White chocolate raspberry Christmas log
In France, Belgium, Quebec and more generally in French-speaking countries, it is customary to end the Christmas meal by tasting the famous Yule log.
This tradition is even older than the Christmas tree or even the nativity scene.
Indeed, several centuries ago, families had the habit, during Christmas Eve, of flaming a log made of fruit tree or hardwood.
When returning from midnight mass, everyone gathered around this fire to eat the Christmas meal, in song.
Depending on the region, it was sprinkled with salt (in Poitou-Charentes)
or sprinkled with wine (in Provence), holy water, oil, milk or honey, while reciting prayers.
The log thus “blessed” protected the house and its inhabitants.
Generally, the custom was for the log to burn for 3 days otherwise beware of misfortune!
His ashes were scattered in stables, orchards or fields to protect against disease and bring prosperity.
This tradition was gradually lost with the arrival of cast iron pans, giving way to pastry Christmas logs. We do not know exactly the origin of this dessert.
For some, the creator of the Yule log would be an apprentice Parisian pastry chef who worked in a chocolate factory in the Saint Germain des Prés district and who had the idea around 1834.
For others, it would be a Lyon invention dating from the 1860s.
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