Hungry in Berlin

I was on other business in Schöneberg yesterday when a market found me. I was walking down tiny little Mansteinstr., not far from the Yorckstr. S-Bahn stop, when I noticed a whole lot of trucks and people. Imagine my surprise to find a thriving market, populated mostly by Turks, stretching out over a couple of blocks by the side of the tracks. I’d stumbled onto the Crellestr. Market.

This was a food-intensive market, featuring a bounty of vegetables like I haven’t seen since I was last at the famous Turkish market on Maybachufer — only this one wasn’t nearly as crowded. Which isn’t to say it wasn’t crowded, because it was.

What I saw there was a huge amount of late-season berries, mostly strawberries and raspberries, with a few pathetic-looking blueberries, and some nice late-season melons Read the rest of this entry »

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)

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)

This is the first in a series of market reports, in which Hungry In Berlin visits the city’s outdoor markets to see what’s fresh and what’s a bargain. Today’s report is from Kollwitzplatz.

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Yellow squash: rare, but beautiful – and expensive at €2.50/ kg. Beets running at €1.90/ bunch (usually 3) and really quite nice, as it was in a cold soup I made this week.

Most-appetizing prize goes to the peas, though they were in short supply. (Why do they seem so difficult to find, unless you head to one of the Turkish markets?) And they’re dear at €2.95/500g. Stone fruits – peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums – are bulging out of their crates and even coming from Germany, rather than (what was available earlier) from Spain and Italy. Berries (mostly) from Germany are – finally! – everywhere, and perhaps the rumors of a rain-busted berry season were unfounded. Cherries at €2.95/500g and sour cherries (pies, people! Be American, and give me a piece!) at €1.50/500g. Strawberry prices have gone down a bit (now €1.95/500g), but they looked slightly past-prime and mushy.

Prettiest is the purple garlic, though way out of my reach at €1/piece. Most exciting appearance, for me at least, is sweet corn, but €2.50 for three relatively small ears seems a bit much. Wondering where all the beautiful rainbow chard went.

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(Note: We’re always looking for volunteer reporters from Berlin’s other markets, such as those at Wittenbergplatz, Maibachufer, Winterfeldplatz, and the Rotes Rathaus. If interested, drop us a line.)

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