What grew in the Russian garden before potatoes?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Potato? Back in the middle of the 19th century, it occupied only 1.5% of the country's agricultural area. Tomatoes? They appeared on the beds and tables in Europe only by the end of the 19th century. Carrot? Yes, it was actively eaten in Russia, but not at all the Dutch bright orange variety that is now widespread. The Kramola portal restores historical justice and tells about what grew in the old Russian vegetable garden.

Turnip

Undoubtedly number one. The most important Russian (and not only Russian - the same role of "second bread" before the appearance of potatoes, he played, for example, in Central Asia) vegetable, experienced gardeners managed to collect two crops during the summer. In early spring, white turnips were sown - more early ripening, but not so well stored and not so sweet. Having removed it in the middle of summer, they sowed the more familiar yellow turnip, which was kept in the ground until frost. It is perfectly stored in the cellar until Christmas.

Chubby onion

Onions our ancestors grew many varieties - first green onions and leeks, then onions, shallots and batun. All these varieties are known now, but the cubed onion is forgotten. Derived from ordinary onions by Rostov gardeners, it is devoid of pungency and can be used like an ordinary vegetable.

Swede

A hybrid of turnip and cabbage. It tastes similar to the first, but much more nutritious and unpretentious turnip, therefore it was especially actively grown in the northern and northwestern regions of the Russian Empire. No less actively, parsley root, parsnips, beets, radishes and radishes were grown in Russian gardens (all this is still there, but rutabaga is forgotten) - the roots are well stored, and this is extremely important in conditions of long and cold winters.

Gray cabbage

The cabbage familiar to us was grown only by wealthy peasants - after all, it occupied much more space in the beds than collard greens, or gray cabbage, which grew in a continuous leaf cover. Not as sweet and juicy as cabbage, this cabbage was entirely used for making koshev. For him, cabbage was finely chopped, placed with coarse salt in barrels, the bottom of which was sprinkled with rye flour. All winter, cabbage soup, called servile cabbage soup, was cooked from kroshev.

Primrose

Young greens of these flowers with a philosophical and automobile name were grown for salads, filling for botvinia, turi and other summer dishes with herbs.

Rhubarb

It is unpretentious, undemanding, it grows literally like a weed - but excellent jelly and fruit drinks, jam and filling for sweet pies were prepared from its stems. Look carefully - perhaps rhubarb also grows among the burdocks and dandelions in your country house.

Hemp

The main oilseed crop in central Russia is now prohibited due to unnatural overseas consumption. Cereals and jelly were filled with hemp oil, they were fried on it, they ate greens or just fresh rye bread with it.

Mustard

Spicy herbs that taste like mustard and horseradish at the same time. Mustard was added to okroshka and botvinia and eaten like this with other herbs. The grain mustard we know appeared in Russia only at the end of the 18th century, when cuttings of German mustard were planted in wild mustard. The Germans, in fact, did just that.

Salsify

He's oat root. However, it has nothing to do with oats - it is a relative of ordinary garden asters. The peasants collected the long white roots of the plant with a slight fishy flavor in the fall, boiled, stewed and fried, like other numerous root crops.