Calvados specialities
It’s impossible to spend a camping holiday in Calvados without sampling the local specialities! Here’s an overview of the region’s typical products and dishes.
Ciders and calvados
Emblematic products of Normandy, apples and pears are used to make essential alcoholic beverages such as cider and the famous calvados brandy. Cider is made by fermenting the must obtained from pressing the fruit. Calvados is obtained by single or double distillation of cider aged for 6 months. It is then aged in oak barrels after distillation.
A number of great estates are a must for tasting Normandy and Calvados ciders: the Manoir de Grandouet or the Lieu Chéri in Ouilly-le-Vicomte for Pays d’Auge PDO calvados, the Domaine Dupont in Victot-Pontfol for unique products such as ice cider or triple-fermented ciders, the Christian Drouin cellars in Coudray-Rabut or the Château du Breuil in Breuil-en-Auge.
Calvados cheeses
Le carré de Bonneville: soft, washed-rind farm cheese made from raw cow’s milk, produced in Bonneville-la-Louvet. Livarot: Normandy’s oldest cheese, descended from angelot like pont-l’évêque, it has been protected by an AOC since 1975. Made in the Pays d’Auge from cow’s milk, it is a soft, washed-rind cheese.
Camembert de Normandie: a soft cheese with a bloomy rind, protected by an AOC and an AOP, made with at least 50% Normandy cow’s milk.
Pavé d’Auge: also known as carré d’Auge or pavé de Moyaux, this is a soft cheese with a washed rind, 12 cm square and 6 cm thick.
Pont-l’évêque: produced and matured in historic Normandy, this soft, washed-rind cheese is emblematic of Calvados. Like Livarot, it is the descendant of the medieval cheese known as Angelot.
Seafood
Normandy’s rich terroir is complemented by renowned seafood products to discover during your stay in Calvados: oysters, fish and scallops are emblematic of the Calvados coastline.
In autumn, scallops take pride of place at the shellfish festivals organized in Grandcamp-Maisy, Port-en-Bessin, Courseulles and Ouistreham. To taste and buy fresh fish from Normandy, visit the fish markets in the ports of Courseulles, Ouistreham and Port-en-Bessin, as well as Trouville-sur-Mer.
Oyster lovers, visit the oyster beds in the Baie des Veys, on foot or by carriage! And, of course, it all ends with a tasting session.
Sweet specialties
A gourmet’s dream destination, Calvados boasts renowned pastry specialties and sweet treats to delight the taste buds of children and adults alike: for your toast, milk jam, honeys, caramel, and Normandy teurgoule, made from rice and milk.
For a snack or to accompany tea and coffee, the famous sablés d’Asnelles and sablés de Caen. For older children, calvados-filled chocolates!
The dishes
Whether at a gourmet restaurant in Calvados or at a farmhouse, you’ll have the opportunity to discover gourmet Normandy dishes that often feature the ancestral traditions of Calvados: butter and cream are given pride of place, as are specialties such as Normandy cheeses, cider and calvados.
Don’t miss pont-l’évêque and calvados pie, Caen-style tripe, escalope à la crème, apple pie with crème fraîche, andouilles, apple and camembert puff pastry, rabbit with cider, or crispy sole with pears and calvados.
