Perhaps no other vegetable has attracted such close attention of researchers of all times and peoples as cabbage.
Philosophers and historians, physicians and cooks have left us numerous instructions and even entire monographs on its magical properties. According to one of the legends, the Thunderer Jupiter, working on an explanation of two contradictory sayings of the oracle, was sweating from a terrible overstrain. Several large drops rolled down from the brow of the father of the gods to the ground. It is from these drops that I grew cabbage.
The story, of course, is simple, but it shows the respect that the Romans had for the ancient vegetable. Apparently, the very word "cabbage" is somehow connected with this legend, right. How did it come from the ancient Roman "caputum", which in translation into Russian means "head". Many nations dispute each other's right to be called the birthplace of cabbage. Georgians, for example, compete with Italians and Greeks.
According to Professor G. Japaridze, who studied the history of the origin of cabbage, its homeland is the Colchis lowland of Georgia, since it is in these places that a rare variety of plants similar to cabbage, called "kezhera", is found. Cabbage was valued for its high gastronomic qualities. It was readily eaten with corned beef or ham.
The peasants of ancient Rome especially loved cabbage with corned beef and beans. Usually cabbage was flavored with olive oil, but in combination with fatty pork meat it was good without oil. Tender cabbage stalks were used to make salads, to which olive oil and a little vinegar were added. A student and friend of Aristotle, the ancient Greek naturalist and philosopher, one of the first botanists of antiquity Theophrastus (372 - 287 BC) in his famous work "Studies on Plants" described in some detail three varieties of cabbage that were cultivated in those distant times the Athenians.
Another ancient Greek philosopher Chrysippus (280 - 208/205 BC) valued cabbage so much that he dedicated an entire book to it. In it, he considers the influence of cabbage on all organs of the human body.
The ancient Greeks and Romans generally attached great importance to cabbage, considering it a medicine that cures almost all diseases. So, she was credited with the ability to soothe a headache, cure deafness, relieve insomnia and various internal diseases.
cabbage like medicine the ancient Greek physician Dioscorides, the ancient Roman writer Catan the Elder, the doctor of the times of Tiberius and Claudius - Scribonius, the Roman writer and scientist Pliny the Elder, and many others.
Not weakened, but rather increased attention to the cabbage in the Middle Ages. The scientist, philosopher, physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna) significantly supplemented and largely revised the ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans about the healing properties of cabbage. He assigned quite a lot of space to her in his encyclopedia of theoretical and clinical medicine "The Canon of Medical Science". One of the first Russian sources that mentions cabbage can be considered Svyatoslav's Izbornik dated 1073.
In a later chronicle, it is said that the Smolensk prince Rostislav Mstislavovich in 1150 gave his friend Manuel a skit. Kapustnik in the old days was called in Rus' a garden where cabbage was grown. This word is quite often found in ancient Russian literary sources. Vegetable gardens with cabbage everywhere surrounded Russian settlements. The abundance of cabbage in Rus' surprised even worldly-wise foreigners.
So, a certain Cornelius de Buin wrote in the 13th century: In Muscovy, ordinary white cabbage grows, with which the Russians prepare large stocks and which the common people eat twice a day.
It is known that the Slavs began to cultivate cabbage no later than in the 9th century. The most reliable and widespread is the version according to which cabbage with Greco-Roman colonists living in the Crimea and other regions of the Black Sea region first came to the southern Slavic tribes. It is unlikely that any other cuisine in the world knows so many dishes based on cabbage. In the menu of the Russians, she has always stood in one of the first places. And today we eat cabbage 7 times more than, for example, Americans. Isn't this a confirmation that the Russians quite rightly include cabbage in the category of their national food products?
Currently, the cabbage genus has about 150 varieties. Most cultivated species come from the Mediterranean and China. The most ancient of them are deciduous, as well as colored (for the first time in Russia it was mentioned only in 1825), kohlrabi, Chinese and Beijing cabbage. All types of cabbage (except cauliflower and Beijing) are biennial plants. In our country, cabbage occupies about 30 percent of vegetable crops, and of course, the lion's share of them falls on white cabbage. Of the other species, cauliflower, red cabbage and Brussels sprouts are most common.
