Sweet shore leave on La Palma
April 20th, 2018 | Landgänge
The market hall of Santa Cruz de La Palma is cozy and clear. Many small shops line up around a square courtyard. It’s the usual offer of Mediterranean markets: fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, spices, flowers and a number of small bars for coffee or a quick glass of wine. But there is a special feature here in St. Cruz: freshly squeezed sugarcane juice – on request also with “shot” – that tastes like more.
There they are, the sugarcane straws: the pieces are probably half a meter long, dull in fresh green, yellow and purple-brown. Sugarcane can grow up to 7 meters high. Accordingly, the pieces in the market are as thick as a finger or even as an arm. Nice to look at, contrary to our local sugar beet which is rather clumsy and inelegant.
In the inner courtyard of the market hall, a hand-written board describes the offer: pure sugar cane juice, sugar cane juice with passion fruit, lemon or orange juice and mojito – all freshly pressed, of course. The stalks are given several times by a press. It used to be done in old olive presses. Today it takes over the modern, appetizing stainless steel variant.
The market hall of Santa Cruz de La Palma can be reached in less than fifteen minutes from the ship. A short walk to have a sugar cane juice there always is a pleasure. Maybe even with a dash of white rum as an aperitif, if you plan to go to one of the beautiful restaurants in the old town.
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