Seasonal fruit and vegetables – organic at bargain basement prices

There are so many things I love about life in Spain, but top of the list has to be shopping for seasonal fruit and vegetables at the street markets. If I wanted to, I could go to a different market almost every day of the week, and all within 10 – 15 minutes driving distance of our home in Algorfa. These, then, are the markets I can choose from:

• Benijofar  on Tuesdays
• Algorfa, San Miguel or Guardamar on Wednesdays
• Rojales on Thursdays
• Torrevieja on Fridays
• Almoradi on Saturdays
• Zoco or Lemon Tree Road (Guardamar) on Sundays

At some point, I’ll review the markets, and tell you about my favourites, but the main thing I go to the markets for is fruit and vegetables. The great thing about Spanish street markets is that everything is seasonal, so it’s at the peak of taste and vitamin content, and it’s cheap.

You don’t actually realise how cheap it is though, until you get to know how stuff works in Spain. The growers who sell their produce on the markets are small independent farmers who have followed madre and padre onto the land. That means they don’t use chemical pesticides – they stick with the tried and trusted natural treatments that have been handed down through the generations.

What this means is that you are buying organic produce, without paying a premium for it. Last week on Zoco market, cherry tomatoes were going for 2€ a kilo, and plums and pears were the same price. Melons were 2 or 3 for 1€, depending on the variety, and you could get 4 – 6 Cogolla (Little Gem) lettuces for 1 €.

Those prices are pretty amazing anyway – especially to Brits who are used to taking out a second mortgage for the week’s fruit and vegetable shopping. But when you remember that you are paying these prices for organic produce, you realise just how lucky you are to live and shop in Spain.

Photo credit: Maggs Perkins @ maggs224.com