Man, I am so happy that I took up a friend’s invitation to check out the Wittenbergplatz market today. What a color explosion! Pink tomatoes, purple beans, yellow/white/green squash, red radishes, tan potatoes, the aptly named rainbow chard…and on and on. This is a fantastic market (at least in this season). One: the food comes straight from the farms of Brandenburg. Second: it is all about food. There are no souvenirs to be found; just amazing meat, cheese, hot food, and produce vendors. And people with some serious dirt under there fingers.
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The tomatoes were out of sight. There were so many varieties, shapes, and shades. I waited in line for a long time to get my hand on some, but man was it worth it. Three kilos of just gorgeous tomatoes for a little more than €6! That is incredible. I brought them home and made a cold tomato sauce pasta (from here), and it was just unbeatably fresh tasting. If you cook the recipe, make sure to let them sit and really let the flavors meld.
Berries – and good looking, unmushy ones – were in full abundance, but the prices seemed about 20% higher than I’ve seen them elsewhere.
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Summer squash was ubiquitous in amazing numbers and types, the most beautiful of which were the green- and white-striped pattypans.
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A couple things caught my eye for their beauty, but I need to go research them more. For example, what are these purple beans all about? And these things called Mirabellen? My little helper book
book tells me that this stone fruit (aka “yellow plum” or “cherry plum”) is “sweet, but not acidic enough to make it very interesting when eaten raw. It does, however, make delicious tarts and preserves.” Anyone have a recipe? They look so good; I’d love to try them out.
Two more things: (1) the vendors were extremely nice. Special gratitude to the potato guy who really spent some time educating me about some of the different potato types (see future post). (2) The prepared food was very German, but good.
There was a large selection of sausages, potatoes, rotisserie chicken, Kartoffelnpuffer (potato pancakes with dips, such as apple sauce), etc. And they seemed very fairly priced, unlike a few other places I know. Here’s a nice shot of a Schmalzbrötchen for you!
(jw)