Kase und Wurst

Or, cheese and sausage. Which are definitely something that German's adore. After Bread and beer, which are their first loves.

It is harvest time here, my favorite time of year. At the market yesterday there were plums, squashes, heirloom tomatoes of all shapes and sizes, orange, green and red peppers, curly chilis, mushrooms harvested from the forrests- 6 or 7 different kinds, salad greens, corn, cucmbers, etc. and of course, bread, beer, wine, honey, candles,  chicken, eggs, cheeses (cow, sheep and goat), cured meats(mostly pork), pork, cow, lamb, wild boar, wild deer, and elk meat, And to eat: fresh pressed cider (susser), half fermented cider (most), hard cider (raucher), new wine (federweissen), zwiebel kuchen, flamm kuchen, grune sosse with potatoes, wurst, fresh fish, waffles, cake, coffee, ice cream, did i mention wine and beer?

Here is a view of the market from above courtesy of the internet.

I met my friend W yesterday afternoon at market and we headed straight for the Zwiebel Kuchen, which is a bit like a pizza crust- this one is sourdough- with lots and lots of onions and sour cream and quark, and bits of shinken, which is cured pork cut into little bits, and we drank Federweissen- which is the new wine from this year's grapes and it is all cloudy white, a bit sweet and grapey tasting and delicious. W and I are a perfect match at market, we are both completely snobby about our food, and we both like the same growers. After our lunch, we went to buy bread from our usual stand- The Winter Bakery- and then over to the fabulous milcherei, or dairy, called Herbert's Muehle- please do look at the website even though it is in German because the pictures are beautiful. They have extraordinary cheese- organic (bio) raw milk (roh milch) from Cow, Sheep and Goat. They have Lacaune sheep and Zebu cows. Then we go to the Metzgerei, or butcher, Bauernhof Frank. Bauernhof means farm. They have elk salami, so I had to try some and it is, of course, delicious. And then I had to buy some. At an organic butcher I also bought something called "nuss schinken" nuss means nut and schinken is a dried smoked cured pork similar to prosciutto.

Here are the grapes, apples, cheese and meats I bought along with  melon from the biodynamic shop that Nic works at. In the middle, is a Merlin goat cheese with a white rind, like brie, only it isn't (moaning sounds are heard upon eating), sheep roquefort (oh my god), and middle aged goat gouda. Elk salami and the nuss schinken.

I should say two things here, one is that I have now been to the market enough that I am starting to know where I like to go to get my things, one place for vegetables (more on that in a bit), two for cheeses, one for dairy, one for eggs, two for cured meats. I am still learning and trying new stalls, but so far I feel good about the people I visit, because they are people. And in two or so of the stalls that I frequent they are starting to recognize me. Which means I am beginning the wonderful process of knowing my growers and farmers and they are beginning to know who I am. I think I can finally talk to one of the people at the dairy and ask for wool!

So, the plums (kwetsche for nic's birthday cake), vegetables, and mushrooms (Steinpilze or Boletus) I purchased from a couple who have their own sausage, bread baked in a wood oven, pickles, jams, vegetables, wild mushrooms (maybe 7 different kinds), and then apples and plums etc. from a friend who grows fruit. The man is from the states and speaks english with a beautiful southern twang, maybe from Tennessee or Kentucky or Arkansas. His wife is German. He says that when the war was over, or when he was done with it, in '71 there were no jobs for him in the states, so he stayed here. We three speak a mixture of German and English together and they are really wonderful people. They have herbal lemonade each week that they make themselves as well. Everything is clearly hand made and on a very small scale, rather like Nic and I want to do some day. And they remind us of the folks at the Santa Fe Market, making their own things to sell and being very humble and beautiful about it. I am going to try and get a picture of their stand next week and I'll add it to the post when I do.

What a blissful day at the farmer's market. Here is a picture of Nic's birthday bouquet that W bought for her. Calendula and Oregano! Tschuess!