Well, actually it's lavender honey. Only in France.
Walked back from a business/coffee meeting with a pal, and ended up walking right through the twice-weekly marche' around the corner. Right at the end of the stalls was a guy with a sort of ramshackle display, it looked home-made; like a kid's lemonade stand. All the other stalls have professionally built tables and etc.
As we've shared in the past, there are specialty stalls along with all the general fruit and vegetable, and cheese folks. This was a first, for me. All this guy had was honey - miel in French. And he had about 30 or 40 different kinds. The flavor of honey is governed by what the bees hang out around and pollinate, as that's what they carry back to the hives. So he had orange, cherry, wildflower, forest, and etc. But he also had lavender. I asked for a taste - it was slightly gritty, not smooth and homogenized like storebought honey, but with real texture, real flavor, it was the real stuff, and it smelled of lavender. It tasted of lavender. Of course, I bought a small jar.
Just had some on a slice of fresh baguette before typing this. Aromatic, mild, remarkably satisfying. Lavender honey. La belle France. Good day in Paris. Oh yeah, and by the way, summer is over. The weather sucks again.
I love the way the French use lavender. Many years ago now, down in Fréjus on the Côte d'Azur I had lavender crème brûlée at a restaurant. I will never forget it. So wonderful.
Posted by: Then | 09/16/2009 at 02:57 AM