Surprising facts about French crepes no one tells you about

There’s no denying it!

Crepes are popular in France. They’ve become as much a symbol of French culture and French pride as croissants, baguettes and the Eiffel Tower.

There are crepe restaurants (“crèperies”) dedicated to serving delicious sweet and savoury crepes filled with hundreds of different fillings. When the weather permits, street vendors sell crepes on street corners to starry-eyed tourists and hungry children. There’s even a special day in French culture dedicated to eating crepes in France that falls on the same day as groundhog day.

Fun Facts About Crepes You Didn’t Know You Wanted To Know.

Let’s explore some of the many fascinating crepe facts you didn’t know you wanted to learn. 

Who invented crêpes? Or where do crêpes come from? 

The first crepes, the paper-thin ones we know today, first appeared in Brittany, France, in the 13th century. They were and still are made of buckwheat, which was introduced to France after the Crusades in Asia.  This buckwheat galette was the beginning of the famous Breton galette. 

Prior to the 13th century, crepes were made with a thick dough of water and various crushed cereals, which produced a thick breadlike crepe.

Where does the word crêpe come from?

Crepe paper, crepey skin,  silk crepe, and French crêpes! All four of these things describe something thin with a wrinkled or crinkly surface.

The term crêpe, in both English and French, can trace its roots back to the old French word “crespe,” meaning crispy or wavy and derives from the Latin “crispa,” meaning “curly.”

True to its name, crepes have crispy edges that sometimes curl up with a crepey textured surface. 

Why is there an accent above the letter “ê” in the word crêpe?

The correct way to write the word crepe in French is crêpe.

The little pointy hat above the letter “ê” is called a circumflex, and it tells you two things.

1. How to pronounce the “e” and
2. It indicates the historical presence of a letter, often the letter “s,” that is no longer pronounced because it was deleted over the course of the evolution of a language.

As I mentioned before, the word crêpe derives from the old French “crespe,” so the circumflex above the ê indicates that there was at one point an “s” in the word but was dropped. 

Here are some other examples of words with a circumflex over the “e.”

• hôpital – “hospital”
• honnête – “honest”
• côte – “coast”
• pâté – “paste”
• île – “isle”
• ancêtre – “ancestor”
• forêt – “forest”

You’ve been pronouncing crêpe wrong:

In English, it’s perfectly fine to say crepe with the long “a” sound like in the word “APE”; however, in French, “crêpe” is pronounced “K-R-E-P” (rhymes with YEP). 

Without the circumflex above the letter “e,” it would be pronounced completely different in French.

Click play below to hear how Crêpe is pronounced in French.

Crepe expressions in French:

Here are some fun French crepe expressions. Some are well-known throughout France, while others are regional. 

La crêpe du chat: Literally “the cat’s crepe.” It’s either a failed crepe or the last crepe made with the last of the crepe batter, which usually comes out small and irregular shaped, not round. So ugly, it’s only good for the cat. 

Retourner quelqu’un comme une crêpe: “Flip someone like a pancake.”  This French expression uses the image of a pancake flipped over and flattened to give the image of a person getting knocked down, completely flattened on the floor.

Faire la crêpe au soleil: “To do the crepe in the sun.” This cute expression means to lie in the sun and tan. 

Faire la crêpe à la plage: “To do the crepe at the beach.” Another expression about tanning. This one gives you the image of someone tanning at the beach on their stomach and, like a crepe flipped in a pan, flips over on their back to brown both sides. 

Retourner comme une crêpe: “To flip over like a crepe.” This French expression means to make someone quickly change their mind. 

When is Crepe Day (jour des crêpes)?

Although crepes are consumed all year round in France, it’s tradition to eat crepes on February 2nd during the religious holiday of “La Chandeleur,” aka “Candlemas,” aka “jour des crêpes.” Some folks celebrate eating crepes all the way through Mardi Gras. 

La Chandeleur is precisely 40 days after Christmas, which also happens to be Groundhog Day. You can read about La Chandeleur here.

Fun Fact: Many countries and cultures eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the beginning of Lent, also called “Mardi Gras or “Fat Tuesday.’”

What’s the difference between a crepe and a pancake?:

The batter for a crepe is very thin with a syrupy, cream-like consistency. There are also no leavening ingredients like baking soda or baking powder in crepes, which is why French crepes are so thin compared to fluffy pancakes.

Another difference between crepes and pancakes is that crepes are usually topped with a delicious filling like sugar, jam or Nutella and folded into a triangle-like shape. 

