In Marseille, Pastis is drunk, a very strong anise-based liqueur that can be enjoyed in different ways, with coffee or coke, as a cocktail or as an accompaniment to a meal, read the traditions here.
A trip to Marseille to visit the beautiful port city and to nourish the sense of smell with the varieties of soap, but also to savor the delicious aniseed liqueur which, for the Marseillais, turns out to be the alcoholic aperitif par excellence. During a 4 day trip to Marseille, impossible not to try the pastis!
His name is Pastis, literally mess. This liqueur was born thanks to the experiment of a young Frenchman who, at the beginning of the twentieth century, tried to mix anise, star anise, licorice, sugar, alcohol and aromatic herbs.
The Marseille anise liqueur
I met him for the first time during my trip to Marseille, I had never heard of him before. Nowadays it is consumed throughout the French territory, although I believe it has another effect to drink it in the city of birth. The Pastis has a very strong alcohol content, 45%. I got to know this liqueur thanks to my friend from Marseille, to whom I also asked some curiosities about this French excellence. She told me that Pastis is now considered one of the symbols of Marseille, every Marseillaise is proud to boast the existence of this product.
The symbol of Marseille
Among the many things to see in the city, we have selected 5 things to see in Marseille. For those interested in tradition then, I can tell you that in France it is truly typical to organize “petanque” tournaments, or bowls tournaments, among friends; in Marseille too, but with the addition of Pastis! So you can imagine a hot summer day playing boules with friends while sipping this delicious (I confirm!) Liqueur. Obviously there are many brands that offer this liqueur, but undoubtedly the most famous and appreciated brands are the Pastis Ricard and Pastis 51.
How to prepare Pastis, aniseed liqueur from Marseille
Time let's find out how it is served: being a liqueur with a high alcohol content, Pastis should be served and drunk diluted with ice water. The perfect mix is ​​one part of liqueur combined with five parts of water, strictly without ice. We can try to give life to Pastis even at home; I asked my friend for the recipe to prepare it and I report here her father's recipe, thanks to which we can prepare 5 liters of Pastis, trying to use less alcohol you risk having too low dosages for the other ingredients. We need 5 liters of alcohol at 45 degrees, 100 grams of star anise, 50 grams of aniseed, 25 grams of fennel, 25 grams of coriander, 5 grams of licorice.
The preparation of this liqueur is long, in fact it is necessary soak the herbs in alcohol for a month; it is important that the mixture is left in a closed container and stirred every day. After a month, the mixture must be filtered and bottled. Once ready, it can be consumed immediately. According to tradition, this liqueur is drunk elongated with water to feel less alcohol. It has a delicate flavor, also ideal to accompany gelato or m during the hot summer days. Pastis was born with the function of an aperitif to "color the mouth" before meals, but over the years it has also become the protagonist of some cocktails, to give a touch of originality to tradition.
Pastis based cocktail
The most famous cocktails with Pastis as protagonist are the following: the "Parrot"Which literally means" parrot ", the"Tomato"Which literally means" tomato ", the"Rourou" is "Moorish”Which literally means“ Moorish ”.
Let's discover these inviting drinks together: Perroquet takes its name from the color it creates, that is, green, given by the union of mint syrup and pastis; Tomate is simply given by the combination of pastis and grenadine; Rourou is an exotic cocktail given by the union of pastis, water and strawberry syrup; the Mauresque is the result of pastis and orgeat. Those just mentioned are, as already mentioned, the most famous cocktails with Pastis, but among the young people of Marseille the most popular is undoubtedly the "Mazut”, Which provides for the union of pastis and coke. For coffee lovers, the "Café Electrique”, A cocktail that combines pastis and coffee.
