Woaaaa-d

Italy is green, Provence is lavender, Basque Country is red, and Gascony is...woad.  This is my color of blue y'all.  Gorgeous.  I noticed right away a difference in he blue around here especially the shutters and when I found out that it was a natural dye it all made sense.  Cause I'm a natural girl in her own natural world.

What is woad?  Woad is actually a plant that has yellow flowers but when it is made into a dye it turns blue.  They used to think that the women who dyed with woad were witches because they would dip fabric into a blue bath and when it was raised out of the water it would turn yellow, it was the invisible marker of its time.  The buildings around here have their own beauty, usually a sandy yellow or plaster white with bricks with white borders around the windows and woad blue shutters, they mix stone and brick.  Most buildings are old like small fortified cities old, remember how people call this the Tuscany of France?  

If any region around me is beautiful in a warm hospitable beautiful way it's le Gers and in this little region exists the town that is famous for woad, Lectoure.  In fact in French woad blue is called "bleu de lectoure" back in the day before indigo it was the only blue around and very expensive it's how Toulouse got to be a rich city back in the day.  Today it is also just as expensive because of how hard to come by it is but you can still buy this rich chalky blue paint if you look for it and there are several small boutiques that sell beauty supplies and clothing dyed with woad.  

Now let's talk another beautiful but completely edible (now that I mention it I don't know if woad is edible) beautiful trademark of this area, les violettes de Toulouse or you're turning violet Violet.  I love anything that tastes like a flower and in the south of France and Italy I noticed that they love to use these flavors too.  Violette, rose, and lavender especially.  They love to add it to drinks and ice cream and oh my goodness.  Try rose+almond gelato and get back with me.  In this area though there is one thing in particular violet syrup/liqueur.  Have you ever had kir?  White wine with black current liqueur?  Well try that with a fantastic cote Gascogne or even better a coppa di cava and a little sirop de violette to up your game.  My apéro of choice.  Don't worry I plan on bringing some back, apéro on me everyone!