Enjoyed on a sun-drenched café terrace by the sea, if possible while watching or playing a game of pétanque, pastis is the essential - indeed stereotypical - apéritif of Provence.

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It belongs to a family of anise-based liquors that includes ouzo (from Greece), arak (from the Arab world), raki (from Turkey), sambuca (from Italy) and mastika (from the Balkans). There is a resemblance between all these beverages. But pastis tastes quite different from its Mediterranean cousins.

A bouquet of provençal herbs including thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, verbena, hyssop and melissa (lemon balm) lends a distinctive, tang to the basic mix. This consists of liquorice root, star anise from Asia and, less often, Mediterranean anise. It's macerated in alcohol for between two weeks and several months.

Producers guard their recipes jealously and the exact brew can vary widely. Certain of the more recent, upmarket pastis, such as Henri Bardouin, manufactured in Forcalquier, Northern Provence, are much herbier than others.

Neat pastis is usually a transparent amber (the colour is produced by caramel), though some makers, like Charbay in California, produce a "white", clear pastis and there are even some sky-blue brands on the market, such as Janot or Pet't Bleu.

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PASTIS TOURISM

Where to buy pastis in Marseille: The place to buy (and taste) pastis is La Maison du Pastis, on the Old Port. Founded by a Belgian, Frédéric Bernard, the company distills its own prize-winning brand and sells 75 more types of pastis, the odd absinthe and accessories such as jugs and carafes. 108 quai du Port, 13002 Marseille. (+33) 4 91 90 86 77.

La passion de créer by Paul Ricard

Visiting a distillery: Several distilleries in Provence are open to the public, such as Henri Bardouin in Forcalquier or Janot in Aubagne (both their websites are in French only).

On the trail of Paul Ricard: In 1950 Ricard, purchased the island of Bendor and, eight years later, another island, Les Embiez, both of them off the coast by Six Fours les Plages, just west of Toulon. 

On Bendor you can visit the Exposition Universelle des Vins et Spiritueux (Universal Exhibition of Wines and Spirits), set up by Ricard in 1958. A celebration of the industry that made his fortune, it encompasses 8,000 (unopened) bottles of wine and spirits from around the world, along with crystal, glassware, labels, restaurant menus and drink lists dating back to the 1860s.

Les Embiez is devoted to the sea. In 1966 Ricard (pictured below with the actor and fellow pastis fan Fernandel on his left) founded the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute, with aquaria, exhibitions and an extensive research and educational programme. Ricard's grave can also be found on the island, while a permanent photographic exhibition, Nul bien sans peine (No Pain, No Gain, one of the man's favourite mottos), commemorates his life.

HOW TO DRINK PASTIS

Like ouzo and absinthe, pastis contains a compound, anethole, that is derived from anise and precipitates when it comes into contact with water, causing the liquid to turn a soft, milky yellow. 

It should be drunk diluted: the classic proportion is five parts water to one part pastis, although some Marseille bars serve it much stronger. Others bring a jug of water to the table for you to make your own mix.

Add ice cubes afterwards (if at all: purists don't) otherwise they may cause the anethole to crystallise. When ordering it, Marseillais sometimes ask for a pastaga, or a jaune.

What's in a name? "Pastis", in provençal, means a mixture or mess, as in "Quel pastis!" ("What a mess!") or "Je suis dans le pastis" ("I'm in a mess"). Some believe that pastis, with its pungent medley of flavours from around the world, reflects the melting-pot culture of Marseille itself.

It's worth remembering, though, that Northerns drink even more pastis than their provençal counterparts. And Ricard, whose slogan proudly trumpets "le vrai pastis de Marseille", is not, in fact, manufactured today in Marseille. Its factories are in Lille, Bordeaux and Bessan in Hérault, 200 km (124 miles) west of Marseille. Ricard's highest production is at its Lille plant.

