Country/Farmers Markets in North County Dublin

kerash

I'd prefer to buy fruit and veg from local producers rather than the supermarket. Can anyone recommend a market for good fresh produce, nice veg, fruit and fish. Or even green grocers, butchers and fish mongers. I'm not familiar enough with the area to know where to go. Went down to the one in swords town centre today there were only 3 or 4 stalls, it's very very small!

NorthDub

dont know of any in swords but balbriggan has one on a friday morning from 9-2 in the square outside the town hall

Beasty

There's a farmers market every Saturday, 10.00 until 16.00, at Skerries Mills

Sid_Justice

what about the fruit and veg place in the caslte shopping centre in swords? there's a fruit and veg place in the kinsealy garden centre that is, afaik, locally farmed.

Eoineo

Balbriggan Market - Fridays 9-2 outside the Townhall. You can't beat the fruit & veg for quality and prices. Nor can you beat Sheila at the North County Growers for the banter! You can also buy baked goods, preserves, organic meat, goat's milk products, fish and much more. Once a month there are extra stalls such as Herbs & Spices etc.

Brownes in Balbriggan for the butchers. Great value and quality I can't find anywhere else.

For bread I either make my own but if you're looking to support local jobs then buy McCloskey's. It's stocked in most supermarkets in North Dublin. They're a bakers based in Drogheda.

For fishmongers, hands down, it's Nicky's Plaice on Howth Pier. The quality is outstanding.

If you want to travel North I think the garden centre at An Grianan (ICA) in Termonfeckin still sells any extra produce that's in season. Brilliant if you're into preserving at this time of the year.

kerash

Thanks for all the replies I will check them all out.
Oh I forgot to mention fresh eggs, any recommendations?

Eoineo

You can normally get eggs at Balbriggan Market as well. It works out at about €2.50 for a half dozen organic eggs. Not bad for the quality.

Qprmeath

Eoineo wrote: »

You can normally get eggs at Balbriggan Market as well. It works out at about €2.50 for a half dozen organic eggs. Not bad for the quality.

Eggs probably bought in Lidl!!!! I knew a fella used to buy his "organic" eggs there. We sell locally grown potatoes and tomatoes from our house in Gormanston. Best Queens you will get anywhere in the area. We also supply a good few North county Dublin shops with potatoes.

Eoineo

Qprmeath wrote: »

Eggs probably bought in Lidl!!!! I knew a fella used to buy his "organic" eggs there.

LOL in fairness I very rarely buy them thanks to many friends and family keeping chickens & us in eggs.......

Morpheus

Is that the house opposite the gates to the franciscans residency building? Always see a sign on the roadside advertising spuds!

kerash

Sid_Justice wrote: »

what about the fruit and veg place in the caslte shopping centre in swords? there's a fruit and veg place in the kinsealy garden centre that is, afaik, locally farmed.

Forgot to say I went into that veg shop @ castle SC - bad, dried up wrinkly turnip and old peppers. Some good prices though and i bought some baby spuds. I was but off by the bad stock there.
Where abouts is kinsealy garden centre?

Eoineo

On the Malahide road just past Kinsealy church and before St Doulagh's.

Qprmeath

Morphéus wrote: »

Is that the house opposite the gates to the franciscans residency building? Always see a sign on the roadside advertising spuds!

Yes, thats my parents house. Pretty busy this time of year when the Queens are on offer.

Barry Bonds

The fish and farmers market on The Square in Balbriggan is excellent. Fresh fish, fruit and veg all great but my favourite is Dara's home baking, caramels slices are highly reccomended.

Corsendonk

Why not buy in a supermarket? Unfortunately due to the major building in North Co. Dublin/Meath in recent years and the cost of future investment the number of growers has declined so the same producer that supplies the corner fruit and veg shop most likely supplies the vast majority of his product to the supermarket chains too. At least you have a major brand standing over the product you buy if you are unhappy with the quality and trace back from fork to farm.

On a second point , the number of farmers markets that I have attended that sell such "local" grown products such as Pink Lady apples and pineapples is unbelieveable. Those of us with limited knowledge of the industry assume that this produce is local. Its kind of strange how you see the dutch, RSA, French and spanish packaging stacked behind the stall but no country of origin on display. I feel its fooling the genuine customer that wishes to support local. I am for local and more importantly in season produce but what do people consider local ? 25km, 50km, 200km, 400km.

