Whiteladies Road in Bristol always reminds me of days spent as a student cycling up and down what is a relentless hill. If you are ambling up or down that hill and you fancy a treat there is the opportunity on most Saturdays of every month to visit the Whiteladies Farmers Market which is situated at the junction with Apsley Road and crossing into Burlington Road. Generally, about 12 to 15 stalls are centred in each quadrant formed by the crossroads. There are a few outstanding producers at the market with an emphasis on sustainable food production. In reality it’s a showcase for local food producers to demonstrate some of the great flavours on offer from both urban and rural producers.
My first port of call is usually Bradley’s which is a relatively small apple juice and cider producer based somewhere between Hewish and Bandon in North Somerset. I tried various juices including one or two from single source apples mainly Cox, and a mix of Cox with Bramley apple. These are two are distinctive juice products. The Cox is exactly like its namesake – sweet and juicy, relatively green (not as green as a Granny Smith apple mindyou), typical estery notes belonging to butyl acetate, a small amount of malic acid acidity with a classic understated tartness and low polyphenol content. Addition of the Bramley apple juice alters the profile completely to make a less sweet, classic apple pie flavour which improves the character for those of us enjoying slightly more tart, cider notes. Bramley is the archetypal culinary apple and so it lends more tannin enfused dryness to the product and this helps the juice present a more balanced feel. There is also an apple and rhubarb variant and a lightly sparkling version. The addition of rhubarb adds some acidity and it comes through distinctively. Producing a slightly sparkling variant – I reckoned on tasting about 2 Bunsen volumes in carbon dioxide provides the lift.
The Moravian Bakery based at 27, Montreal Avenue in Bristol produces a wide range of baked goods indicative of that region around the city of Brno in Eastern Europe. It is a classic example of the diversity of foods some unique, to be made available to the public. Examples of their products included a range of breads, some with rye, an extremely popular blueberry cake along with its sister, a pear version. I went for the plum and prune pastry which would have been prepared using a leavened dough. It was ideal street food and I noticed they had a Vdolek which is a pastry containing raisins with a crumble topping that gives it a crunchiness. Another small bakery (Farro Bakery) that has just started offered various tartlets and croissants along with coffee. I plumped for a fig and almond pastry with crème patisserie which was not only nicely presented as an open top but had a refined flavour with enough fig to offer the right balance to cut some of the cream filling/topping. A savoury version based on mushroom also looked tempting.
In summary, the market tempts you in by offering a healthy variety of small producers. There is cheese, meat, honey and baked goods to be purchased and it is worth supporting these small local producers.
Leave a Reply