Market Report - Hackescher Markt - Saturday, 28 July 2008
A drizzling day for Hackescher Markt’s market. (Say that ten times!) A thin crowd and a number of empty stalls. Even without the rain, I think it’s fair to say that the Saturday-version of this market (when compared to the Thursday version) is not worth any special trips. For one, most of the good stalls head up to Kollwitzplatz, where they get the bigger-spending locals. Second, it’s become far too touristy. There are too many stalls with jewelry, ladies’ bags, ceramics, felt hats, and those ubiquitous printed-on-canvas “paintings” of Berlin. And, regarding the edibles, it would seem that some of the small-scale vegetable sellers are being pushed-aside by larger vendors wearing their “small vendor” hats. Look for dirt under the finger nails.
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Ok, to the food. Lots of berries…berries, berries, berries. Strawberries still looking mushy and you can play the sucker game by paying €1.95 for 500g at this stall or €2.95 for 500g two meters down, even though I saw them taken off the same truck. 
Lots and lots of beautiful blueberries (Heidelbeeren, i.e., not wild Blaubeeren). The bio ones are expensive (€2.90/250g or €5.50/500g), but look burstingly beautiful. The true beauty of the market today was a pile of purple grapes from Italy. Wow (and yikes at €4.90/kg!). And the bio-beauty sash goes to an amazing bunch of carrots with a strange strawberry tint.
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Complaints aside, there are a few neat things at this market that I haven’t seen up the street at Kollwitzplatz. For one, there are a few bread-stands with large assortments of fantastic looking loaves, especially those of Soluna (which has a store here in Kreuzberg). And a stand selling really beautiful “Arabic Sweets” called Habibi, with an assortment of Baklawas and Maamuls. Honey heaven.
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As a last note, I didn’t see many green beans here today, but Ed says they are aplenty, cheap, and fantastic. (jw)
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July 30th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Could you do a berry clarification post? I still don’t understand the difference between Heidel and Blau and there was nearly out and out war on my blog when we got or Preisels and cranberries in a knot.
July 30th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
It’s simple: it’s the difference between high-bush (cultivated, Heidel-) and low-bush (wild, Blau-) blueberries. The high-bush are larger, the low-bush quite small and not so sweet. High-bush are cultivars developed in the 1920s in America to take advantage of very acid soil which was hard to grow things on. They tend to be rather watery, but they’re easier to tame — and to pick mechanically — than the wild ones. To be perfectly clear, the low-bush American berries and the low-bush European berries are two different plants, the latter more precisely called bilberries in English.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Hey Guys,
I know it’s not your thing but would one of you be able to tell me how I can order one of those “paintings” that are printed on canvas for tourists? I’ve got to admit I saw one I really liked the last time I was in Berlin and have been trying to find it online ever since:) Know of any websites?
Best,
-Mark