A THUMBNAIL HISTORY

In the beginning was absinthe. This potent, bright green spirit was flavoured with anise including the flowers and leaves of the herb artemisia absinthium (grand wormwood). It originated in Switzerland and reached its height of popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Extremely high in alcohol - up to 74% - absinthe gradually achieved huge notoriety. Writers like Emile Zola (in his 1877 novel L'Assommoir) and painters such as Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso chronicled its mind-numbing effects (pictured left: L'Absinthe by Edgar Degas, 1876, Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Other artists enthusiastically enjoyed the "Fée Verte" ("Green Fairy"), as it was known: Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire and Aleister Crowley were reportedly among its fans. But absinthe was rumoured to turn its addicts mad, to have inspired Vincent van Gogh to lop off his ear and Paul Verlaine to shoot at his lover Arthur Rimbaud.

Opposition to it gathered force, and on 16 March 1915 absinthe was finally adjudged detrimental to the war effort and banned in France.

By 1920, things had eased up and the State authorised mild, anise-based drinks that did not contain wormwood and had less than 30% alcohol. Two years later, this threshold rose to 40% and by 1938 it was 45%.

Soon anisette was flowing freely in the bars of Marseille, with every local distiller - including Pernod, who had previously produced absinthe - furiously developing his or her own formula. Some, such as Félix Pernod, were blatantly marketed as absinthe taste-alikes which "revived the green fairy" (as in the classic advertisement, below right, designed by Raymond Ducatez).

Among them was Paul Ricard, a colourful and fascinating character. Born just outside Marseille, the son of a wine merchant, Ricard defied the family tradition to devote himself to pastis.

He concocted his own recipe, test-marketing it illegally in bars, before launching it publicly - in 1932 - as a centuries-old provençal tradition. His was the first use of the word "pastis" on an anisette label.

After a hiccup during the Second World War, when Marshal Pétain's government banned pastis in Vichy France (Ricard temporarily moved to the Camargue to pioneer rice-growing there), his brand took off and dominated the market, partly thanks to a trail-blazing policy of sponsoring sports events, including Formula One, cycling, pétanque, and the arts (you can read more about this in Ricard's autobiography, La passion de créer).

In 1975 Ricard's company joined forces with its former arch-rival, Pernod, the better to confront competition from overseas. Today their stable includes Ricard and 51 as well as many leading non-anise based spirits, including Chivas whisky, Absolut vodka and Havana Club rum. Meanwhile absinthe became legal again in 1999.

In February 2011, Ricard unveiled a new bottle for the French market with a more elegant, streamlined silhouette and a rectangular base. It was the first time it had been redesigned since the pastis was first launched. The recipe, however, remained unchanged (51, by contrast, regularly produces "limited edition" bottles).

PASTIS COCKTAILS

Especially in summer, the French often drink pastis mixed with fruit syrups. One of the most common combinations is with orgeat, an almond-flavoured syrup, and is called a mauresque (Moorish woman).

Mixed with bright green mint syrup, pastis becomes a perroquet, or parrot. With strawberry, it's a rourou. With grenadine, it's a tomate, or tomato. With banana, it's, even more puzzlingly, a cornichon, or gherkin.

Pastis can also be married to another alcoholic drink, or drinks, to make a much more lethal cocktail, though none of these has become a classic. A diesel in Marseille is pastis plus white wine.

And two legendarily heavy drinkers invented cocktails based on absinthe, for which pastis might be substituted if you were so inclined. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec devised the tremblement de terre (earthquake), a mix of absinthe and cognac, while Ernest Hemingway was the author of death in the afternoon (inspired by his own book of that name about Spanish bullfighting), which combines absinthe and champagne.

COOKING WITH PASTIS

The herby, aniseed kick of pastis is a perfect complement to fish and seafood. Some Marseille restaurants add a slug of pastis to bouillabaisse; another popular local dish is gambas (or other shellfish) flambéed in pastis.

It also works surprisingly well in sweet recipes. Canistrelli, a crunchy biscuit (cookie) from Corsica, sometimes comes spiked with pastis. A pastis béarnais, from South-West France is a brioche-like cake perfumed with the eponymous booze.