source for herbes de provence
i am looking for a supplier for 1 lb bags of FRENCH herbes de provence, the type you buy in the markets in southern france. i am in Vermont and my coop stocks Frontier Herbs, but i am not so keen on their herbes de provence. i use a LOT of it and give herb blends as gifts, and would like to find a good source. to be clear i am looking for herbs grown on french soil!
PS i have been thrilled to find your site. kudos to all!!!
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I've always been a little curious about this blend. Food Lover's Companion states it's a mixture of basil, fennel seed, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sage, summer savory and thyme. In "On Food and Cooking", McGee doesn't mention sage and savory. My preferred spice vendor, The Spice House, leaves out the sage and adds tarragon (which I'm in full favor of). Penzeys leaves out the sage, adds tarragon plus dill weed, oregano and chervil. I find their inclusion of the latter three puzzling.
To answer the question, The Spice House sells theirs by the pound (for roughly half of what Penzeys charges) but Penzeys' blend is also good, maybe better. But, as others suggest, also consider either blending from scratch or adjusting a blend to suit your own taste. If you do, though, make sure you reduce all the components to roughly the same size and consistency, including obviously, cracking the fennel seed and, maybe not so obviously, reducing the lavender so that you don't end up with lumps in whatever it's used in.
If you buy everything fresh you can mix and bake in the oven on low with diced garlic and it is even better!
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