Eoineo

This is the crowd that sells fresh produce at the Balbriggan Market. I'm not familiar with the other markets in NCD.

http://www.honest2goodness.ie/The-Market/Producers/Dublin-Meath-Growers-Assoc.aspx

From my experience, if an item isn't irish it is marked that it's not. The growers cut the veg in a particular way so that it tends to last longer than the veg I buy in the supermarket. Also, cost wise even with the Lidl/Aldi discounted fruit & veg every week I can't beat the value I get from the stall. €8 on average pays for vegetables for my family of 4 for a week.

Corsendonk

Thanks for the link, I must check out myself. In regard to supermarkets versus local stalls the customer expectations are different. As supermarkets normal charge for loose product in weight, if they tried selling carrots with soil on them or parsnips with unpolished root hairs they would be critised for charging the customer for something they cant use. The less damage you cause to the vegetable/fruit in harvest the more robust is its shelflife. People are more inclined to accept that from market stall, so carrots with soil and tops still on etc

You only have to go to most supermarkets where you see the more frugal customers break what they consider the useless stem from the loose broccoli even do most of the nutrition/flavour is in the stem.

If I had a choice between shopping in Aldl or Lidl I would personnally go for Aldl as they have made great strides in sourcing Irish produced product under there own brand at reasonable prices.

The Hill Billy

kerash wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies I will check them all out.
Oh I forgot to mention fresh eggs, any recommendations?

I can highly recommend Paddy Byrne's organic hen & duck eggs. Paddy has a stall at the Skerries Mills Market each Saturday.

Khannie

Hill Billy wrote: »

I can highly recommend Paddy Byrne's organic hen & duck eggs. Paddy has a stall at the Skerries Mills Market each Saturday.

I would also like to highly recommend these eggs. They are flippin' savage. We're going through nearly 3 dozen a week. I've also been buying them for friends.

Paddy didn't have his stall there last week or the week before (I'm guessing he was on holidays) but you can knock into their farm which is up near ardgillan here. They have a sign outside so you can't miss it.

Dizzyblonde

The other day someone told me about a man who's got vending machines for fresh eggs. I thought it was a joke, but apparently not http://www.eggspress.ie/press.html

Corsendonk

Why would you ever need a vending machine for eggs?

Michael B

Yeah there's a few of them around the country. They're fresh eggs from that day. You put in the money and get your tray of eggs. Don't have to deal with anyone and the ones we got were extremley cheap. Think it was a fiver for 24 eggs! This was on a farmer's farm now so I suppose he could sell them cheaper. But it was great, you could see the hens nearby so it was nice to see where your eggs were coming from. This was in Cork and the vending machine is the exact same as the one in the video on that link.

LeoB

Corsendonk wrote: »

Why would you ever need a vending machine for eggs?

They scramble them for you;)

Bird of Paradise in Rush has good veg and a good variety. All locally grown. Willie McCormack supplies a good few shops in the area and he has a lot of locally grown produce. Not that my wife would let me loose shopping that often but I would always ask if the produce is Irish and locally grown. Small shops dont like this line of questions and If I found they were not locally sourced I would not shop there.

There is a big issue about with this logo "PRODUCE OF THE E.U." which is misleading in my opinion. There was a campaign "Love Irish food" the aim of which was to promote Irish produce, its obviously some sort of Gov body because 8 months after requesting poster for office and club I am still waiting.

Corsendonk

Love Irish is very vague campaign, is that the 32 counties or the 26? Also is it food distributed through an Irish supplier or actually produced in Ireland. Also food that undergoes a minimal process can be called Irish. So thai chicken might be breaded in Ireland and called Irish. All legal at the moment but there are labelling proposals in the EU parliament to list the country of origin of each ingredient which will make it easier to shop by choice.

LeoB

I do just ask myself how the hell can Tomatoes produced in Holland or Spain be as fresh as Tomatoes picked up the road. Same goes for Spuds. My view is our produce is far superior and we need tto educate ourselves as to the benifits of shopping locally and buying local produce where possible.

I would imagine Love Irish is a 26 county campaign.

kerash

Corsendonk wrote: »

Why not buy in a supermarket? Unfortunately due to the major building in North Co. Dublin/Meath in recent years and the cost of future investment the number of growers has declined so the same producer that supplies the corner fruit and veg shop most likely supplies the vast majority of his product to the supermarket chains too. At least you have a major brand standing over the product you buy if you are unhappy with the quality and trace back from fork to farm.

