There’s something very appealing about food as naked as the day it was born, grown, or uprooted. I can’t resist a dig around a traditional market and in Tenerife we have some lovely farmers markets selling fresh produce direct to the public. Meet the newest addition, Mercado Parque La Reina, just a short bus ride from my Los Cristianos home.

The near 40 degrees heat wave was making the whirling ceiling fans work overtime in the large hanger type building, only opened a few months ago. Tucked away near the Titsa bus garage and just shy of the Karting Tenerife track it was well laid out in tidy rows but not very busy on my mid morning visit. A large fish stall just inside was piled high with my much needed brain food adding a nice whiff to the air. At the other end a big butchers stall was equally loaded with enough cattle to start a stampede.

The full range of local fruit and veg was laid out along the main aisles but I was looking for a few surprises – and found them. Moringa and Maqui stood either side of red beetroot in packs of powdered raw and organic superfoods, and black allium garlic promised high contents of potassium and zinc.  A glorious spray of mushrooms was growing off a large off cut of branch and was being lovingly sprayed with water to keep it perky – well it works for me.

There were some fine blooms of flowers and a table groaning with jars of flavoured teas like Ginseng, Green Wakame-Ginkgo, and Gunpowder tea – not to taken after a curry. I was glad to see chocolate almonds out in force, always a favourite, but most of all I was impressed with a stall full of bottled craft beers from Tenerife and beyond. I bought a couple to road test at home – they will get their own blog post to do them justice. There was a stall over the other side of the hall offering Cava, and rice liquor.

I had a chat with a few of the stall holders, all were helpful and keen but a little frustrated at the lack of customers, that’s where you all come in. They have free Wi Fi and a kids play area, free parking, and open 8am to 3 pm every day except Monday. It’s a worthy addition to the growing trend of direct selling and is of course helping local producers to fight back against the pile it high, sell it cheap, supermarkets.