The CALISSONS d'AIX, a Provence speciality

Have you ever tasted the delicious "calisson" or calissoun in Provencal?

This candy is made with a fine paste candied melon (or other candied fruit ) and almonds ground together, topped with royal icing and put on a background of unleavened bread. This delicacy is often flavored with orange blossom. Using a cookie cutter, it is given the form of an almond.
This dish is prepared with expensive ingredients and its preparation is long, which explains its price relatively high.

Since the fifteenth century, this dish is made in Aix-en-Provence.

The first allusion to calisson dates back to the XIIth century. In a text in medieval Italian Latin, the term is used to Calisone cake with almonds and flour. This candy is found in areas developped by the Venetians, such as Crete where one finds kalitsounia, made of marzipan and nuts and various spices (cinnamon and clove ). 

According to sources, the calisson were imported into Provence and refined by a cook of King René in the middle of the XVth century. During the second marriage René of Anjou with Jeanne de Laval in 1454, the head cook offered some calissons to the future queen, famous for being ungracious but after tasting the calissons, she smiled.