Buying fresh produce and herbal teas: Part I

Champel market During bouts of holiday socializing, I spoke with several Swiss-based readers of my last blog “Toasting our health” who asked me where to get the best fresh produce and how to know what’s in season. A couple of people also asked for more information about herbal teas. So fresh produce and herbal teas will be the subjects of Parts I and II of this blog.

In no particular order, this is where to get the best fresh local food, including organic (known as “bio”):

1. Directly from producers

2. Street markets

3. Some Mom and Pop stores; some health food stores

4. Fresh produce sections of supermarkets

There is a growing network of producers selling directly on the farm and via informal networks of sales points which range from street market stalls and Mom and Pop grocery stores to restaurants with foodie gift shops and a new spate of “terroir” boutiques.

A newish trend is for farmers to actually set up a proper shop on their farm where they sell not only their own fruit and veg, meat and dairy products, but wine and honey and ranges of home-made jams, syrups, sauces, chutneys, baked goods and more.

How to find out where these producers are in your area? One: summer and fall, keep an eye out in suburbs and the countryside for home-made signs by the side of the road advertising potatoes, apples, eggs, pumpkins, whatever.

The signs probably include these words: Direkt ab Hof or Vom Hof in Swiss-German parts of the country, or Vente à la ferme in Swiss-French parts.

Sometimes these signs include the word “self”, which can mean self-service (help yourself and leave the money in the money box) or “pick it yourself”. The latter mostly applies to flowers or berries.

The charm of buying this way is that it is spontaneous, and is often a fun experience.

Two: you can approach the issue more systematically by researching addresses near you on the Internet. Two national databases are www.kagfreiland.ch and www.agriculture.ch. The latter also offers search options in English. I find these databases very strong on Swiss-German addresses, less so on Swiss-French ones.

For Swiss-French addresses, try www.marchepaysan.ch.

For Canton Vaud, I recommend www.biovaud.ch and www.terroir-vaudois.ch, and for Neuchâtel: www.ovpt.ch.

For Canton Geneva, log on to www.opage.ch, English version, then click on Resources, then Publications. In the PDF of a magazine called Terrific Terroir you’ll find a comprehensive listing of producers who sell directly. (On the OPAGE site, you can also click on Buying Directly from Producers, but using that option effectively is contingent on knowing the different areas of the canton by name. If you live in Cologny, for example, and you want a match for, say, ‘berries’ select that from the list of food items and see what comes up. However, if you want a list of all producers to see what’s available and might interest you, use the Terrific Terroir directory.)

Markets. I took the picture above at the weekly market right near where I live in Geneva. I love to go there, because after a while you get to be friendly with the stall holders, so it’s a humanly rich experience. Another reason is that they will tell you (assuming your language skills are up to understanding them - hardly any speak English) what produce is particularly delicious, and you also learn what to look out for when you are selecting. It’s a whole education in itself, particularly with regard to fruit or items like tomatoes where just the right degree of ripeness is so important. But do be aware that all the items may not be local, or even Swiss, which makes sense for things like citrus fruit - but if you want to be a purist and eat local and seasonal, then look at the sign (origin of the produce is given) or ask.

Another reason the market’s fun is that increasingly you see local farm-made products like oils and vinegars, mustards and pickles, so if you don’t have time to drive out to farm shops you may be able to find some of their products in street markets.

The site www.5amtag.ch has a PDF download of all the weekly street markets in Switzerland. On the German version, click on Taten und Worte, then Wochenmärkte in der Schweiz. In French, that’s Action et Projets, Marchés en Suisse, and in Italian: Campagne e Progetti, I mercati in Svizzera.

Mom and Pop stores. Here, let the vibe guide you - it may really be just a convenience store with little care expended on the food products they sell. You’ll know within seconds after walking in. But if you should fall on the increasing number of places where the owners make it a point of pride to get the best fresh produce and groceries, shopping in these stores can also be enriching from the standpoint of the human contact and all that you learn. (As with talking to market stall holders, the education includes everything from selection tips to recipes, but it does presuppose some ability on your part to speak local languages.) And again, many such store owners seek out local producers and act as sales points for ranges of home-made products, although what they otherwise sell might be themed to specialties from other countries, for example Italy, Portugal or Spain.

Supermarkets. Here, I really mean the Big Two, Migros and Coop, as well as the Manor and Globus food halls, but I also include small local chains like upmarket Marinello in Zurich. All actively feature more and more local produce. They also have seasonal promotions, so at a glance you can see that it’s asparagus, or strawberry, or wild mushroom, and so forth, season.

What’s in season (and when) in Switzerland

If there’s no eye-catching seasonal feature, sellers can of course tell you what’s locally grown and seasonal, but for general info (charts) about what’s in season I recommend logging on to the World Wildlife Fund Switzerland site, www.wwf.ch.

True, it’s not in English. However, depending on where you are in the country, select the language spoken there. In German, click on Was können Sie tun/Tipps für den Alltag/Essen & Trinken, then on the two downloads: Saisontabelle Gemüse, and Früchte. (In French, that’s: Ce que vous pouvez faire/Gestes écologiques/Alimentation, with the downloads entitled Tableau saisonnier, légumes and fruits.)

If you take the WWF Switzerland charts along when you shop, you can match up the names of the fruit and veg on the charts with the signs accompanying the produce. The sign on the produce will say where the produce is from. If it says Switzerland, and the chart says it’s currently in season here, there’s your information. Supermarket staff can of course be helpful, but they’re not going to provide the personalized involvement many stall holders and small grocery store owners can provide, so this is a way to get the info self-sufficiently and improve your local language skills into the bargain.

Part II about herbal teas will be posted the week January 19, 2009.