Pastis

Pastis is the aniseed apéritif of Provence, and Marseille is its capital. It belongs to the family of aniseed spirits that grew up in the south of France in the years after absinthe was banned in 1915, and it is drunk in cafés and on terraces across the region. It is carried today by the Marseille houses and by the small Provençal distillers who still compose it from plants.

Pastis is a spirit flavoured with aniseed and liquorice, bottled at about 40 to 45 per cent alcohol by volume and golden to pale yellow in colour. Its principal flavours come from star anise (Illicium verum), from aniseed (Pimpinella anisum), and from the root of liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra). Many Provençal recipes add herbs of the garrigue, such as fennel, thyme and sage, and the maker blends the macerations before dilution. It is served with a separate jug of cold water, and when the water is added the liquid turns cloudy and milky, because the essential oils of anise, soluble in alcohol, come out of solution as the strength falls.

Pastis is drunk before the meal with olives, tapenade, anchovy toasts, raw vegetables with anchoïade and small fried fish. It also goes well with fish soups and bouillabaisse, where the anise echoes the fennel and saffron in the dish. The reason is structural: the cold dilute drink is dry, freshening and low in sweetness, and its anise cuts through salt and oil without coating the palate, so it stimulates the appetite rather than dulling it.