Centre-Val de Loire (north-central France, Loire Valley)

A pithivier is a round, enclosed pie usually made by baking two disks of puff pastry, with a filling stuffed in between. It has the appearance of a hump and is traditionally decorated with spiral lines drawn from the top outwards with the point of a knife, and scalloping on the edge. It is named after the French town of Pithiviers, where the dish is commonly assumed to originate. A small mound of filling is positioned at the centre of the underneath layer of pastry, rather than spread on it, so as to prevent it from leaking during baking. The pie is traditionally finished with a distinct shine to the top of the crust, by brushing on an egg wash beforehand, or by caramelising a dusting of confectioner's sugar at the end of baking, or both. It is similar to the galette des rois made for Epiphany made in the northern half of France although the pithivier is made all year round.

Riz à l'impératrice is an elaborate molded version of rice pudding in French haute cuisine. Rice pudding is mixed with Bavarian cream, set in a charlotte mold, turned out and then decorated with candied fruits macerated in alcohol such as kirsch or maraschino. The dessert is said to have been named in honor of the Empress Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of France from 1853 to 1870. Marcel Proust refers to the dish in Volume one of his In Search of Lost Time.

The tarte Tatin , named after the Tatin sisters who invented it and served it in their hotel as its signature dish, is a pastry in which the fruit (usually apples) is caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. It originated in France but has spread to other countries over the years. A popular myth tells the tarte Tatin was created accidentally at the Hôtel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, Loir-et-Cher, 169 km (105 mi) south of Paris, in the 1880s. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin. There are several myths concerning the tart's origin, but the most common is that Stéphanie Tatin, who did most of the cooking, was overworked one day. She started to make a traditional apple pie but left the apples cooking in butter and sugar for too long. Smelling the burning, she tried to rescue the dish by putting the pastry base on top of the pan of apples and quickly finishing the cooking by putting the whole pan in the oven. After turning out the upside-down tart, she was surprised to find how much the hotel guests appreciated the dessert. In an alternative version of the tart's origin, Stéphanie baked a caramelized apple tart upside-down by mistake: regardless, she served her guests the unusual dish A manuscript written by teacher Marie Souchon explains that the recipe was shared to them by the cook of Count Alfred Leblanc de Chatauvillard. Whatever the veracity of either story, the concept of the upside-down tart was not a new one. For instance, patissier Antonin Carême already mentions glazed gâteaux renversés adorned with apples from Rouen or other fruit in his Pâtissier Royal Parisien (1841).

Chambord is a 16.5% abv raspberry liqueur modelled after a liqueur produced in the Loire Valley of France during the late 17th century. The Chambord product brand has been owned and produced by the Brown-Forman Corporation since 2006. Chambord is made from red and black raspberries, Madagascar vanilla, Moroccan citrus peel, honey and XO cognac.

Pear cider

Touraine is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) in the Loire Valley wine region in France that produce dry white wines and red wines rich in tannins. The AOC status was awarded by a decree of December 24, 1939 (modified by the decree of August 29, 2002). The wine-growing area extends over 5,300 hectares (13,000 acres) departments of Indre-et-Loire, Indre and Loir-et-Cher and comprises a total of 70 communes and it is thus a "subregional" appellation covering the same area as a number of local AOCs. The white wines are made from Chenin blanc grapes (known locally as Pineau Blanc de la Loire), and from Sauvignon blanc and Arbois grapes. The white Touraine wines are dry, fairly firm, lively and full, and keep well when bottled. The sparkling wines are allowed to use the designation "Touraine mousse" (sparkling Touraine wine). Up to 20% of Chardonnay grapes may be included in the mixture of varieties grown. The red wines are produced from Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Côt, Pinot noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot gris, Pineau d'Aunis and Gamay grape varieties (Gamay is used only for wines marketed in the first year after production). These wines are flavoursome and tannic in character. Touraine wines sold in the first year of production are light and fruity, as well as rustic.

Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruit. Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made from grapes, and the term "wine" generally refers to grape wine when used without any qualification. Even so, wine can be made from a variety of fruit crops, including plum, cherry, pomegranate, blueberry, currant, and elderberry. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are major factors in different styles of wine. These differences result from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the grape's growing environment , and the wine production process. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine. These typically restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production.

A pithivier is a round, enclosed pie usually made by baking two disks of puff pastry, with a filling stuffed in between. It has the appearance of a hump and is traditionally decorated with spiral lines drawn from the top outwards with the point of a knife, and scalloping on the edge. It is named after the French town of Pithiviers, where the dish is commonly assumed to originate. A small mound of filling is positioned at the centre of the underneath layer of pastry, rather than spread on it, so as to prevent it from leaking during baking. The pie is traditionally finished with a distinct shine to the top of the crust, by brushing on an egg wash beforehand, or by caramelising a dusting of confectioner's sugar at the end of baking, or both. It is similar to the galette des rois made for Epiphany made in the northern half of France although the pithivier is made all year round.