Have you tried Blinis- the cousin of crepes and pancakes?

Originally from Russia, Blinis are quite popular in France.  Blinis resemble tiny pancakes, and you can buy them premade at almost every grocery store in France in packets of 4 or more. 

Some people make them at home using a blini pan.

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Blinis are prepared similarly to pancakes, but the batter is slightly thicker, which produces a more breadlike pancake. They’re often served at parties (à l’apéro) as finger food topped with sweet or savoury toppings such as creme fraiche, smoked salmon or cucumbers, but you can top them with pretty much anything you like. 

There are two types of Crepes in France with two different names.

Crêpe sucré (sweet crepe) and crêpe salée (salty crepe / savoury crepe). One is a dessert made with white flour, and the other is made of buckwheat served for dinner or lunch as a meal. 

1) Une Crêpe sucré: made with white flour, is usually filled with something sweet. 

When you say the word crêpe in France, most French people will automatically know you are talking about “les Crêpes de “froment”: Literally “wheat flour crêpes. These buttery, golden crepes are the ones most of the world knows and loves. They are usually filled with something sweet, then folded and served as a dessert or sold as street food snacks. We’ll get into the fillings in minutes. 

Wheat Crepes weren’t introduced until the 1900s:

White flour used to be an expensive luxury item. It wasn’t until wheat flour became affordable in the 1900s that it became a popular flour used in crepes. Before that, people used the more affordable buckwheat flour- les galettes. 

2) Une galette: Made with dark buckwheat flour, always filled with something salty/savoury.

The second type of crepe is a buckwheat crepe, originally from upper Brittany, France, and it’s always served with a savoury filling, never sweet. 

You could say that buckwheat crepes are France’s answer to pizza because they are garnished with anything from eggs, meat, cheese and fish to vegetables and even salad. The most famous galette filling is probably “une Galette Complète,” which consists of grated Emmental cheese, ham, and an egg all folded within the buckwheat crepe in such a way that the egg is partially visible on top. 

Because “Les galettes” are a savoury dish, it’s usually served as the main course for lunch or diner in restaurants and creperies around France. It’s not uncommon to eat a sweet crepe for dessert after a galette meal. 

Is it a galette or a crepe? The great debate!

A crepe is a crêpe is a crepe! Or is it? 

There are a few names French people use to refer to crepes and buckwheat crepes, depending on what region of France you’re in. 

Sweet crepes: The crepes made with white flour filled with sweet fillings:

Crepes sucrée, crêpe de froment, crêpe bretonnes

Buckwheat crepes: The savoury crepes made with buckwheat, filled with ham, cheese and other savoury fillings.

Except for parts of Brittany, Most of France agrees on the following three names for savoury buckwheat crepes. 

1. Une galette de sarrasin: (sarrasin is the term for buckwheat in French).
2. Une galette de blé noir: (blé noir literally means black flour, another name used for buckwheat).
3. Une galette Bretonne: (Named after its place of birth, Brittany) Not to be confused with Crêpes bretonnes, which is not a buckwheat crepe; it’s a normal crepe with a sweet filling. 

Then there’s Brittany, in Northern France, the birthplace of crepes. There is fierce division over whether a buckwheat crepe should be called a crepe or a galette. Some call it galette, and some call it crepe. 

Regional newspaper Ouest-France invited people on Twitter to vote for whether they called a savoury buckwheat crepe a crêpe or a galette, which resulted in intense debate and divide. Apparently, it just depends on what region of Brittany you are in. (source in French)

The debate of the name of popular French foods is not limited to just crepes and galettes. There is also fierce debate over what to call “pain au chocolate? You can hop over to my article 44 Fascinating French Croissant Facts For Curious Foodies & Francophiles to learn more.

What is the origin of the word “Galette”?

The word “Galette” is from old French “gale,” which was the word for a “smooth, round, flat pebble.”  In modern French, the word for pebble is “Galet” (pronounced Gah-Lay).

Galette is a French cuisine term that confuses some people who don’t speak French because it can be used in cooking directions to describe a flat round shape and to describe any flat round pastry or cake. 

For instance, these are all galettes because of their shape. 

