24 Carrots Farmers Market

Yesterday, it was the 24 Carrots Farmer’s Market in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham. The market is a monthly event that is organised by the Jewellery Quarter’s Residents Association and it brings in producers from Birmingham and beyond to sell their wares to the local residents. I found out about the market last month at the Midlands Food Bloggers Meet Up when Brian from 24 Carrots came and told us all about it. Louise from Comida Y Vida and I could not resist the chance to go and meet local Midlands food producers and purchase some goodies from them.

One of our fellow Midlands Food Blogger’s, Tom from Loaf was going to be there too selling lovely pizzas from his travelling wood fired pizza oven. However, Tom had a disaster when his oven broke on his way to the market. You can read all about it here on his blog and see a picture of the damaged oven. It was a massive shame and everyone was looking forward to pizzas to lunch. I hope he can get the oven fixed and be able to attend the next one. However, all was not lost, Tom set up an impromptu underground  pizza takeaway from his house last night to use up his 20kg of pizza dough and toppings that he had prepared for the market and I believe it was a success. Well done Tom!

Another friend of mine had a stall at the market and that was Mary from Kiss Me Cupcakes, who I did a cupcake course with not so long ago. It was great to see her and get to eat her lovely cupcakes, without having to make them first! I brought a box of six home with me and am slowing eating them.

Our next stop was Squisito Deli which had the most amazing display on the stall. Sara had done a fantastic job. It just looked beautiful. Everything was freshly made by them including a variety of Italian breads, sausages, smoked spices and garlic. It was foodie heaven! Louise and I left with full bags of ciabatta, focaccia, sausages, oak smoked garlic, herbs and spices.

We then went to More Cocoa for the best hot chocolate we had ever had. It was delicious and freshly made straight in front of us. I brought some chocolate so that I could make at home myself. I do not normally like hot chocolate but I loved this one.

Over at Hincley’s Bakery Louise brought some spelt bread and I brought a Butalump. A soft buttery loaf that was perfect with bacon sandwiches this morning. I brought the bacon from Woodhouse Farm which has a traditional butchery and smoke-house. The bacon was thick and very yummy.

The market even had live entertainment from a band called McScraggy and The Suits. They were really good and gave a party atmosphere to the market. Louise and I had a fabulous time at the market and we would like to thank everyone at 24 Carrots and the stall holders who made our time so enjoyable. We will be back again soon! The dates for the last two markets of the year are Saturday 20th November and Saturday 18th December. We hope to see you there.

Until next time,

Happy Cooking!

PS: See Louise’s post about the farmers market here