Sauerkraut... Who hasn't tried it! Today, like hundreds of years ago, it occupies an important place in our diet. This is a wonderful appetizer, an excellent side dish for meat dishes, fragrant minced meat for pies. Cabbage is fermented in many countries of the world, but in few places it is used in such quantities as in Russia. And such a variety of sauerkraut dishes is unlikely to be found anywhere else. Perhaps this is due to the fact that during the long Russian winters, it was sauerkraut, along with turnips, that made up the main “greens” on the peasant table.
The American scientist L. Bragg wrote very excitingly and sensibly about the "amazing healing and healing qualities" of sauerkraut. He suggests that sauerkraut, because it keeps well, may have been one of the first vitamin foods that sailors took with them on long voyages.
In any case, Captain James Cook, who discovered the Hawaiian Islands, attributes the success of this discovery to ... sauerkraut - a daily portion of it saved the sailors from scurvy. Bragg also notes that the history of sauerkraut dates back to the time when the Great Chinese sauerkraut was being built...
The industrious slaves, the Chinese coolies who built this monstrous structure that snaked its way across Asia for 1500 miles, were hardy and strong thanks to cabbage, to which they ate rice and soybeans as a supplement. The cabbage was fermented with cumin, celery, dill and juniper berries, and lo and behold! a wonderful new taste was born, sour and pleasant!
Several thousand years later, despite the Great Wall of China, Genghis Khan sacked China. His Tatar hordes adopted sauerkraut and added it to the loot when they marched through Asia and Europe - they left behind ruins, destruction and ... sauerkraut.
The Slavs, even before they knew cabbage, were engaged in salting wild herbs. Cabbage became known to them at least three hundred years before the invasion of Genghis Khan, so it can be assumed that our ancestors, long before him, were well versed in the art of pickling it. And it is unlikely that the Russian people adopted any food from the invaders.
Harvesting cabbage for the winter in Russia took place in late autumn, when, at the first slight frost, the cabbage forks “curl more tightly” and become harder. A picturesque picture was presented by the Russian village during the harvesting of cabbage. Throughout the village, the sound of cuts on troughs was heard.
For cutting cabbage in each house there was a special trough, which was not used for anything else. In the landowner's houses, the troughs were very long, and when cutting cabbage, 10-14 women were placed behind each of them. These troughs were made of thick boards, the best ones were hollowed out from linden or oak logs. Cabbage was used, as they would say today, according to waste-free technology.
The green parts of the stalks were washed, chopped and fed to livestock, like all other waste from logging. Cows are very willing to eat cabbage and, when added to feed, they give more milk. The amount of harvested chopped sour cabbage was determined by the number of tubs. A tub and a bucket were common measures for sauerkraut, as were, by the way, quarters and quarters for bread. According to its quality, sauerkraut was divided into gray, semi-white and white. The gray one was chopped from the upper green leaves alone, the semi-white one was cut from the whole head, and the white one was cut only from the middle, that is, from the white, steeply folded inner leaves.
Gray cabbage among the common people was mainly used for cabbage soup, and half-white and white cabbage was eaten on fast days with kvass or vegetable oil. When chopping gray cabbage, they put salt, peeled onions, and spices, such as cumin, were added to white cabbage for smell. It was customary for Russians to ferment cabbage and whole heads of cabbage, sometimes halves, in tubs, vats with chopped cabbage. But the thrifty housewives left the best, hard heads of cabbage fresh.
When vegetables appeared
Man began to breed useful plants a very long time ago, back in the Stone Age. At first, people collected what nature gave and what could be eaten - fruits, leaves, seeds. Then they began to preserve certain types of trees, shrubs, herbs that gave them food. Then primitive agriculture arose, when people began to scatter the seeds of useful plants and harvest.
