Brun de Vian-Tiran, Wool...
For eight generations, Brun de Vian-Tiran has been making blankets with the...
A visit to Père Blaize is a genuine trip back through time! Let’s visit this mythic herbalist’s store in Marseille.
Artisanat
Par Elodie Liénard - Photos José Nicolas - January 24, 2012
A big wooden counter behind which pharmacists and assistants stand; one can detect plants of all sorts inside big drawers made from wood and glass on the walls, and behind the old-fashioned cash register hang bouquets of lavender , sage, thyme and rosemary … The herbalist's store and apothecary seems to have gotten stuck in 1815, the date it was opened. The mistress of the establishment, Martine Bonnabel-Blaize, and the sixth
generation herbalist to succeed as head of this family business. “I was born in chamomile,” explains this devotee. “As a child, this was my playground when I finished school. All the odors remind me of my childhood. I would come and look for a stick of licorice root, a marshmallow… My grandfather was born in the building and my great grandfather lived here. The Père Blaize herbalist’s store is an institution which has created ties with many generations of locals.”
And if today little grandmas close to their hundredth birthday come here each week to buy their ginseng and their herbal teas, 30-something mothers crowd into the dispensary with their strollers to look for the miracle remedy for teething pain, while young 20-year-olds find the herbal slimming teas supposed to help them lose weight. “There are more and more articles in the magazines extolling the merits of plants and especially essential oils. But our clients still don’t know how to use these natural products, which can have very powerful effects. It’s our role to explain and advise which plants and products are suitable for them,” emphasizes Martine.
The store doesn’t only sell teas; it’s also a drugstore that prepares compounds according to precise medical prescriptions. With its 800 varieties of plants coming from the four corners of the planet, the Père Blaize herbalist’s store is today one of the undisputed references in aromatherapy. Martine has even created herbal tea recipes to go on the menu of the Le Petit Nice-Passédat restaurant. Toussaint Blaize would be proud of his great granddaughter!
Discover
- Tags :
- Thyme
