The food and drink of Provence

The floral, resinous fragrance of herbes de Provence, one of the region’s most characteristic exports, wafts from the marjoram, savory, rosemary, thyme and oregano bushes that grow wild almost everywhere. Colourful herb blends, flavoured salts, dried flowers and spices are widely available by weight and these seasoning mixes gently scent all manner of local dishes.

A particularly exciting find for me was wild peppercorns – not grown in the area, but imported from Madagascar, an ex-French colony, via the Provençal port of Marseille.

Stunning purple lavender, harvested in summer to fuel the local soap and perfume industries, also lends a delicate touch to high-end Provençal desserts, flavouring ice creams, sorbets and custards, although this is not traditional in rustic home cooking. Lavender too feeds the bees of Provence, who in turn produce the most elegant of honeys – rich, smooth and perfumed – when the flower buds are at their aromatic peak in July and August.

These wild herbs make their way into other produits artisanaux, that with a little digging can easily be unearthed from specialist shops and producers. This pink-hued liqueur, made with the colourful buds of mountain thyme is particular to the valley where it was made, but the joy of food shopping in France is that such unique offerings are available everywhere, if not in the supermarché.

Beer has never been a huge draw for me in France, displaying little of the craft and variety of the nation’s wines. But high in the Alps, in the Ubaye Valley, I found a real gem. After a fifty-year hiatus, traditional beers are once again being brewed in the mountains. La Brasserie des Hautes Vallees, France’s highest brewery at more than 1500 metres, is producing a range of bière sauvage – wild beer. Unpasteurised, unfiltered and bottle-fermented, they are made with local organic ingredients and pollution-free spring water for flavours that are unique to this wild mountain land.

Wine has been made in Provence for the past 2600 years and the oldest wine region in France is located here. Rosé accounts for nearly ninety percent of production, a focus that is unique to Provence, and the region sets the benchmark for this type of wine. Striking differences in climate, altitude, soils, rainfall and flora create a huge range of individual terroirs across the area’s nine protected AOCs, each with their own special characteristics. Les Baux de Provence, for example, is particularly suited to organic production due to its endless hours of hot, bright sun and strong Mistral winds. Palette is the smallest Provençal AOC, yet it is home to over twenty-five grape varietals; dedicated to the preservation of Provençal wine traditions, all its grapes are hand-harvested.

Meat has traditionally been eaten sparingly in the region; instead, vegetables play a key role. The Durance and Rhône valleys are found in Provence – two hugely fertile areas known as The Garden of France – and beautifully flavoured Mediterranean vegetables like tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, courgettes, fennel, artichokes, onions and garlic, as well as pulses like chickpeas, feature strongly. Some of the best food I had in Provence came from bakeries and street food stalls – hearty chunks of pie stuffed with courgettes and local cheese; pastry pizza topped with ripe, juicy tomatoes and socca; a hot, creamy chickpea pancake baked in huge round pans with plenty of olive oil.

Fruits – berries, figs, melons, persimmons, apples, citrus – are central to desserts, with the excess processed into all kinds of preserves. There are jams and spreads, but also pâtes de fruit – delicate set fruit purées in rainbow colours with a sparkly sugar coating.

Truffles also grow well in the area, loving, as they do, the same soils as vines. More than two-thirds of French truffles originate in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region and both the prized black Perigord truffle and the more common Burgundy truffle can be found here. An autumn or winter visit is the perfect time to enjoy this culinary treat, as the season ranges from November to March. Other wild mushrooms that grow abundantly in the varied landscape of Provence are also at their best as the days start to cool.