Involuntarily, ancient farmers also became spontaneous breeders - after all, they selected plants with tasty fruits, high yields, and other useful properties. In general, all vegetable plants have their own centuries-old histories. Here is some of them. We will take a short tour and tell you about the history of vegetables. Cabbage is native to the Mediterranean. Here people began to grow leafy forms of cabbage, and later other forms of the plant appeared from it. Information about the cultivation of leafy cabbage can be found in the nine-volume "History of Plants" by the famous ancient botanist Theophrastus. They date back to the 3rd century BC.
In the 1st century AD, according to the testimony of the scientist and writer Pliny the Elder, about eight types of cabbage, including leaf, and head, and broccoli. It is assumed that cabbage appeared on the territory of our country as early as the 7th-5th centuries BC. They began to breed it in Transcaucasia, then it penetrated into Kievan Rus, and spread to Muscovy.
One of the most beloved among our peoples has become white cabbage, it rightfully belongs to the first place among all cabbages. After all, it is no coincidence that when they talk about cabbage, they first of all remember it, then cauliflower.
Further history of vegetables even more interesting. Onions have also been known to man for a long time. Its homeland is considered to be Central Asia and Afghanistan. Onions were grown in Ancient Greece, Egypt, India. Hippocrates, the famous physician of antiquity, used onions to heal the sick.
Onions must have been eaten by Roman legionnaires. It was believed that food with a lot of onions gives courage, energy and strength.
Ordinary people of France, Spain, Portugal in the X-XII centuries ate onions every day - this was their food.
In Rus', onions appeared in the XII-XIII centuries, mostly poor people ate it.
The same "ancient" and garlic. In the Middle Ages, garlic was an amulet. It was believed that he could save people from all sorts of disasters and hardships. He was familiar to the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans. Archaeologists have found it in the Egyptian pyramids. In our country, it is also considered an "old" plant.
Tomato, or tomato, comes from the tropical regions of South and Central America. It came to Europe in the 16th century, it was brought by the Spaniards. But he did not immediately become beloved and popular. In some countries it was grown as a medicinal and ornamental plant, and in the culture of many European countries it appeared late: in France - in the middle of the last century, in England - in the 80s, in the USA only in the 40s of the last century. It has been grown in Russia since the 18th century.
The birthplace of pepper is America, more precisely Mexico and Guatemala. The appearance of pepper in Europe is associated with the name of Christopher Columbus. In Europe, pepper was used as a spice for a long time, then sweet varieties of pepper suitable for food were isolated. It has been grown in Russia since the 17th century.
Cucumber also has a solid track record. This is one of the plants whose fruits are used in food in an unripe form. Scientists believe that the cucumber is more than six thousand years old. Its homeland is Southeast Asia. In India, this plant can still be found in forests.
Exact time appearance of cucumber in Russia is unknown. It is assumed that it was known here already in the 9th century, although it became widespread in the 16th-17th centuries.
The Mexicans bred the pumpkin in their gardens more than five thousand years ago. After the discovery of America, the Portuguese brought the pumpkin from Brazil to India, then it came to Europe. It has been known in Russia since the 16th century.
People have known beets since ancient times. In the 3rd century BC, the ancient Greek botanist Theophrastus described beets that grew wild on the Mediterranean coast. The first plant to be cultivated by man was Swiss chard.
The ancients cultivated beets mainly as a medicinal plant. The ancient Romans enjoyed eating beet leaves.
In the Middle Ages, root beets appear. On the territory of our country, in Armenia, beets were known two thousand years before our era. In Kievan Rus, it was cultivated in the X-XI centuries. Now the red root beet is one of the most popular plants.
Carrots have been known to people since 2000 BC. The Romans used it as a treat.
In European countries, carrots appear in the 16th century. It was used for medicinal purposes. In the wild, carrots are found in America, Australia, New Zealand, in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Turnip has a very ancient history as a vegetable. Its homeland is the Mediterranean In ancient Greece, turnips were used for food, for livestock feed and as a medicinal plant. Among the ancient Romans, baked turnips were considered a great delicacy.