On a second point , the number of farmers markets that I have attended that sell such "local" grown products such as Pink Lady apples and pineapples is unbelieveable. Those of us with limited knowledge of the industry assume that this produce is local. Its kind of strange how you see the dutch, RSA, French and spanish packaging stacked behind the stall but no country of origin on display. I feel its fooling the genuine customer that wishes to support local. I am for local and more importantly in season produce but what do people consider local ? 25km, 50km, 200km, 400km.

I'm unhappy with the quality of some of the f&v product from the supermarket.
Obviously the majority of us know a pineapple isnt Irish, i'd actually ask the seller wtf if I saw such labelling as described above.
Generally I go with my gut (excuse the pun) if it tastes good I'll buy it!
Really fresh eggs are undeniable in their quality and taste.
Ultimately I'd aim to grow my own veg, when I get the act together!

Eoineo wrote: »

This is the crowd that sells fresh produce at the Balbriggan Market. I'm not familiar with the other markets in NCD.

http://www.honest2goodness.ie/The-Market/Producers/Dublin-Meath-Growers-Assoc.aspx

From my experience, if an item isn't irish it is marked that it's not. The growers cut the veg in a particular way so that it tends to last longer than the veg I buy in the supermarket. Also, cost wise even with the Lidl/Aldi discounted fruit & veg every week I can't beat the value I get from the stall. €8 on average pays for vegetables for my family of 4 for a week.

I'm interested just to see what's on offer - havent made it to one yet but if it's good price and better quality and spending locally, all the better. Even so it's nice to browse a market.
Ty for the link

Corsendonk

Well I think we are partly to blame as consumers!

Generations before us would eat whatever fruit and vegetables was best in season at that time of year now we get products such as strawberries in supermarket/shops 365 days a year. Its doesn't help the product quality when you have to air freight from Israel or pick tomatoes partly coloured in Spain before you truck up to Ireland. But I can't see the Irish consumer going back to a diet of spuds, cabbage and swedes for the winter months!

I have posted links below for the slow food movement which is about preserving local foods, eating best in season and educating people about food because sadly peoples knowledge of food has deteriorated as families moved away from farms.


http://www.slowfood.com

http://www.slowfoodireland.com

kerash

Corsendonk wrote: »

Well I think we are partly to blame as consumers!

Generations before us would eat whatever fruit and vegetables was best in season at that time of year now we get products such as strawberries in supermarket/shops 365 days a year. Its doesn't help the product quality when you have to air freight from Israel or pick tomatoes partly coloured in Spain before you truck up to Ireland. But I can't see the Irish consumer going back to a diet of spuds, cabbage and swedes for the winter months!

I have posted links below for the slow food movement which is about preserving local foods, eating best in season and educating people about food because sadly peoples knowledge of food has deteriorated as families moved away from farms.


http://www.slowfood.com

http://www.slowfoodireland.com

Well it doesnt help that the supermarket cant stock un-rubbery carrots, or old onions. Sometimes the foreign grown food is actually better quality and that is a shame.

I think more recently some supermarkets have gone to the the trouble of advertising 'in season' food, that however doesnt mean it's automatically home produced so we certainly do need to take care to inform ourselves.

Slow food is an interesting movement, is it something you're involved in?

Corsendonk

Ahh the rubbery carrot debate! This is a classic example used to point out the difference in freshness between supermarkets and small green grocers. Is it the grower or the supermarkets fault?

So I thought I go through the scenerio for Irish grown carrots(about 4 large Irish growers left). The carrot gets harvested by machine in the field. Washed in pack house. Polished to give the consumer that nice smooth finish that they like(also ruptures cells causing water loss). Then bagged or sealed if loose. Finally cooled and shipped to the wholesaler all within a 24 hour window. The wholesaler can have them in store within 24hours and thats when it usually goes wrong.

In my experience as a shopper the rubbery carrots or even parsnips are always the ones sold loose. You will notice that the carrots in the prepacks are in better condition, why is that? There more than likely harvest from the same field and at the same time so whats the difference?

Firstly, supermarkets sometimes have inadequate/poorly cleaned fridges and have a very warm environment, M & S did trial a cold water jet mist system to keep carrots nice and moist and I know some US supermarkets use it. Secondly, poorly trained and staffed fruit & veg staff so they keep tipping out the old carrots on top of the fresh loose ones or open too many loose cases of carrots at once. Thirdly, if you ever in a supermarket just stand back and observe how some customers handle loose fruit and veg. The little old lady that bruises the peaches to see if there ripe, the customer that literally throws the product back on the shelf. But not a staff member in sight.