Salmon is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera Salmo and Oncorhynchus of the family Salmonidae, native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (Salmo) and North Pacific (Oncorhynchus) basins. Other closely related fish in the same family include trout, char, grayling, whitefish, lenok and taimen, all coldwater fish of the subarctic and cooler temperate regions with some sporadic endorheic populations in Central Asia.

The Alosidae, or the shads, are a family of clupeiform fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 32 species. The shads are pelagic schooling fish, of which many are anadromous or even landlocked. Several species are of commercial importance, e.g. in the genus Alosa (river herrings), Brevoortia (menhadens), and Sardina. The Alosidae were previously included in the herring family Clupeidae.

Poultry reared in Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire, France

Poultry reared in Cher, Centre-Val de Loire, France

Bûcheron is a goat's milk cheese native to the Loire Valley in France. Semi-aged, ripening for 5 to 10 weeks, Bucheron is produced as short logs that weigh 3 to 4 pounds (1.4 to 1.8 kg) that are sliced and sold as small rounds in food stores. Bûcheron has an ivory-colored pâte surrounded by a bloomy white rind. Soft, but semi-firm in texture, this cheese when young has a mild taste and it has a harder texture. As it ages, is gets a softer texture and a sharper, more intense taste. It is a good cheese for salads or for snacking with hearty grained breads, crackers, grapes and fresh figs.

Crottin de Chavignol is a goat cheese produced in the Loire Valley. This cheese is the claim to fame for the village of Chavignol, France, which has only two hundred inhabitants. The small cylindrical goat cheese from the area around Chavignol has been produced since the 16th century, but the earliest extant written record dates from 1829 when its name and brief details of the cheese were recorded by a tax inspector. The etymology is dubious: the word crot described a small oil lamp made from burned clay, which resembles the mould used to prepare the cheese. Another explanation is that old Crottin gets harder and browner and tends to look like dung, the French word for an animal dropping being crotte.

Faisselle is a non-protected French cheese made of raw milk from cows, goats, or sheep. The name comes from the mold in which the cheese is strained: faisselle [fr]. Faisselle is traditionally produced in the centre of France, but because its name is not protected, it can be produced anywhere else in the country. The cheese produced elsewhere uses pasteurized milk to make it appealing to a wider customer base. The cheese is traditionally made from raw milk from cows, goats, or sheep, and is between 500 g and 1 kg (2.2 lb) on average.

Fouée, also known as fouace, is an airy bread from western France . It looks somewhat similar to pita or bakpao. It is split and served with pork rillettes, salted butter and mogettes (white beans). It is distinct from another French culinary specialty, fouace or fouasse, from southern France (Rouergue, Aveyron and Haute-Auvergne). This is a traditional variety of brioche with a light-yellow crumb and a fine crust, often strewn with sugar grains. It is prepared from wheat flour, sourdough, butter, eggs, milk, sugar, orange flower water, and salt, is usually presented in the shape of a crown or bun and can be enjoyed for breakfast, aperitif or dessert.

Lens culinaris lentils grown in Cher, Centre-Val de Loire, France

Cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk, from Olivet, Centre-Val de Loire, France

Pouligny-Saint-Pierre is a French goats'-milk cheese made in the Indre department of central France. Its name is derived from the commune of Pouligny-Saint-Pierre in the Indre department where it was first made in the 18th century. The cheese is distinctive, being pyramidal in shape and golden brown in colour with speckles of grey-blue mould, and is often known by the nicknames "Eiffel Tower" or "Pyramid". It has a square base 6.5 cm wide, is around 9 cm high, and weighs 250 grams . The central pâte is bright white with a smooth, crumbly texture that mixes an initial sour taste with salty and sweet overtones. The exterior has a musty odour reminiscent of hay. It is made exclusively from unpasteurised milk. Both fermier (farmhouse) and industriel (dairy) production is used with the fermier bearing a green label, and industriel a red label. Its region of production is relatively small, taking in only 22 communes.

Pork spread made by cooking pork meat slowly in pork fat, from Tours, Centre-Val de Loire, France

Sainte-Maure de Touraine is a French cheese produced in the province of Touraine, mainly in the department of Indre-et-Loire. It is named after the small town of Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, in the department of Indre-et-Loire, at equal distance from westerly Chinon and easterly Loches. Sainte-Maure de Touraine is an unpasteurized cheese made from full fat goat's milk. It has the form of a small log, around 16–17 cm in length, and weighs at least 250 g. It is white and soft under a greyish moldy rind and is rolled in wood ash. It has a straw through its centre, marked by the AOC seal and a number indicating the producer. The straw is used, in the making, to keep the roll together. The finished cheese has 45% milk fat. Protected since 1990 by the AOC Seal, Sainte-Maure de Touraine is made with traditional methods. It should not be confused with "Sainte-Maure", also produced in Touraine, but without meeting the stringent AOC production criteria. "Sainte-Maure" is the industrial counterpart of the high-quality, traditionally made, Sainte-Maure de Touraine. Their straw is not marked by a seal, thus differentiating them from AOC cheeses.

Soft blue cheese made from goat's milk, from Selles-sur-Cher, Centre-Val de Loire, France