The French Post Office has released a baguette stamp that you can scratch and smell.

The ink used on holiday stamps contains microcapsules that impart the aroma of baked bread. Photo: Universal Postal Union/Twitter

French The Post Office has released a 'scratch and sniff' stamp smelling like a 'baked aroma' and featuring the iconic baguette.

The £1.69 stamp features a long loaf of bread, wrapped in patriotic red, white and blue ribbons. circulation 594,000.

The ink used on the holiday stamps contains microcapsules that impart the scent of baked bread.

It can be shipped worldwide, meaning it smells like a traditional French bakery on a Paris morning could soon find its way into British letterboxes.

'The baguette, the bread of our daily lives, the symbol of our gastronomy, the pearls of our culture,” declared La Poste on its website, almost an ode to the flour flute.

“Cult status” 

“She embodies ritual of visiting his bakery, the local business is based in the regions, attracting twelve million consumers every day.

«Cooking six billion baguettes every year confirms its iconic status in French culinary heritage.»

“This fragrance is encapsulated. We buy them from another manufacturer,” Damien Laveau, a printer from 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 through buyer rubs the stamp.»

The brand was put up for sale on Friday, after being launched on Thursday, the day of Saint Honoré, the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs.

Enormous pride

The baguette remains a source of enormous pride for the French, even as traditional bakeries struggle with the rise of supermarkets and sourdough.

President Emmanuel Macron once called it “250 grams of magic and perfection.” in our daily lives.»

Unesco added the baguette to its list of «intangible cultural heritage» in 2022.

Mr Macron said the baguette was «the envy of the whole world» as he owns a flute to celebrate the holiday.

He fought to have it included in a list of about 600 items, including traditional tea preparations in China after pizza from Naples was given special status.