Order Your Haggis for Burns Night!

A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, sometimes also known as Robert Burns Day or Burns Night (Burns Nicht), although they may in principle be held at any time of the year.

Traditionally there is an address to the haggis. At the end of the address, a Scotch whisky toast will be proposed to the haggis, then the company will sit and enjoy the meal. The main course is haggis, and is traditionally served with mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed swede (neeps). A dessert course, cheese courses, coffee, etc. may also be part of the meal.

The courses normally use traditional Scottish recipes. For instance dessert may be cranachan or Tipsy Laird (whisky trifle) followed by oatcakes and cheese, all washed down with the "water of life" - Scotch whisky.

This year we are stocking a 500g Haggis at £2.99 which serves 2-3 people.

If you haven't tried Haggis then we urge you to give it a go!

This is the first installment of a new segment of news here at Union Market: Get to know your Veg! Each week we will be introducing a seasonal vegetable to our news feed and tell you some great and interesting facts about said vegetable!

This week we have the fantastic Beetroot! 

The beetroot, informally known as a beet and botanically known as Beta Vulgaris, evolved from wild sea-beet, a native of many coastlines from as far as India to our own coastlines here in Britain.

When is it in season?

Beetroot can be consumed throughout the year apart from in April & May.

Is Beetroot good for you?

Beetroot has been reported to help boost stamina, make your muscles work more efficiently and even reduce blood pressure.

It is a rich source of potent antioxidants and nutrients: magnesium, sodium, potassium and vitamin C, and betaine - which is important for cardiovascular health. Betaine functions by acting with other nutrients to reduce the concentration a naturally occurring amino acid called cysteine, which can be harmful to blood vessels and thus contribute to the development of heart disease and strokes.

Cooked: The usually deep-red roots of beetroot are eaten boiled either as a cooked vegetable, or eaten raw either alone or combined with any salad vegetable.

Raw: The green, leafy portion of the beet is also edible. It is most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case it has a taste and texture similar to spinach.

Drink: More commonly nowadays many shops stock Beetroot Juices which is a cool refreshing drink that is surprisingly delicious.

Recipe:

Here is a great soup recipe for you to try out where all the ingredients can be found here at Union Market. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers this year and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from us all at Union Market!

We champion the  'BEST OF BRITISH' with a comprehensive range of artisan cheeses from the country's top cheese makers.

We have some fantastic cheese on offer this Christmas - Cheddars, Stilton, Stinking Bishop, Gubbeen, Kirkham's Lancashire, Tymboro and many more of Britain's finest!

We also stock a wide selection of European cheeses as we appreciate that Britain doesn't quite cut the mustard when it comes to cheese's such a Parmesan or Gorgonzola!

Pop into see us this week - we are open each day until 9pm!

We have some cracking Dorset Farms Christmas Hams here in Union Market ready for you to order and take away as you please.

Below are some of the finer details:

THE HAMS:

• Traditional 1-1.5kg - £15.50/kg
• Cider & Cloves 1-1.5kg - £16.25/kg
• Marmalade 1-1.5kg - £16.25/kg

SUPPLIER:  Dorset Farms.

INGREDIENTS: Free range, happy pigs are the only pigs that produce Dorset Farm hams as well as high quality, local ingredients in all their cooking.

TRADITIONAL METHODS:  The award winning hams are made using time-honoured methods & are individually cured by hand without extra water or additional additives.

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY: All their hams are produced by hand, the old-fashioned way. Flavour & texture over speed & yield, so generous amounts of time are given to cure their hams.

Click here  and order yours today!

Over the past few weeks we have been working towards the launch of a new, updated and fully functional e-commerce website so that we are able to showcase and share our unique collection wines. Part of our buying strategy is to provide provenance through the supply chain; we buy as close to the source as possible, with many wines coming direct from the vineyards themselves.

Our range is made up of a mix of classic old world and contemporary new world wines. No other winemaking family manages to bridge these two worlds as well as the Rothschilds.

Therefore over a third of our wines have been sourced directly from the Rothschild vineyards in France, South America, USA & South Africa with the other two thirds having been carefully selected from winemakers and appellations to provide a range that offers both a plethora of choice along with superb value for money on many lines that you would struggle to find elsewhere.

£30 Voucher

As part of our launch we will be offering you a £30 voucherto be redeemed with your first purchase. Simply click the following link to register your details and away you go!

Offers

We have some superb offers on the website, which will be available and will be throughout the Christmas season.

Our coffee shop has recently seen a surge in chocolate lovers seeking their daily 'guilty pleasure'. We are frequently seeing queues increase whilst all waiting to get their hands on some of our fantastic Konditor & Cook brownies, cakes & slices.

The Fudge Brownie (pictured) has very quickly become a Union Market favourite amongst our staff and we are dying to know which is yours?

Our 4 flavours of Brownie! 

• Curly Whirly - vanilla cheesecake infused with dark chocolate.
• Boston - scintillating cranberries combined with the richness of chocolate - 'a play of sharp & sweet on your tastebuds'. 
• Choc-Chip - chocolate brownies spiked with 70% dark chocolate chips
• Fudge - topped with Vanilla fudge & spiked through with dark chocolate - 'busrting with heavenly caramel'.

The Fudge Brownie!