Pastille de Vichy: The Sweet That Started as a Medicine

Pastille de Vichy: The Sweet That Started as a Medicine | Food Tour de France

Pastille de Vichy — the small octagonal white tablet that has been made in Vichy since 1825, that entered the French pharmacopoeia as a medicine in 1837 and that 3.6 million of are produced every single day — is one of the most recognisable and most historically fascinating confections in France. Today's Food Tour de France episode passes through Vichy — the elegant Belle Époque spa town on the Allier river, famous for its mineral springs, its grand hotels and its complicated history — and tells the full story of a sweet invented by a member of both the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medicine, refused by Napoleon's ministry on the grounds of complexity and eventually turned into one of the most distinctive regional confections in the whole of France. The octagonal shape. The word VICHY on one side. Thermal Establishment on the other. A sweet that sits in that uniquely French space between medicine and confection — and has always been entirely comfortable there.

The episode covers the full history of the pastille de Vichy — from Jean-Pierre-Joseph d'Arcet's discovery of the digestive virtues of sodium bicarbonate in the Vichy mineral waters in 1824, through the pharmacist Nicolas-François Regnault's early production, the Brosson brothers' industrial manufacturing from 1833, and the court case of 1914 that formalised the free sale of the pastille beyond the pharmacy. We cover the two producers that make it today — the mainstream Pastille Vichy, now owned by Carambar & Co following a journey through Perrier, Warner-Lambert, Cadbury, Kraft Foods and Mondelez International, and the artisan Maison Moinet, in its seventh generation, still making the Pastille du Bassin de Vichy from the Roger source acquired in 1932. And we cover the connection to Louis Diat — the French chef who invented vichyssoise in New York and named it after the spa town near his birthplace — which we explored in depth in the main Fabulously Delicious series.

The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The pastille de Vichy episode sits at a fascinating crossroads in this series — connecting to the Louis Diat episode in the main Fabulously Delicious catalogue, which tells the full story of vichyssoise and the chef who named it after this town, and to the broader picture of central French food culture this part of the series has been building through the Auvergne and the Allier. Search Fabulously Delicious on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the full series.

As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible.

My book Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide to the World’s Most Delicious City is your ultimate companion. This is a new 2026 update for the book and you’ll find hand-picked recommendations for the best boulangeries, patisseries, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants that truly capture the flavor of Paris. You can order it online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠andrewpriorfabulously.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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