Herbs

Herbs and wild plants gathered from field and wood have always been a valuable source of both food and medicine to the Peasant community. The herb seller occupies to this day a special corner in the marketplace. There, under the mediaeval arches of the market square, wooden trestles are loaded with sacks of dried aromatic leaves, invitingly open for inspection.

Among them are five varieties of thyme, rosemary, bay, sage, and juniper berries gathered wild in the garigue scrub. There is lime tea, green tea, vervain, lemon balm, dried mint, rose petals, marigolds, three varieties of charmomile, cherry stalks, and a hundred different roots and herbs for infusions, each with a special property.

The local people demand -as they have always done -great variety. This one for sleep, this for sloth, this for bad stomach, this for women’s ills. Then there are the imported cloves and peppercorns, cinnamon and bundles of licorice root for the children to chew, and bundles of lavender, grown in rows as a crop for the perfume industry.