Market Days
One of my favorite things in Germany is Market Day. Each town has a farmers’ market 1 or 2 days each week all year round, and the big, indoor market in Stuttgart is open 6 days each week. The size of the markets varies from small, 10-12 vendors in the winter and 15-20 in the summer, like in our town, to 3 city squares or plazas filled with vendors (downtown Stuttgart’s Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday market). The produce is incredible, coming from all over Germany and Europe. Vegetables dominate, but there’s also a wide variety of fruit, depending on what’s in season or what’s come in from Spain, Portugal, and northern Africa. Butchers, bakers, cheese, eggs and other dairy products, flowers and plants, and some craft items can all be found. We’ve learned to appreciate fresh eggs and their bright orange yolks, fresh-picked lettuce of all varieties, and everything picked when it’s ready to eat – full of flavor, color, and wonderful aroma, but not picked to last in the fridge for more than a day of two!
It took me a few market days, and many thrown out fruits and vegetables, to learn the difference between “fresh” and hot-house grown, picked green for shipping and ripened off the vine stuff, or baked full of preservatives to last on the shelf for weeks baked goods that we’re used to getting at the grocery store! It all looks so delicious and tempting that I’d buy more than a family of seven could eat in 4-5 days, when it was just for me and Matt and would only keep for the next 2 or 3 days! I think it must be a common occurrence since both my mother and Matt’s tended to do the same thing on their market visits!
I’ve toned down and reined in the purchases to manageable quantities, usually. And have experimented with new and different items that we’ve found like weiss spargel (white asparagus), fennel, pilzen and pfefferlings (different mushrooms), currants, goose berries, unusual melons and kurbis (pumpkin, but different types of gourds or squash from what I’m familiar with) and a variety of meats and cheeses. I still get tempted to buy more than we need, or buy things based on appearance (see the radish and carrot photos – how can you resist that?) rather than use or preference, but not as often. We do have some mishaps, as well, like when I get a bit carried away at the cheese counter and try some very . . . “aromatic” cheese and we end up having to clean out the fridge later on! I occasionally have trouble with estimating quantities in metric, too. One kilo of spinach goes a long, long, long, long way, even when making veggie lasagna and spinach salads!–
We’ve never had better tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, or mushrooms than we’ve had from the farmers market here in Wendlingen. And even though we’re trying our hands out in the garden this summer (we’ve planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and golden zucchini, plus a lot of herbs), it’s good to know that the market will be there every Tuesday and Saturday, just in case our thumbs aren’t all that green!
LynneandMatt 