I might add, because we have such a small growing base in Ireland the same guy that grows carrots for Dunnes/Tesco sells a looser graded product to the wholesalers in the Dublin Fruit & Veg Market who then supply that product to green grocer shops around Ireland. Yes, occassionally you have a smaller local grower that supplies a few farmers markets or a local shop but the vast majority of Irish produce comes from an ever decreasing pool of large commercial growers.

The green grocer is a specialist, he/she knows when a product is past his best. Green grocers use little tricks like trimming the top of the celery to freshen up its appearnces or reducing poorly looking produce to get rid of it. They have the time to spray water over the carrots or even do that great dark art of soaking the loose carrots in water(adds extra weight). Customers are less likely to treat produce badly when they have someone looking at them. The grocer can constantly keep topping up and tidying the displays, give advice to customers on whats in season. They give care and attention to there products while supermarkets try selling everything and anything. Isn't that why we go to specialists such as grocers or butchers?

The growers work intensely hard to delivery a quality product to the customer. 9/10 of the quality problems that you see in the supermarket are caused by the supermarket themselves but 9/10 of these quality problems are blamed on the growers by the supermarkets. So if you are ever complaining to Supermarket Managers about such things as rubbery carrots can you look out for the tell tale signs of staff dumping rubbery carrots on top of the fresh or stores not removing poor quality produce from sale and poorly cleaned fridges. You never know, your feedback might encourage supermarkets to get there act together and generate a few more sales for the Irish Grower.

I do like the concept of the slow food movement but I am more interested in the eating whats in season aspect especially as we now have a more varied diet than any other time in our history.

LeoB

Great reply, God be with the days we used to "top" carrots and parsnips by hand and pick sprouts, the coldest hardest work I have ever done.

I have noticed the way people throw stuff back on the shelves. So should Dunne's and other chains have a specially cooled area to help preserve the produce in the shops?

I dont see the point in polishing the carrots anyway, Is this an E.U. directive? Surley we would wash them before we cook them anyway so while they get washed we still have to prepare them for cooking.

Forget the E.U directive that was lifted last year????? one of the vegatables had to be a certain shape to go on the shelves, was it carrotts? Ah yeah fcuk the taste make sure its straight!!

Dizzyblonde

JC's supermarket have carrots with the tops still on, and a whole load of vegetables that are in season locally - but then they buy from north county growers.
I've been growing my own veg the past couple of years and there's nothing like carrots and onions straight from the soil

sirpsycho

Qprmeath wrote: »

Eggs probably bought in Lidl!!!! I knew a fella used to buy his "organic" eggs there. We sell locally grown potatoes and tomatoes from our house in Gormanston. Best Queens you will get anywhere in the area. We also supply a good few North county Dublin shops with potatoes.

This the same house that sells the raspberries? I bought a few punnets recently, very very tasty :cool:

Corsendonk

LeoB wrote: »

I dont see the point in polishing the carrots anyway, Is this an E.U. directive? Surley we would wash them before we cook them anyway so while they get washed we still have to prepare them for cooking.

Forget the E.U directive that was lifted last year????? one of the vegatables had to be a certain shape to go on the shelves, was it carrotts? Ah yeah fcuk the taste make sure its straight!!

Glad you liked the last reply, fingers crossed you get this one, everytime I wrote it the screen went blank. First of all the carrots are polished for the consumer, I know madness since there going to peel the skin anyway, but what the customer wants they get. Fergal Quinn called it "crowning the customer" after all.

Second, yes stores should have a limited amount of refrigeration for items such as soft fruit, carrots, grapes and lettuces to maintain optimun quality. Produce such as tomatoes and peppers shouldn't be displayed in fridges, moist atmosphere encourages breakdown but sometimes you see stores make that mistake cause they want all there summer salads together.

Thirdly, the EU directive you refer to is actually a regulation so its set in law in all member states. Its name is the EU Marketing Standards and its actually a very common sense regulation. It is often quoted out of context by the tabloids when they have a poor news week.

