Thanks to Bob P. — Agence France-Presse in Paris
‘Bakery scent’ added via microcapsules to postage stamp celebrating ‘jewel of French culture’
The French Post Office has released a scratch-and-sniff postage stamp to celebrate the baguette, once described by President Emmanuel Macron as “250 grams of magic and perfection”.
The stamp, which costs €1.96, depicts a baguette decorated with a red, white and blue ribbon. It has a print run of 594,000 copies.
According to the Parisian shop Le Carre d’encre, which sells it, the stamp has a “bakery scent”. The ink used on the stamps contains microcapsules which provide the fragrance.
It was released for sale on Friday, after a launch on Thursday, the day of Saint-Honoré, the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs.
“The baguette, the bread of our daily lives, the symbol of our gastronomy, the jewel of our culture”, La Poste says on its website.
“This scent is encapsulated. We buy it from another manufacturer,” Damien Lavaud, printer at Philaposte, told France Bleu.
“And the difficulty for us is to apply this ink without breaking the capsules, so that the smell can then be released by the customer rubbing on the stamp.”
The French baguette was given Unesco heritage status in 2022