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 Two little balls for the nose and chin, a half-circle for the hat, two coffee beans for eyes: and you have before you a true blue « Suisse de Valence ».
If the Suisse de Valence isn't a Helvetic citizen who's emigrated to Valence, it is a cake, in the shape of an effigy of a papal soldier, whose ingredients are identical to those of la pogne The birth of this tender Swiss guard goes back some 200 years. In those days, the time of the Directoire at the very end of the 18th century, General Bonaparte sent Pope Pie VI into exile in Valence. It's in this city that the Supreme Pontiff died on the 29th of August, 1799. He had to wait two years before his remains, guarded by a detachment of the Swiss Guard, were transferred to Rome. A local baker was inspired by the richly ornamented uniforms of the guards. And a veritable phenomenon of the bakery appeared. Today all the bakeries of Valence put their Swiss in the window. Some, like the Nivon Bakery, are not content only to make them to perfection, but go as far as to offer you the recipe, a sketch and the instructions for making your own Swiss at home. The wherewithal to give rise to a calling, even among the most reticent!
Contact et informations: www.nivon.com
The recipe, instructions and sketch appear under the heading « Fabrication »
Photo: Backery Nivon
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