Today was market day in Sault and the glorious Summer weather (34 degrees and climbing) seemed like reason enough to brave the hoards of cyclists, tourists and locals to see what I could find. Below are my top market finds.
Plants: Cut flowers, dried flowers or plants for your garden, markets in Provence are full of greenery to take home. Above: Cauliflower. Below: Courgettes and Basil. 
Cheese: Goats cheese in particular. These uncooked, unpasteurised chèvre frais are as fresh as they come (you can tell an older batch by their wrinkly skin) and will be soft, creamy and slightly acidic. Below: It may be a small but this stall has some heavyweight culinary goodies – Dried mushrooms and Chestnut puree. Bouchons apero, literal translation ‘aperitif plugs’ otherwise known as bitesize pieces of hard, ripened cheese. Pain de Savon au lait Bio de Chèvre du Rove aka a block of goat milk soap.
Garlic: Enough said.
Lavender: Fresh or dried, bottled as essential oils or made into soap and body cream, Lavender is a Provencal cliche for a reason. The coloured fields make early summer driving a joy and while most of us think of Lavender as something to make our clothes smell nice the distinct flavour also has some fantastic culinary uses. Biscuits, Madeleines, fruits, custards and plain old sugar can benefit from the woody, perfumed flavour.
Honey: Provencal scented honey is a wide and varied market. Lavender honey, perrinally top of the popularity list, is usually pale in colour, light in scent and supple enough to spread without too much trouble. Other favourites include Acacia, Garrigues, Chêne, Ronce and Châtaignier / Acacia, Heather, Oak, Blackberry and Chestnut.
Seasonal fruit: I picked up a kilo of Apricots for 3.50€. At this time of year its worth looking out for the final Cherries and the first Peaches and Nectarines.
Bric-a-Brac: All manner of decorative, highly impractical, unusual things can be found in the many Brocantes and Vide Greniers (essentially car boot sales) around Provence. My favourite find is a 1970s Astrixs biscuit tin that I now keep my sewing kit in. On Wednesday the basket of plastic pigs caught my eye, as did the old fruit bottle labels.
