El Galpón, Buenos Aires
by Daniela, The Real Foodie
My second real food stop in Buenos Aires was El Galpón farmers’ market in Chacarita, which I was more impressed with during this trip than Sabe La Tierra in San Fernando. Here I was finally able to find raw grass-fed milk and yoghurt! They came in glass bottles and I found them at La Azucena stall, owned by Walter and his father Nestor. They only bring two bottles of raw milk to the market each time for the few customers who buy it so I got lucky. Usually you have to call in advance and order it. The milk was much creamier than our Amish grass-fed raw milk in the U.S. and had a richer flavour.
Walter explained to me that the milk would need to be boiled after two days, which I found strange because our Amish milk lasts at least a week. I thought he was being overly cautious as most people are afraid of raw milk but sure enough it did start to sour after two days. However, it didn’t sour in the same way as our raw milk sours which usually gets a bitter taste and curdles, it became thick and developed a pleasant tart flavour like buttermilk. As time went on the flavour stayed the same and the milk got thicker. I did not need to pasteurise it as it comes from roaming grass-fed cows, eating what they are designed to eat and therefore not sick like grain-fed, confined cows. The fact that it had such a pleasant taste meant it was free from any harmful bacteria. If milk has bad bacteria it smells foul, such as when pasteurised milk goes bad, it doesn’t sour like raw milk, because all the enzymes which would otherwise ferment the milk and turn it sour, producing more beneficial bacteria, have been destroyed by the heat process of pasteurisation.
At La Azucena they sell cow milk, goat milk, cow yoghurt, goat yoghurt, aged and soft cheeses as well as chicken, chicken eggs, quails eggs, salami without preservatives, pork, bacon, sausages, pollen and honey. The cheeses unfortunately are not raw. Their farm is in Las Heras; their cows are purely grass-fed and their chickens are pastured and also given leftovers from the vegetable garden and some non-organic corn (which could mean it is GMO). I went back to the market the following week and bought more raw milk, as well as salami and cheese. The milk again soured after two days which was problematic considering my daughter refused to drink it after it soured and I was not able to go to the market again until 2 days later, but it was still delicious and a breakthrough to have finally found a source for raw milk in Buenos Aires.
At the Granja Organica de Arroyo del Medio stand they sell organic pastured eggs, salamis made without preservatives using pastured meats and homemade mustard, pesto, hummus, and eggplant pate. Territorio Cuyano sells organic wines.
At Grupo San Juan there is a wide array of organic vegetables: mostly greens, some fruits and local blueberries. La Choza, which is also at Sabe La Tierra market, sells organic pasteurised, grass-fed milk, yoghurt and cheese. Cumulen stand sells ice creams made from grass-fed milk, carefully sculpted in the Argentine tradition onto cones, which come in a variety of different natural fruit flavours.
There is a very good cafe at El Galpón where they serve organic salads, pastured grilled meats, whole grain alternatives to the classic Argentine pastries such as empanadas and tartas as well as whole wheat pizzas and pastas (my favourite being beet ravioli when in season), all from local farms. They have fresh organic juices such as passionfruit, peach, blueberry and mulberry.
El Galpón is held every Wednesday and Saturday next to the Federico Lacroze train station in Chacarita.
The Real Foodie 