Before the advent of potatoes, turnips successfully replaced it. In Rus', she was the most beloved and most common vegetable. Many customs and beliefs are associated with it. Until now, "Turnip" is considered one of the most beloved fairy tales for kids.
Radish was introduced into culture long before our era. Hippocrates mentioned it as a medicinal plant, Theophrastus named it among food plants. Now it is grown in many countries of the world.
Herodotus mentions the radish. He reported that the builders of the pyramids of Cheops (2900 BC) were fed radishes, onions and garlic. It was introduced into culture at least 5 thousand years ago.
Potatoes are native to South and Central America. You will never see him in the wild. It was brought to Europe by the Spaniards, then it spread to other countries. But in Europe, potatoes were not immediately recognized. In 1765, in Russia, the Senate issued a special decree on the “establishment” of potato growing in the country. In some countries, including Russia, culture had to be introduced by force. Potatoes have been widely used in Russia since the middle of the 19th century.
Peas in the wild are not found now. This plant was cultivated in the Stone Age along with wheat, barley and millet. They also sown in Ancient Rus'.
Beans, a relative of peas, one of the main plants of ancient agriculture in Peru, Mexico and other countries South America. It appeared in it after the travel of Columbus, beans came to Russia in the 17th-18th centuries.
These are short stories the emergence of well-known vegetables.
Of course, this "modesty" had an objective reason: cold winters and a short summer season in Russia did not allow growing many vegetables, as in the countries of Western Europe, but the ingenuity of our people sometimes led to miracles, for example: in the Solovetsky Monastery located beyond the Arctic Circle , the monks treated Emperor Peter I with watermelons grown by them. The well-known director V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote: Watermelons, melons, cucumbers and peaches grew here. Of course, all this in greenhouses. The stoves were arranged with heat pipes under the soil on which fruit trees grew.". And it is obvious that such an example of gardening and horticulture was not the only one.
So, let's talk about vegetables according to the chronology of their appearance, i.e. according to the approximate time of the beginning of their cultural breeding in Russia. It should be noted that many of the centuries given in this article are rather arbitrary, because exact dates are given only by references to the use of these vegetables in ancient documents. And in general, according to our historians and agronomists, there were only three or four vegetables on the beds of a medieval Russian peasant, and in the pre-Rurik era, the Slavs ate only turnips and peas.
Turnip
Turnip can rightly be called the "progenitor" of all vegetable crops grown in Rus'. In our people, this vegetable is considered "primordially Russian." Now no one can say when it appeared on the table, but it is assumed that during the period of the emergence of agriculture among the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes.
There were times when in Rus' a turnip crop failure was equated to natural disaster. And this is not surprising, because turnips grow quickly and almost everywhere, and from this vegetable one could easily prepare a full-fledged dinner with the "first" and "second" courses, and even with the "third". Soups and stews were made from turnips, porridge was cooked, kvass and butter were prepared, it was a filling for pies, geese and ducks were stuffed with it, turnips were pickled and salted for the winter. Turnip juice, adding honey, was used for medicinal purposes. Probably, this would have continued to this day if Emperor Nicholas I (it was he, and not Peter I) had not forced Russian peasants to grow and consume potatoes, which greatly spoiled their relationship with the turnip.
The saying has survived to this day - "Easier than a steamed turnip", and it originated precisely in those ancient times, when turnips, along with bread and cereals, were a staple food and were quite cheap.
Peas
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Many of us believe that peas are "the most Russian food" that other nationalities are not particularly familiar with. There is some truth in this. Indeed, in Rus', peas have been known since time immemorial, they are cultivated from the 6th century. It is no coincidence that, emphasizing the prescription of this or that event, they say: “It was when it was, even under Tsar Pea!”
For a long time, Russian people among various dishes preferred pea dishes. From Domostroy, a national written monument of the 16th century, a kind of code of laws on the way of life of our ancestors, we learn about the existence of many pea dishes, the recipes of which are now lost. So, on fasting days in Rus', they baked pies with peas, ate pea soup and pea noodles ...
