Regional highlights
Charcuterie corse
Cured pork from semi-wild Corsican pigs (porcu nustrale) that forage on chestnuts and acorns in the maquis, giving the meat a distinctive sweet-nutty flavour. The platter typically includes coppa (cured shoulder), lonzu (cured loin) and prisuttu (dry-cured ham), all PDO-protected and matured for several months in mountain cellars. Served thin-sliced with bread, brocciu and a glass of red.
Figatellu
A rustic smoked pork-liver sausage, eaten only between November and March when the pigs are slaughtered and the weather is cold enough to cure it. Traditionally grilled over an open chestnut-wood fire and served on toasted country bread, with the dripping fat soaking into the bread. A winter ritual in mountain villages — outside the season, you'll find it dried as a salami-style snack but the fresh grilled version is the real thing.
Brocciu
The most Corsican of all foods — a fresh whey cheese made from sheep's or goat's milk, similar in texture to ricotta but with a sharper, slightly grassy character. Made only between November and June when ewes and goats are lactating. Eaten fresh with a drizzle of honey or a splash of eau-de-vie, stuffed into omelettes with mint, baked into fiadone, or used in stuffed pastas. PDO since 1983 — the only PDO French cheese made from whey.
Civet de sanglier
Wild boar stew, slow-braised in red wine with juniper berries, bay leaf, garlic and sometimes dark chocolate to round the sauce. The boar is hunted in the maquis from late summer through winter, and the meat takes on the herbs the animals forage on. Usually served with pulenda (chestnut polenta) or pasta to soak up the deeply savoury sauce. A classic of mountain villages — auberges in Corte and the Niolu have it on the menu through winter.
Stufatu
Corsica's everyday Sunday stew, traditionally beef or veal slow-cooked in red wine with onions, tomato, dried mushrooms and herbs from the maquis. Often served over thick fresh pasta (pasta al stufatu) — the sauce after a long simmer is what locals fight over. The version in shepherd country uses goat or kid (cabri) instead of beef, and is even more aromatic.
Pulenda
Polenta made from chestnut flour rather than corn — Corsica's signature carb. Before potatoes arrived, chestnuts were the island's staple starch ("l'arbre à pain", the bread tree). Pulenda has a sweet, nutty taste and a denser texture than corn polenta. Served in thick wedges alongside figatellu, brocciu, or civet de sanglier — it soaks up sauces beautifully and is the traditional partner to almost any savoury Corsican dish.
Storzapreti
Small dumplings of brocciu cheese and chard (or spinach), bound with a little flour and egg, poached and finished in tomato sauce with a sprinkle of grated mountain cheese. The name means "priest-strangler" — supposedly because the dumplings were so rich that priests choked on them. A hearty, vegetarian dish that's surprisingly delicate when made well.
Aziminu
Corsica's answer to bouillabaisse — a saffron-yellow fish soup made with rockfish, scorpionfish, white wine, fennel and garlic. Found mostly along the west coast (Ajaccio, Calvi) and around Bonifacio. Served in two courses: the broth first, with toasted bread and rouille, then the fish on a separate plate. Lighter and less tomato-driven than its Marseille cousin.
Fiadone
The flagship Corsican dessert — a dense, almost flourless cake of fresh brocciu, lemon zest and a splash of eau-de-vie. The texture sits between cheesecake and a soft sponge; the flavour is bright with lemon and slightly funky from the brocciu. Eaten cold, often with an extra drizzle of eau-de-vie, in tiny squares. Every Corsican grandmother has her own version and considers it the only correct one.
Canistrelli
Crisp, dry biscuits scented with anise, white wine or lemon zest — sold in every village bakery and supermarket on the island. They're meant to be dipped in coffee or muscat wine; eaten plain they're somewhat austere. Variations are countless — almond, chestnut flour, walnut, fig — but the original anise-and-wine version is the benchmark. A perfect souvenir as they keep for weeks.
Migliacciu
A flat chestnut-flour cake topped with brocciu and baked on chestnut leaves, traditionally cooked in a wood oven. Slightly sweet, slightly cheesy, somewhere between a flatbread and a pastry. Eaten warm at breakfast or as a snack with coffee. A direct survivor of the chestnut-economy era when chestnut flour was the basis of nearly everything baked.
Miel de Corse
PDO Corsican honey, the only French honey to carry the appellation. Six recognised varieties tied to specific seasons and zones: spring (clémentinier, asphodèle), maquis spring (rosemary, lavender), maquis summer (thyme, oregano), chestnut (the famous bittersweet, dark amber from June), maquis autumn (arbutus, fragrant and slightly bitter), and miel de miellat (forest honeydew). Sold at every farmer's market — try the chestnut and arbutus for a taste of the maquis.