French (food idiom) Fridays: tomber dans les pommes
(plus a recipe for an easy apple tart)
Tomber dans les pommes = to faint
Welcome to December’s French(food idiom) Fridays! Today, we’re talking apples!
Before we get into the idiom and recipe for this month, let’s give some love to that beautiful illustration above. The fabulous Lisa (who provided illustrations for all my cookbooks, designed my original blog header, Neil’s logo and our rental property logo) is on board for this series too so expect to see her delightful designs and drawings each month going forward too! Welcome, Lisa!
Ok, revenons à nos moutons1, as they say in French…
where does the expression “tomber dans les pommes” come from?
It’s unclear as to the exact origin of the phrase but it seems that it’s been used in some iteration in literature since at least the early 19th century2. George Sand wrote of being exhausted (in older age) using the expression dans les pommes cuites (cuites = cooked) and Pauk de Kock also used les pommes cuites to refer to old age.
In 1930, the linguist Albert Dauzet proposed an alternative explanation for the expression tomber dans les pommes, suggesting that it’s a distortion of the term pâmoison, which comes from the verb pâmer (to swoon). This explanation dates back to the Middle Ages and is a tenuous link at best, but tomber dans les pommes is a common expression in modern-day French.
et maintenant, à table
For this month’s recipe, I wanted to share a simple yet elegant recipe perfect for when you’re over your holiday baking (and have eaten it all!) but still have guests dropping by that you need to feed/ impress!
This one is so easy and uses just a handful of ingredients - simple come bonjour as they say in French ("as easy as ABC” - in fact, so simple kids can make them - my baking club did this just a couple of weeks ago with beautiful results!).
I don’t know about you, but I always have a roll or two of puff pastry on hand in my freezer - it’s so handy for when you need a quick dessert with excellent ROI (i.e. it looks harder to make than it actually is!). Which, to be quite honest, is the type of recipe we ALL need in our back pockets, right?
get the recipe!
Want to make these easy, impressive apple tarts yourselves? I’ve got you! Click on the button below for the printable recipe!
take a baking class with me in 2025!
I just updated my class schedule for the first few months of 2025! Here’s what’s on the agenda (so far - more to come):
Come and join me at the beautiful St Lawrence Market Kitchen in Toronto for some French-themed baking classes! Bonus? Use NEWSLETTERSUBSCRIBER to get 10% off registration for any class. Classes make great gifts!
buy my books need last-minute holiday gifts?
Don’t have my books yet? They make great gifts… hint, hint… ;)
French food made easy … for everyone!
planning your 2025 vacations? rent our holiday home in southwest France!
“We spent two weeks in Nérac at this fully-equipped, centrally-located home. It is within walking distance of everything, including the canal, stone bridges, museums, parks, historic churches and of course restaurants and local shopping. (and if you are there on a Saturday, a huge outdoor market is a 5-minute walk away). We enjoyed all the features of this home and especially the patio. We sampled all the food and wine the French are known for. We also joined the locals in playing Pétanque at the square just up the street. Would highly recommend!
~ guest review, October 2022
Our charming house in Nérac, halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse, is in the heart of Gascony. Bookings open for 2025!
Thanks for reading! Happy holidays and best wishes for health and happiness in 2025!
Mardi
xo
the French expression revenons à nos moutons (let’s get back to our sheep) means let’s get back to the subject.
La langue française - one of the multiple sites I consulted to research this post where all the information I found was grouped on one page.