a good meal (presumably much better than when the birds reached their destination all skin and bones.). The Egyptians soon learnt that they could force-feed birds and recreate the bloated livers of the migrating birds.

The fattened liver was and is to this day the most prized organ and it is this delicacy that we now know as foie gras. Most foie gras is a fattened duck or goose liver.

Today, almost all of the world's foie gras is produced in France . Foie gras can be made into a variety of dishes, the most common being paté. However, it can also be served whole. Foie gras has a very rich buttery taste and when served whole it almost melts on the tongue.

Inevitably the force feeding of birds for a delicacy is controversial. Proponents - such as tradition in action - of foie gras assert that because the birds have no gag-reflex they are under no distress and thus the farming of ducks and geese is no different from that of pigs.

Pressure groups, such as GourmetCruelty.com, disagree and believe that the birds do suffer unnecessary distress. For this reason, some countries have banned the practice of force-feeding.

Our ethos at Global Gophers is, as far as possible, to give the customer control. You tell us what you want - we don't tell you what we have for sale. We can purchase foie gras on your behalf. Because we avoid sending perishables and items requiring refrigeration we can only send you the tinned variety of foie gras - some brands have sell by dates which are in years, not months, which is always useful.

Make a request for foie gras or ask a question