And yet peas came to us from overseas countries. It is generally accepted that the ancestor of all cultivars of peas grew in the Mediterranean region, as well as in India, Tibet and some other southern countries.
Mass cultivation of peas as a field crop began in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. After the coarse-grained pea variety was brought to us from France, it quickly became very popular. Peas glorified even the whole province - Yaroslavl. Local gardeners came up with their own way of drying pea "shoulders", and for a long time they supplied them abroad. The famous "green peas" were grown and cooked in the villages of Ugodichi and Sulost, not far from Rostov the Great.
Cabbage
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On the territory of modern Russia, cabbage first appeared on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus - this was the period of Greco-Roman colonization in the 7th-5th centuries BC. It was only in the 9th century that the Slavic peoples began to cultivate cabbage. Gradually, the plant spread throughout the territory of Rus'.
In the Principality of Kiev, the first written mention of cabbage dates back to 1073, in Svyatoslav's Izbornik. During this period, its seeds began to be imported for cultivation from European countries.
Cabbage in Rus' came to the court. This cold-resistant and moisture-loving vegetable felt great on the territory of all Russian principalities. Its strong white cabbages, which have an excellent taste, were grown in many peasant yards. The nobility also revered cabbage. For example, the Smolensk prince Rostislav Mstislavovich presented his friend, as an expensive and special gift, a whole garden of cabbage, called in those days "kapustnik". Cabbage was consumed both fresh and boiled. But most of all in Rus', sauerkraut was valued for its ability to maintain "improving" properties in the winter.
Cucumber
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There is no exact information when the cucumber first appeared in Rus'. It is assumed that he was known to us even before 9th century, having penetrated to us, most likely from Southeast Asia, and there the cucumber sprouted in the tropical and subtropical forests of Indochina, wrapping around trees like creepers. According to other sources, cucumbers came only in the 15th century, and the first mention of cucumbers in the Muscovite state was made by the German ambassador Herberstein in 1528 in his notes on a trip to Muscovy.
Travelers from Western Europe have always been surprised that cucumbers are grown in Rus' in huge quantities and that in cold northern Russia they grow even better than in Europe. There is also a mention of this in Detailed Description travels of the Holstein embassy to Muscovy and Persia” by the German traveler Elschleger, written in the 30s of the 17th century.
Peter I, who loved to do everything on a grand scale and with a scientific approach, issues a decree according to which cucumbers and melons are being grown in greenhouses in the Royal Prosyan Garden in Izmailovo.
In the Suzdal archives, records of the 18th century by Anania Fedorov, the dean of the Nativity Cathedral, were found: “ In the city of Suzhdal, due to the kindness of the earth and the pleasantness of the air, onions, garlic, and especially cucumbers are abundant". At the same time, other "cucumber capitals" were gradually formed - Murom, Klin, Nizhyn. Breeding of local varieties begins, some of which have survived to our time, having undergone minor improvements.
Beet
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For the first time, beets are mentioned in the written monuments of Ancient Rus' in X-XI centuries., in particular, in the "Izbornik" of Svyatoslav, and she came to us, like many other cultivated vegetables, from the Byzantine Empire. The ancestor of the table beet, as well as, however, sugar and fodder, is wild chard.
It is assumed that beets began their glorious journey through Rus' from the Kyiv principality. From here it penetrated to the Novgorod, Moscow lands, to Poland and Lithuania.
In the XIV century. beets in Rus' began to be grown everywhere. This is evidenced by numerous entries in the income and expenditure books of monasteries, shop books and other sources. And in the 16th-17th centuries, the beetroot completely "Russified", the Russians considered it a local plant. Beet crops moved far to the north - even the inhabitants of Kholmogory successfully cultivated it. In the same period, there was a division of beets into table and fodder for livestock. In the XVIII century. fodder beet hybrids were created, from which they then began to grow sugar beets.
