Hello,
We'll be traveling to Edinburgh in a couple of weeks and planning on visiting the Saturday Farmer's Market below the Castle, and/or the Sunday Farmer's Market in Stockbridge. If you've been, I'd really like to know which of the two is best for purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables.
Thank you,
Connie
I don’t know the one below the castle but the Stockbridge market is fairly small. I wouldn’t build your hopes up. It might be better heading along to Waitrose.
In my experience, neither are particularly good for fresh produce, especially this early in the year. They are quite good for cheeses, seafood, meats, and other artisanal products.
Hi, Connie,
I don't know about the farmers' markets, but if you happen to see any rasps in the supermarkets, and they are labelled as having been picked in Angus, be sure to try them. They are the absolute best I've ever eaten. They should just be coming in to season by the time that you get to Scotland.
Slainte!
Mike (Auchterless)
I don't know about the farmers' markets, but if you happen to see any rasps in the supermarkets, and they are labelled as having been picked in Angus, be sure to try them.
I'm assuming you're referrring to raspberries? If so I've never hear them referred to as rasps before but then again I've not been to Scotland enough times to hear the locals discussing fruit and veg. Scotland is famed for its raspberries and produces the best in the UK however they're very delicate to pick and mainly harvested by hand hence the high prices you pay for them.
Hi, JC,
You're absolutely right. Rasps is a local term for raspberries. It's mostly used by older folk - perhaps I'm showing my age! :)
Back in the day, prior to about the late 1970s, raspberries were picked by hand mainly by the "gaen aboot" ("going about") folk, or travelling people, who worked seasonal jobs throughout Scotland. There's an excellent book about it - "Yellow on the Broom," by Betsy Whyte. In later years, student summer labor took some of the work, and when Britain became part of the EU, many Eastern Europeans came over to shoulder the work.
You're also right about the quality of Scottish raspberries. But I've never found them to be overly expensive. Perhaps because the ones I've purchased in the Scottish supermarkets haven't had far to travel from where they were picked.
Anyway, for anyone travelling to Scotland (or England) this summer, be sure to try some rasps (raspberries)!
Bon appetit!
Mike (Auchterless)
