Luckily, today that is not the case. However, at times we feel there is yet a battle to bring back the authenticity of Provencale cuisine to the local restaurants. With so many chefs trained in the northern traditions of butter and cream sauces, there are only too few who really know how to cook with olive oil, and who choose to. But, we hope that will change with time, and a little nudging. We now have nearly a dozen olive oil mills back in operation, both privately run and in cooperative with the farmers, and these mills offer to the public an oil of supreme quality, if not infinite quantity.

Provence, and more precisely, the Valley des Baux de Provence, is a region now possessed with the coveted AOC (Appelation d'Origine Controlee) for its olive oil. This is an oil made of 5 different olives, (Pichouline, Salonenque, Blanquette, Verdale, Grossane--4 green and 1 black), carefully blended to enhance the flavor of the fruit, with notes of artichoke, green apple, hay, almonds... fruity but not bitter The oil typically has an extremely low acidity (.05 or so) which permits it to retain its freshness for 18 months, which is the longest olive oil should be kept as it is not wine, and does not improve with age! Also note that olive oil does not like sunlight (except in photographs), so keep it in a dark cupboard and not in the refrigerator.

When we visit the olive oil mills, our favorites being the Mas des Barres in Maussaune and the Moulin St. Jean in Fontvieille, we are given both a tour and a tasting. We learn the seasons of the olive harvest, September and October for green table olives, November to early January for oil, the 5 varieties, and the stringent guidelines to the oil's production. For example, whereas in many olive growing countries, nets are placed below the trees and the olives are collected after they've fallen, in Provence, olivesare combed and picked from the tree, what is on the ground could be rancid or over-ripe, and here, the fruit flavor is of prime importance, even if it sacrifices quantity of oil. The olives are brought directly to the mill, weighed and inventoried, and immediately sent to the crushers and centrifugal press after a thorough separation from leaves and stems, and a washing to remove any residual dirt or pesticides. The olives enter the machines clean and pure. The pits are crushed with the olives, to lend their notes of hazlenut and almond, as well as vitamins, and after a period of relaxing and mixing, the whole paste is sent to the centrifuge to separate solids from liquids, and then on to another centrifuge to separate water from oil. In an hour, oil is extracted from the fruit. As the oil requires a blending of the 5 olive varieties, which ripen sequentially from early November to late December, the AOC oil is not ready for sale until all has been pressed or late January. And even then, it is best to let the oil sit and settle for a month or two before tasting as it will be particularly cloudy and bitter at the start, mellowing and clearing with a couple months' time.

One of my favorite moments in Provence involved helping a dear friend with her olive harvest. She guided me deep into the hills of Les Baux, down dirt roads--so far I needed a guide to find my way back out--to a little shepherd's cottage surrounded by olive trees. There, blown about by the strong and cold north wind known as the Mistral, we picked olives for hours. And then it was time for lunch, and there in that tiny cottage lacking electricity and plumbing, we ate a delicious meal of pasta with olive oil and salt sprinkled on top, and good hearty bread dipped in olive oil, and, of course, wine was in our glasses. Ever so simple, and yet ever so delicious.

When preparing Provençal cuisine, and as we teach, we do as many before us have done in this region. We use lots of olive oil. Our students learn that this is a land traditionally inhospitable to dairy cows. Here, huge herds of sheep and smaller herds of goats were kept and hence a small family tradition of eating sheep and goat cheese. There are toro, wild range-fed cattle indigenous to the Camargue marshlands south of Arles. They have been a source of beef in the local diet, but I would hesitate to get close to a female to milk her.... you'd be taking your life in your hands! Hence, though you may find butter in recipes titled "Provençal" in books written during the past century, these are "improved" recipes, and not authentic to the region. May I encourage you to improvise and remove that butter from the recipe, forget the cream, and let the true flavors shine through with just a hint of a fruity olive oil?

Below is a clean and fresh herb sauce to enjoy this summer. Enjoy.

Jelled Herb Olive Oil -- For Fish, Bread, Pasta...
Ingredients: