The Somerset Farmers Market is not a supermarket under a marquee. It is a weekly negotiation with the weather, and the weather usually gets the last word. That is why the stalls look so different in February and August: what you find on a Saturday morning depends on what survived the frost, the rain, and the six weeks of sunshine nobody ordered. Knowing roughly what to expect each month saves you money, saves you disappointment, and turns a pleasant wander into an actual shop.
Two things are worth holding in your head. First, the calendar lies by a fortnight. Somerset's growing season generally runs a little behind the printed dates, and a cold spring can push asparagus back three weeks while a warm one drags strawberries forward. Second, growers pick for ripeness, not for a delivery schedule. If it is on the table, it was ready that morning. If it is not, no amount of asking will produce it.
So shop the market the way the stallholders do, by asking. "What came in this week?" gets you further than any list, including this one. And when something is at the end of its run, buy it properly — the last of the purple sprouting broccoli in April is worth twice the first of it in February.
From December through February the produce tables get shorter and heavier. Expect parsnips that have had a frost on them, which is what makes them sweet, plus leeks, kale, sprouts on the stalk, celeriac, swede, red cabbage, squash, stored onions and potatoes. Purple sprouting broccoli usually appears in late January or February, and forced rhubarb arrives around the same time: pink, tender and nothing like the field-grown stalks that follow in spring.
The fruit is stored rather than picked — apples, pears, maybe quince. Buy a few more than you need, because by March the good ones are gone.
The stalls that do not depend on a field come into their own. Farmhouse cheddar and other Somerset cheeses, cider and apple juice, bread, cured meat, pies, preserves and honey are at their best when there is less to compete with. It is also the easiest time of year to talk to a cheesemaker or a cider maker, since nobody is queuing three deep for strawberries.
March is the hungry gap. Salad leaves, herbs, radishes, spring onions and the last of the stored roots carry the market until the ground catches up. Then it turns quickly. Wild garlic appears in April in the hedgerows around the Levels, and you will smell it before you see it. Nettles, spinach, chard, new-season lettuce and the first broad beans follow.
Asparagus is the moment the market changes character, usually from late April into early June. Buy it the day you plan to eat it, keep it damp and upright, and cook it plainly: hot pan, a little butter, salt. If the stalks are thick, peel the bottom third. Do not buy a week's worth just because it is there.
By late May you might see elderflower, the first strawberries from a polytunnel, and peas in the pod. Ask growers what is coming next. They know, and they will tell you.
June, July and August are the busy months and the reason most people come. Soft fruit leads: strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, cherries, loganberries. Vegetables fill the rest of the table — courgettes, runner beans, peas, tomatoes from July, cucumbers, new potatoes, beetroot, fennel, and sweetcorn from August.
Two habits make summer shopping better. Arrive early, because berries and good bread go in the first hour. And buy soft fruit in bigger quantities than you think you need: a tray becomes jam, a crumble and a bowl for the freezer. Keep it out of the sun, do not wash it until you are ready to eat it, and use the bruised ones first.
September and October might be the most rewarding weeks of the year, partly because the crowds thin out. Apples arrive in earnest, including cider apples for anyone who presses their own. Pears, quince, damsons and late plums follow. Squash and pumpkins pile up, the sweetcorn is still good, and there is often a second flush of raspberries and blackberries.
Watch for nuts, chutneys, and cider making its way from orchard to stall. Mushrooms may appear too. Buy them only from someone who can name them confidently, and if you gather your own, never eat anything you cannot identify with certainty.
Storage work pays off now. Wrap apples in newspaper, keep them cold and dark, and check the box weekly for the one rotten fruit that ruins the rest.
If you have allergies or a restricted diet, ask the stallholder about ingredients rather than assuming — small producers change recipes with the season, and most are glad to talk it through. And whatever the month, buy from the person who grew it. That conversation is the whole point of a farmers market, and it is the one thing a supermarket cannot put on a shelf.
Photo: vietnguyenbui / Pixabay
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