• Galette de sarasin= Buckwheat crepes
• Galettes pur beurre = Sohrtbread biscuits
• Galette de ris soufflé = Rice cakes
• Galette de pomme de terre = Potato pancake
• Galette de viande = Meat patty
• Galette Mexicaine or Galettes tortilla = Tortillas. This really confused me because, in Quebec, they are called Tortilla in French and not galette.
• Galette des Rois = King Cake (A flat pastry with a sweet filling traditionally served for Epiphany or Kings day on January 6.   

Where is the crepe capital of the world

There’s no doubt that Brittany is considered the crepe capital of the world- it’s where they originated from back in the 1300s.

Depending on who you talk to, some people think Quimper, Brittany’s oldest city, is the crepe capital, specifically, Place au Beurre (Butter Square!), which should be renamed Place aux Crêperies because this medieval square is filled with tiny creperies serving up some of the most delicious crepes in the country.

Some say the city of St.-Malo, also in Brittany, is the crepe capital of the world. They seem to have more crêperies per capita than any other city in France. 

Where is the oldest crêperie, still running in France?

I had to do a little sleuthing to figure this one out. But I think I found two of the oldest creperies in France, both located in France’s Brittany region. 

1. 1898, Creperie Gourlan: located in a small town called Plonevez-Porzay. (Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.) 
2. 1880, Crêperie Saint-Marc: Located in Quimper (In the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany France)

Here are France’s favourite crepe fillings:

According to a study conducted in 2016 by Statista, the most popular crepe toppings preferred by French people is a “crêpe au sucre,” which might surprise some people. Simply take a normal crepe, sprinkle granulated sugar on it, fold and eat. Sometimes, people squeeze some lemon juice over the sugar before folding and eating. 

In a close second place is jam, followed by Nutella, chocolate, cider, honey, fruits, caramel and maple syrup. Syrup surprised me because I’ve lived in France for many years, and I’ve never seen syrup as an option at any creperies, and none of my friends here in France even own a bottle of syrup. 

Crepes are not breakfast food in France. 

Many visitors to France mistakenly think crepes are a breakfast food, but that’s not the case. 

Sweet Crepes and savoury buckwheat crepe are almost always served for lunch and dinner- Sweet crepes for dessert or snack and buckwheat crepes as a main meal at a restaurant or creperie. 

If crepes are not for breakfast, what does a typical French breakfast look like?

A typical French breakfast rarely, if ever, consists of savoury foods such as eggs, bacon or sausage, common in many Anglo-Saxon countries. 

If you pop into a restaurant that serves breakfast in France, the menu will most likely have croissants; baguettes served with a side of jam, butter or honey. Other breakfast foods typically found at French bakeries include pain au chocolat and various viennoiseries.  And of course, you’ll see orange juice, tea and coffee, but not those big coffee mugs unless you ask for a cappuccino.  

At home, parents serve their kids cereal with milk, or pain au lait (“Milk Bread,” a slightly sweet, brioche-like roll) with a spread (“pâte à tartiner”) such as the one from the famous Nutella brand. 

Crepes are France’s second favourite sweet dessert:

According to journalise Leslie Gagois in his 2015 book titled “The 100 favorite dishes of the French”(Les 100 plats préférés des Français), crepes are Frances second favourite dessert right after “le fondant au chocolat” (chocolate fondant cake).

You need a crepe pan or crepe griddle.

Ok, you don’t NEED a crepe pan, but having the right equipment and tools makes the process of making perfectly symmetrical, thin crepes with crispy edges much more easily. Here are a few of the tools that most French homes use to create crepes. 

crepe griddle. 

Champagne Gold Crepe Pan with Crepe Spreader

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This 8-Inch Non-stick crepe pan by Chefmade is the perfect pan for budget-minded chefs who want to make the perfect crepe. Works on Gas, Induction and, Electric Cookers. It has an Insulating Silicone Handle so you don't burn your hands while flipping crepes or pancakes.

Comes with a Crepe spreader = Rozell / rateau, made of bamboo.

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Crepe griddle = Galetiere/ Billig: Usually electric. it’s a machine with a flat surface that heats up, similar to the ones you see street vendors use in France. 

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Electric non-stick crepe maker and griddle makes 12" crepes.

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Crepe spreader = Rozell / rateau: The crepe spreader is essential in spreading the crepe batter evenly on a crepe maker to create super think crepes. 

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Crepe Spatula = Spatule / Spanell: Traditionally made of wood, this accessory allows you to peel off the edges of the crepe before flipping it over, without burning your fingers. If you don’t have one, you can use an icing spatula or fish spatula. 

