Farmers' Market in Hessle

On the first Sunday of every month there is a farmers’ market by the Humber Bridge Country Park in Hessle. The Humber Bridge Farmers’ Market and Craft Fair started in May 2008 and attracts up to 5,000 visitors each month. The approximately 90 stalls are open from 9am until 1pm. So I didn't mind not sleeping in too much as we headed towards the Humber Bridge early on Sunday morning.

Meat
There are plenty of butchers offering interesting meat! One stall sold rare-breed chorizo. Naturally, the chorizo wasn’t cheap - £12 for two sausages. Along with grass-fed beef and buffalo you could also find quite exotic meat including ostrich meat balls and kangaroo steak by Oslinc. It’s a fantastic way of trying something new and tasty. I much prefer buying meat when I know where it came from but you can expect a price increase so make sure you have enough change in your pocket. It's worth it! :)

Ostrich Eggs

Eggs
You can’t complain when it comes to the choices of eggs either - you’ll find chicken and duck eggs en masse. I have been tempted to buy an ostrich egg since I first went to the farmers’ market last year but I don’t think I know enough people who really love eggs to justify buying one. One ostrich egg contains the equivalent of 20-24 chicken eggs. If you were to turn it into an omelette you should be able to feed 12 people easily. Maybe I will just make an über-pancake!

Vegetables
I saw one stall selling fresh vegetables and fruit. One. In fairness, that’s probably all you need when the selection is big enough but I have to admit that I was a little bit surprised as I expected to see some more crops from the area.

I was happy about the antipasto stall though selling a wide selection of mediterranean tasty treats! Mmm olives...

Baked Goods
The market has an abundance of different cakes and pies to choose from. Since I try to bake things from scratch myself, I refrained from indulging in my love for pie too much. There were a lot of traditional favourites on display: Coffee Cake, Victoria Sponge Cake, Fruit Cake, Pork Pie, Huntsman Pie... I did venture to try one bread because it sounded exciting: The Taste of Sardinia's orange and chocolate bread with almonds was thoroughly enjoyable!

The Market by the Humber Bridge

...Nappo...?
One stall puzzled me a little bit. Quite a few people had gathered around a white table. On it were loosely scattered what looked like Nappo to me. In Germany a lot of people will know that it’s the diamond-shaped sweet of the devil. Nappo is originally from Krefeld, Germany and its invention goes all the way back to the 1920s. It has a rock hard, Dutch, white nougat centre and is covered in dark chocolate. When you’re little you’ll often put people you don’t know very well into two categories: those with nice sweets and those with Nappo. This guy at the farmers’ market must have ordered a bunch of boxes of Nappo and now sold 6 for £1. I don’t know how successful he was with his undertaking but when I walked past he had just managed to convince a man to buy some so it can’t have been going too badly. Admittedly, the taste isn’t that bad but odds are that it will break out your teeth before it gets chewy.    

Random Assortment of Chocolate

Other Food
I love fudge and the farmers’ market didn’t let me down. You can find a selection of fun flavours such as liquorice, ginger, Baileys, toffee and malt whiskey. The malt whisky one actually had me worried that it might make me tipsy - very strong but so good!

Close-by were a local honey stall (got some pickled eggs in cider vinegar with honey and chilli), a chocolate stall and a traditional cordial stall selling interesting flavours such as rhubarb, liquorice and elderflower. I will have to try some more flavours there next time. There were loads more food stalls but I can't remember them all...

Crafts
Then there were the craft stalls. I had a closer look at a stall that sold 100% wool for knitting and super woolly sheepskins, which looked and felt amazing! Other interesting crafty things included pestles and mortars and wooden chopping boards but I have to admit that my main focus of attention was with the food, which is why I don’t think I could do justice to the efforts that went into the crafts displayed. But if you're interested and maybe want to go yourself then then you can find the latest news and updates on the Humber Bridge Events Facebook Page or visit the market's website direcly www.humberbridgemarket.co.uk! 

So how was the market as a whole?
It’s a market I love going to occasionally to try high-quality, local novelty products. The selection of meat is big and you can get your vegetables, cheese and eggs from a local source, which is great. Personally, I found the 80s music played by a local radio station, which had its own little stall, a little bit distracting. I’m happy buying my vegetables without “waiting for a star to fall” but each to their own.

I appreciate the effort that goes into making these local events happen and I’m sure I’ll be back some time for the fudge and maybe that ostrich egg :)