The mercadillo or ‘little market’ is every Wednesday morning apart from the last Wednesday in the month. It is a fantastic place to buy cheaper but more importantly fresher local produce, and you will find some interesting foodstuffs that don’t appear in the super markets.

In addition there is a huge range of cheap merchandise, (not local mainly Chinese!), some of which is fun to buy and actually worth buying depending on your viewpoint. If you are looking for a bargain fashion purchase that doesn’t need to last too long or be of the best quality, some cheap work clothes, curtain material, bed linens, kitchen pots etc. all can be found here, as well as cheaper real and artificial plants.

It is also another opportunity to do as the locals do and not buy everything in the supermarkets.

My particular find was the stalls selling nuts and spices, where I buy unsalted almonds, beautiful whole walnuts and more variety of dried beans and lentils, and keep meaning to try out the big selection of herbs and spices all sold in little packets. This underlines the amount of pulses used traditionally in Spanish cooking, a lot of which is like vegetarian food but with a bit of ham thrown in.

As with the other food markets you will notice the seasonal trends even more than in the supermarkets, particularly where the fruits are concerned. For a number of weeks stalls will be selling strawberries and then the next week they will have completely disappeared to be replaced by cherries for example.

I have found the best quality and value stalls tend to be the most specialised ones selling just a few products. Recent favourites of mine have been a guy mainly selling tomatoes and grapes and the ‘egg man’! With the other stalls the best option is to walk past them all to check out the best produce before starting to buy and be prepared to be brave if you see a vegetable that you don’t recognise. I bought my first fresh chard at the market and find it much better raw in salads or cooked than the spinach that I can only buy in packets. Also don’t be shy about handling and smelling the fruit and vegetables for freshness … the Spanish ladies do. Some of the stallholders even encourage you to try a fruit before buying.

Overall the market is interesting with its 2 halves of good quality local fresh produce and less quality mainly non local merchandise, but both sides come together in that they are good value.

I go to to market mainly for the food which is definitely fresher and includes things that you just can’t find anywhere else.

Give it a try …