The city's emblematic sweet since the 19th century: a hard boiled-sugar pyramid, striped and fruit-flavoured, sold loose by the scoop from confectioners and market stalls around the centre.

The berlingot nantais is a boiled-sugar confection made in the city since the 19th century, when Nantes had the refineries and the confectioners to work cane sugar at scale. It is recognisable by its shape: a four-sided pyramid, cut from a rope of pulled sugar so that each sweet carries a stripe of paler, aerated sugar across a coloured, fruit-flavoured body. It sits alongside the Rigolette, the other surviving Nantes sweet, as evidence of a confectionery trade that was once a serious local industry and is now a handful of specialist shops.

Where to eat Berlingot nantais in Nantes

The editor picks for Berlingot nantais in Nantes are still in research. Meanwhile, see the Nantes signature-dishes index or the Nantes food guide.

Make it at home

Serves 81 hr 30 minAdvanced

Ingredients

  • 500g caster sugar
  • 150ml water
  • 100g glucose syrup
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or a pinch of cream of tartar
  • Fruit flavouring of your choice (raspberry, lemon, mint)
  • Food colouring
  • Neutral oil, for the slab and your hands

Method

  1. Oil a marble slab or a large heavy baking sheet, plus a scraper and a pair of scissors. Have everything ready before you start: boiled sugar gives you no time.
  2. Bring the sugar, water, glucose and vinegar to the boil in a heavy pan, washing any crystals off the sides with a wet brush. Boil without stirring to 150C on a sugar thermometer, the hard-crack stage.
  3. Pour a quarter of the sugar onto one end of the slab and leave it plain. Stir the flavouring and colouring into the rest and pour it out separately. Let both cool until they hold a dent under an oiled finger.
  4. Pull the plain quarter repeatedly over an oiled hook or between oiled hands until it turns opaque white and satiny. Roll the coloured sugar into a fat rope and lay the white strips lengthwise along it, then twist gently.
  5. Pull the rope out to about 2cm thick, and snip along it with oiled scissors, turning the rope 90 degrees between each cut so every sweet comes out as a four-sided pyramid. Cool completely and store airtight.

Editor tip. Sugar work is unforgiving about humidity, so do not attempt this on a wet day. Store the finished berlingots airtight with greaseproof paper between the layers.