The EU is all about free trade and the various different standards of quality between produce from member states was a barrier to free trade. So to lift this barrier the EU Marketing Standards were invented. The standards go into great detail on certain fruit and vegetable lines hence bend of bananas or colouration of apples. Potatoes have a derogation from the regs and not all produce lines are covered. The standard also covers labelling of produce with Class and country of origin. It sets out who should inspect product to ensure it meets the class that is declared and how produce should be sampled to ensure every member state inspects produce to the same level.

In July 2009, the standards were reviewed to allow greater tolerances in certain products and to faciltate produce processing. If you care for some bed time reading, the link below is the new version of standards. Don't mind the title the Dept of Agri haven't updated as yet. All industries have standards and specifications so why not produce.

http://www.agriculture.irlgov.ie/media/migration/farmingsectors/horticulturebeekeeping/eumarketingstandardsfruitvegetables/Unofficial%20consolidation%20of%20marketing%20standards%20provisions.pdf

But the standards are basic compared to some standards that retailers have for there growers. Consumer feedback has led retailers to tighten there specifications as they wish to maintain there sales and reduce there losses. So if the consumer demands a green granny apple, there is no tolerance for a blemish like sunblush or apples have to have higher pressure because the consumer wants a crunchy apple.

Sadly we shop with our eyes so that has led to produce been bred for look, disease resistence, shelflife and taste is an after thought. Ironically supermarkets now sell fruit with "superior" taste with a superior price as an exception when it should be the norm.

LeoB

Have not read the link but on your third point. These people have been responsible for thousands of tons of good vegatables being dumped!!!! It was a joke.

Also some of the "experts" could not tell the difference between Irish and imported produce and this I have seen. The Irish was better in each example of tomatoe I saw examined

Do you not think Fergal Quinn, (while he changed some aspects of shopping for the better) and his likes have a lot to answer for? Jeasus and him out advising JCs on how to market things better.

Fully agree we do shop with our eyes so the next time we see a sign for a farmers market go and buy some Fingal or Irish produce..

Corsendonk

LeoB wrote: »

Have not read the link but on your third point. These people have been responsible for thousands of tons of good vegatables being dumped!!!! It was a joke.

Also some of the "experts" could not tell the difference between Irish and imported produce and this I have seen. The Irish was better in each example of tomatoe I saw examined.

First of all if the produce doesnt meet Class 1 it gets graded into Class 2 and sold at Class 2 prices usually in the Corporation market in Dublin. Since you have a fixation with tomatoes you probably remember the old size grading system of tomatoes. Class 1 is D, Class 2 are E and C. A sample of the minimun requirements of the standard are below that apply to both Class 1 and 2. I don't think any of us will be too keen to buy anything that falls below the minimun listed below.

Minimun Quality Requirements-subject to tolerances
-Intact
-Sound; products affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make them unfit for consumption are excluded
-clean, practically free of any visible foreign matter.
-practically free from pests,
-practically free from damage caused by pests affecting the flesh
-free of abnormal external moisture
-free of any foreign smell or taste.

I think when you start digging through the grade offs you will find that apart from the odd grading mistake the majority of the grade off is cattle feed at best.

The experts I refer to are Dept of Agriculture Inspectors who are responsible for inspecting product in stores, the ports and the airport to ensure it meets the standard. They also check that the product is correctly labelled. To mislabel the country of origin of a product is illegal as not only does it misleads the consumer but compromises the traceability of the product in the event of a food scare at the source of the product.

P.S Alot of local Rush growers supply the supermarkets still! As I said not many growers out there these days and most are located in north east fingal. It is a business and the supermarkets have far and away the largest customer base.

LeoB

I remember the old tomatoe grading ok. And the chips that would cut the hands of you.

My point was we have dumped so much food which was perfectly ok over the last 20 years. Maybe if people you a knew a bit more about produce they would insist on buying local and odd shaped carrotts.

I know very little about the science of the veg but know good spuds, and other veg when they are to be eaten.

Corsendonk

I agree on your last point, people waste produce by throwing it out when it passes its best before date but it is still acceptable to use. It could be said to be a cynical approach by supermarkets to get people to reshop next week. Buy one get one free promotions on food have been shown in the UK to increase food waste and there have been calls to ban the practice. The whole way people shop has changed too, people would shop every couple of days buying fresh, now people do the big shop on the one day between 1-3 supermarkets.

The Hill Billy

Leo/Corsendonk:

Great topic for discussion. Not for DCN though & off-topic in this thread. If you want me to copy relevant posts to Food & Drink let me know.

HB