Ladle = La louche: To ladle the crepe batter onto the crepe maker. Choose your ladle according to the size of your crepe maker.

Crepes are popular street food in France:

When the weather permits, it’s not uncommon to find little street stalls selling crepes for a few euros throughout some cities and towns in France. 

“Une Crêperie” is an establishment that mainly serves crepes:

A crêperie can be a street vendor selling crepes as street food or a more formal sit-down restaurant or café. Crêperies are typical in France, especially in Brittany; however, they can be found throughout France and many other countries.

In addition to crepes and galettes, many sit down crêperies offer a diverse selection of food such as baked goods, baguettes, salads, beverages and more. 

The oldest crepes recipe is from the 14the century:

Le Ménagier de Paris, “The Parisian Household” Book, is an anonymous French medieval guidebook from 1393, written in the voice of an elderly Parisian to his fifteen-year-old bride on how a woman should behave. It’s what you might call a medieval woman’s magazine, which contained fashion, gardening and housekeeping tips, poems, prayers, moral instruction, and various recipes.

One of those recipes was a crepe recipe. The original recipe called for flour, eggs, water, wine and salt and butter for the pan. 

You can read “Le Ménagier de Paris on Project Gutenberg for free.

There are only 5 ingredients in a traditional French crepe recipe:

A typical French crepe recipe usually contains five basic ingredients: flour, milk, eggs, butter and sometimes salt. If you’re making dessert crepes, it’s not uncommon to add sugar or orange zest or vanilla extract. It’s a matter of taste. Just use the base recipe and add what you want.

Crepe making secrets

The secret ingredient is lots of eggs: Many chefs agree the extra eggs in a crepe batter are one of the secrets to a great-tasting crepe. 

Pour melted butter into the batter: Browned butter gives the crepe its distinctive nutty butter flavour.

Let the batter sit: Crepe recipes often say to let the batter rest for 30 minutes, which results in an even flatter crepe, unlike pancake batter, which is usually used immediately. (if you’re in a hurry, it’s ok to use the batter right away).

Crepes are extremely easy to make

You don’t have to fly to France to try a real French crepe because they are straightforward and quick to make at home. You probably have all the ingredients you need already in your pantry.

*Like all recipes, there are always variations. Take this recipe and adjust it to your liking. Just make sure the batter is runny; otherwise, the crepes will come out too thick.

A Deliciously Simple & Classic Crepe Recipe

This recipe makes approximately 8 large or 12 small crêpes

Keep in mind that crepes cook extremely fast. Don’t cook them for more than a minute on each side or until lightly golden. Also, pay attention to the order of operations. Don’t throw everything in at once.

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INGREDIENTS

• 250 grams of white flour (2 cups flour)
• 4 eggs (You can use 3 to 5 eggs)
• 500 ML Milk which is (1/2 litre) or about ( 2 1/2 cups)
• 30 grams melted  butter (1/4 stick, which is about 1 oz. or 2 TBSP) 
• Pinch of salt (this brings out the flavours, but you can omit it if you like)

OPTIONAL: If making dessert crepes

• 20 grams sugar ( 2 tablespoons of sugar)
• zest of an orange or lemon
• Vanilla extract

Cooking Instructions

• Mix the flour and pinch of salt in a bowl. (If making dessert crepes, you can add sugar)
• Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add the eggs. Start whisking immediately while adding milk a little bit at a time. If you let it sit, you will get lumps.
• Stir in the melted butter. Some recipes add oil, but I prefer butter. The batter should be runny. The biggest mistake people make is making the batter too thick.
• Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. (Some people like to put the batter in the fridge, but I let it sit at room temperature.
• Heat a crêpe pan or deep, non-stick pan, greased with a little butter.
• Pour in a ladle of the batter while holding the pan and tilting left and right so that the batter spreads out thinly on the pan. You want the crepe to be as thin as possible. I sometimes use a crepe rake to spread my crepe, which results in a perfectly thin crepe, and then I use a crepe knife to flip the crepes, but these tools aren’t necessary. I find it easier to use. (See 2nd video below to demonstrate how to use a crepe spreader and crepe knife.)
• Cook over medium heat until the crêpe comes away from the rim, about one minute or until the crêpe is golden brown.
• Stack the crepes on a plate or cover them with aluminum to keep them warm or whatever method you want to use.
• Serve with Nutella, sugar, lemon, strawberry confiture or whatever else you want, then fold into a delicious treat.

Consider sharing this post about interesting crepe facts on Pinterest