The possibilities for fun at the Kollwitzplatz market are never-ending, with just the right balance between food and non-food items, and an endless array of samples. And where else could I watch linseed oil being made before my eyes?

Uwe Leue is a civil engineer by profession, but has been making oil for years. All his homemade oils are unfiltered, organic, and taste strongly of their source; at his stand, little dishes of sunflower, walnut, hazelnut, almond, poppyseed, black cumin, Bärlauch and sesame oils sit in a row waiting to be tried. (And Mr Leue is very patient if you try them all...) After much sampling I settled on the sunflower oil, which was flavourful but neutral enough, I thought, for the aioli I was planning to make that weekend.

If you look carefully at the mill above, you'll see a drop of oil just hitting the trough resting on the lip of the oil jar. The fibres left from the seeds – the brown rope curling out the front – are used as animal feed.

Mr Leue explained that in Berlin and Brandenburg, linseed oil was traditionally used to top a dish of boiled potatoes and quark – a meal of the poor, but made gourmet with the right ingredients.

Ölmühle Gatow at the Kollwitzplatz market, Saturdays 9 am - 4 pm
(To check if he's got a particular oil, call Mr Leue at 0173 871 3824.)