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Helen Fowler
Say hello to our resident Edinburgh expert! Helen is here to keep you posted on the latest goings on in Edinburgh. Email Helen to talk about the blog.
Enjoy Edinburgh Xmas food shopping
Written by Helen Fowler
The weekly Edinburgh Farmers' Market is staging a pre-Christmas special on Tuesday, December 22 to give shoppers a chance to stock up on last-minute festive goodies. Even though the market nestles on top of a multi-storey carpark entered via King's Stables Road, it's a taste (if you'll forgive the pun) of the Scottish countryside in the heart of the city.
The Christmas event will be at the market's usual Castle Terrace venue, a couple of minutes away from Princes Street, the main Edinburgh thoroughfare, and underneath the backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. The market takes place there every Saturday (though it's worth noting there will be no market on 26 December 2009 and 2 January 2010).
Most of the sixty five or so stallholders produce the food on sale themselves and will entertain customers with their knowledge and love of their work. You can buy gourmet mushrooms from the Scottish Highlands, living lettuce and watercress and hardy perennial plants specially developed to thrive in the central Scottish climate. There's free-range eggs, cheese, jam, chutneys and dips on sale - a cornucopia of locally grown ingredients that make visitors feel like they're on holiday in the Highlands.
Farmers sell all manner of other things you'd never normally see in supermarkets - wild boar, venison, ostrich and even something called water buffalo. If you prefer more standard fare, there's also good-quality beef, chicken, lamb and pork - much of it organic, some of it even reared in the local Pentland Hills.
Food at the market is at the pricier end of the range, but many Edinburgh locals swear by doing their shopping there, especially around Christmas. So if budgets stretch that far. the Farmers' Market is an opportunity to fill the Christmas larder with extra treats. And, even if budgets don't permit, then it's still a great place to enjoy browsing the stalls, soaking up the atmosphere and reviving with a coffee from one of the stands. Wrap up warm, though, as it can be cold.
