This article is from page 24 of the 2008-06-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
THE Ennis Farmer’s Market is the subject of the RTE programme “Fresh from the Farmers’ Market’, to be aired tomorrow night.
Presenter and food writer Clodagh McKenna visited Ennis on a wet and windy day last October.
Ms McKenna interviewed some of the traders and then cooked a Greek style dish using organic lamb, cu- cumber, scallions, garlic, mint, sun dried tomatoes an olive oul – all pur- chased in the farmers’ market.
She also talked with customers about the appeal of farmers’ mar- kets. One customer from Ruan tells the show, “People should realise what good value the market is. For example, I always buy a bag or two of mixed salad leaves. I wash them and store in the fridge where they last all week, whereas the bags from the su- permarket cost more and the leaves start to go brown once you open the bag. I know that the market salad has been picked that morning, has not been sprayed with any chemical and has not travelled thousands of miles
to get to me”.
The farmers’ market has been up and running since 2004 and consists of a group of dedicated food produc- ers and traders with a wide range of local, artisan and organic foods. Most of the produce is sourced in Clare with some coming from near- by Tipperary.
The market runs on Friday morning in the upper market car park (oppo- site Meere’s Butchers) from 8am to 2pm. This year traders are advocat- ing to customers, the benefits to the environment of eating fresh, local
produce and minimising their carbon footprint.
Another regular customer tells the show, “I really look forward to Fri- day evenings because I know I will have something delicious to eat from the Farmer’s Market.
Today I have a quiche, some local goats cheese, salad and I also have a beautiful bunch of flowers, some new potatoes and an apple tart for Sun- day lunch and some Brussels sprout plants and duck eggs for my dad.”
The programme goes out on RTE 1 tomorrow night (June 11) at 7.30pm.