What You Ought to Know About The Greyton Market

On Saturday mornings from 10:00 until 12:00 the market square in Greyton transforms into a lively gathering spot. Started in 1978 and, while ever popular with locals and visitors you won’t find touristy, expensive goods. What you will find is an open-air, pedestrian-friendly, fresh market selling locally grown, homemade and handcrafted goods. Everything is genuinely free of nasty ingredients from no preservatives in foods to lead-free paint on wooden toys.

Noshing your way through the market

Start your pilgramage with a coffee. For brekkie you might want to try the pancakes, flipped and fluffy just like granny used to make. Greyton market pancakes are famous for their lemon fillings, which include everything from lemon curd and lemon atjar (or chutney) to lemon ice cream. If you’re a pancake creature of habit be tempted to step away from tradition – just a tad - and have both the traditional cinammon sugar and a lemon filling of your choice.

Look out for the freshly squeezed, orchard fresh lemonade and pure lemon juice. The same sun-ripened, naturally grown lemons that go into the juices go into your pancake fillings. In fact, you can expect to find various purveyors of potted herbs, organic seeds, fresh, natural foods and seasonal fruit and veg.

More food glorious food

Depending on what’s emerged from the smoke house in a given week, you’ll have some difficulty choosing between the array of ham, salami, chorizo, salamatti, landjaeger, mettendam, beef pastrami and more at the smoked meats stand. How about a small round of cheese to go with it or some feta rosemary and lemon pesto? Gather your wares and sit down at the wooden chairs and tables provided on site to devour your purchases. You will want to go back for supplies to take home for when the cravings set in.

Try something new

Most markets sell an extra virgin olive oil or two. The Greyton market sells one that’s cold pressed along with olive jam and sundried olives. Other jams include traditional homemade strawberry, youngberry, blackberry, ripe fig, tomato and numerous marmalades. Keep an eye out for unusual jam flavours such as peach and granadilla and prickly pear. Apparently, prickly pear is particularly good as a topping on ice cream.

Authentic fresh baked artisan breads The word “artisan” has become a little abused and haphazardly lopped on to many a foodie sentence just to make it sound good. Not so at the Greyton market. You can purchase your choice of bread baked from bio-wheat or stone ground flour. This is the real stuff. You really can taste the difference. You’ll also find biscotti, rusks, biscuits and some delicious honest to real goodness genuine butter.

Re-fashioned from French Oak wine barrels

From bread boards, steak cutting boards and tappas platters to book reading stands and boot holders, all products are carefully rejuvenated from wine barrels. Some products, such as the fruit platter, are deliberately crafted to reflect the length and curve of the inside palette of the barrel. The wood is free from chemical stains and you can purchase a food grade wood butter specially crafted to care for you product. Interestingly, this concoction of beeswax and lemon infused with extra virgin olive oil is also good for your skin.

More must have art and beautifully crafted goodies

Locals refer to the village as the “art capital of the Overberg”. Come and discover works in various media. Browse the pre-owned, pre-loved books on sale. Get yourself a fabulously, in vogue floppy hat, basket, bag or table mats all made from string. Handmade leatherware includes bags, purses, shoes and even waistcoats. Head off to the aromatherapy stand to find your choice of spritzers, rollers, massage oils, and pure blends. These products really are pure and not just a line on a label to take your money while selling you down the wellbeing river. Other aromatherapy products include natural shampoo, conditioner, soap and body balms.

When all is said (shopped for, eaten) and done

The market is a short walk from practically everything in Greyton. Owing to the seemingly intimate outdoor space in which it is situated, first time visitors will probably be forgiven for assuming they’ll have plenty of time to shop. Don’t be surprised when the church bell over the road chimes 12:00 and you haven’t finished enjoying yourself – probably a good time to grab a refreshing glass of watermelon juice and check your calendar to plan your next trip. It might be worth planning an overnight or two to discover what else serial return visitors keep banging on about.