In Russia, the first beet sugar production was organized by Count Bobrinsky, the illegitimate son of Empress Catherine II and Grigory Orlov. However, it developed rather slowly, and sugar was very expensive. Even at the beginning of the 19th century, it surpassed honey in value. Therefore, sugar did not play a significant role in the diet of the common people of Russia for quite a long time, but was used rather as a delicacy.
Beets were actively used in Rus' for medicinal purposes, and one can talk endlessly about its beneficial properties for health.
Onion
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In Russia, onions became famous in the XII-XIII centuries. Presumably, the bow came to Russia from the banks of the Danube along with merchants. Near the centers of trade, the first centers of onion cultivation arose. Gradually, they began to be created near other cities and villages with suitable climatic conditions for growing onions. Such centers of onion sowing began to be called "nests". The entire local population was engaged in the cultivation of onions. Onion sets were obtained from the seeds, the next year onion-sample and, finally, onion-womb. For centuries, local onion varieties have been improved, the name of which was often given by the settlements where they were created.
But do not forget that in many places in Russia, wild leek (ramson) also grows, which our ancestors collected and harvested in the spring, probably, long before the cultivation of onions.
radish
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This is the second vegetable whose history has been lost in the mists of time, although according to some historians in Rus', black radish appeared in XIV century. Radish came to Russian land from the Mediterranean countries and gradually became popular with all classes. This is also evidenced by the fact that radish, as an obligatory component, was used in the preparation of one of the most ancient and legendary Russian dishes - tyuri.
There was a popular saying in the old days: Our clerk has seven changes: radish trikha, radish slice, radish with kvass, radish with butter, radish in pieces, radish in sticks, and whole radish”(note: triha - grated, sliced \u200b\u200b- sliced).
The most ancient folk delicacy was also prepared from radish - mazunya, which was prepared as follows: they made rare flour, boiled it in white molasses until it thickened, adding various spices there. Here are references to delicacy dishes from the manuscript “A Book for the Whole Year, What Foods to Serve on the Table”: “Tsargradsky-style radish with honey”, “radish grated “on iron” with molasses”, “mazyunya”.
And in the old days, the radish was popularly called the "repentant vegetable." Why? The fact is that most of the radishes were eaten on "repentant days", i.e. during the seven-week Great Lent, the longest and most tedious of all church fasts. They didn’t play weddings during Lent, they didn’t dance, they didn’t eat meat and butter, they didn’t drink milk - it’s a sin, but it was not forbidden to eat vegetables. And since this post falls in the spring, when the peasants no longer had fresh cabbage and turnips in the bins, since these vegetables could not be stored for a long time, the radish came out on top in the diet.
Carrot
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Carrot is one of the oldest vegetable plants, people have been using it for more than 4 millennia. The homeland of carrot varieties with reddish roots is the Mediterranean, and those with purple, white and yellow roots are India and Afghanistan.
In the 16th century, modern orange carrots also appeared in Europe. It is believed that this variety was invented by Dutch breeders.
Meanwhile, the outstanding Russian scientist, popularizer of natural sciences N.F. Zolotnitsky argued that the Krivichi of Ancient Rus' (VI-IX) already knew carrots: in those days there was a custom to bring it as a gift to the deceased, put it in a boat, which was then burned along with the deceased.
It is known for sure that carrots were popular in Rus' already in the Middle Ages. In "Domostroy" (XVI century) it is said: " And in autumn they salt cabbage and put beets, and stock up turnips and carrots. As the monastic income and expense books testify, carrots were even delivered to the royal table: “Porridge is carrots in frying pans, or parena carrots under garlic in vinegar.” And in the book of the Volokolamsky Monastery (1575-1576) it is noted: “Ivan Ugrimov was given 4 hryvnias ... for seedlings and for garden seeds, for onions, for cucumbers ... and for carrots ...».
According to foreigners who visited the Muscovite state in those days, there were many gardens with carrots around the capital. And among the people themselves at that time, carrot porridge and carrots steamed under garlic in vinegar were very popular.
