The cuisine of Provence is defined by its landscape, where olive trees terrace the rocky hillsides and thyme, sage, rosemary, and fennel grow wild, along with juniper bushes and bay laurel trees. Along the Mediterranean coast, anchovies are caught and more often than not cured in salt, preserving and intensifying their flavor. The fixings for tapenade illustrate the vivid flavors of Provence.
Lavender is adored, but more often in the field or as a fragrance.
Regarded by many as a symbol of southern France because it blooms so beautifully and bountifully there, lavender is really used more as a fragrance for soap and candles than as a culinary flavoring. The flower does provide the region with its wonderful lavender honey, and you do find it occasionally infusing custards and ice creams, but mostly at high-end restaurants, not at home. Dried lavender flowers are also featured in the renowned, eponymous dried herb mixture, herbes de Provence . But the mix is just as often made without lavender, reflecting those herbs that appear, usually fresh and in great abundance, in just about every savory dish. These include thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and sage.