In Russian herbalists, medical and economic manuals of the 16th-17th centuries, it was written that carrots have healing properties, in particular: carrot juice was treated for heart and liver diseases, it was recommended as a remedy for cough and jaundice.
In the 17th century, Russian pies with carrots became obligatory at various folk celebrations. About pies "long with carrots" mentions the "Expenditure book of the patriarchal order for dishes served to Patriarch Andrian and persons of various ranks."
In the 19th century, varieties of folk selection of carrots were known in Russia, for example: "Vorobyevskaya" from the Moscow region, "Davydovskaya" from the Yaroslavl province, "Staratel" from near Nizhny Novgorod.
Bell pepper
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The primary center of origin of pepper is considered to be Mexico and Guatemala, where the greatest variety of its wild forms has been concentrated to date. All over the world, this pepper is called "sweet" and only in Russia and the post-Soviet space - "Bulgarian".
In Russia, the appearance of sweet pepper is attributed to the beginning 16th century, brought it from Turkey or Iran. For the first time in Russian literature, it is mentioned only in 1616 in the manuscript "A pleasant flower garden or herbalist." Pepper became widespread in Russia only after a century and a half, but then it was called "Turkish".
Pumpkin
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Today it is hard to believe that six hundred years ago pumpkin did not grow at all in Russia and neighboring countries.
The real homeland of this vegetable is often called America, or rather, Mexico and Peru, and Christopher Columbus allegedly brought pumpkin seeds to Europe. But at the beginning of the 20th century, a Russian expedition led by a scientist, geneticist and breeder Nikolai Vavilov found wild pumpkins in northern Africa, and everyone immediately started talking about the fact that the "black" continent is the birthplace of pumpkins. Some scientists reject these versions, considering China or India to be the birthplace of the plant. Although it is also known that the pumpkin was used in Pharaonic Egypt and in Ancient Rome, in the latter, the pumpkin was mentioned in their works by Polynius Sr. and Petronius.
In Russia, this vegetable appeared only in XVI century, according to one of the opinions, Persian merchants brought it with goods. In Europe, the pumpkin appeared everywhere a little later, in the 19th century, although back in 1584, the French explorer Jacques Cartier reported that he had found "huge watermelons." Pumpkin very quickly became popular, because. it did not require any special conditions, grew everywhere, and also always gave a rich harvest. On holidays, in almost every Russian hut, the so-called "repaired pumpkin" was served. They took a large fruit, cut off the top, stuffed it with minced meat with onions and spices, covered it with the top and baked it in the oven. After an hour and a half, a magnificent dish was obtained, the analogues of which are difficult to find in our history.
Potato
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Potato is the most "long-suffering vegetable" in Russia, since its rooting in our country dragged on for several centuries and took place with noise and riots.
The very history of the appearance of potatoes in Russia originates in the era of Peter I, who at the end 17th century sent a bag of tubers from Holland to the capital for distribution to the provinces for cultivation. But the wonderful undertaking of Peter I was not destined to come true during his lifetime. The fact is that the peasants, who were the first to be forced to plant potatoes, unknowingly began to collect not "roots", but "tops", i.e. tried to eat not potato tubers, but its berries, which are poisonous.
As history testifies, Peter's decrees on the widespread cultivation of the "earthen apple" caused riots that forced the king to abandon the continuous "potato" of the country, thereby allowing the people to forget about potatoes for half a century.
Further, Catherine II took up the potatoes. During her reign, the Senate issued a special decree in 1765 and issued an "Instruction on the cultivation and use of earthen apples." In the autumn of the same year, 464 poods 33 pounds of potatoes were purchased and delivered from Ireland to St. Petersburg. The potatoes were put into barrels and carefully covered with straw, and at the end of December they were sent by sledge to Moscow to be sent from here to the provinces. There were severe frosts. The convoy with potatoes arrived in Moscow and was solemnly welcomed by the authorities. But it turned out that on the way the potatoes almost completely froze. Only five quarters remained suitable for landing - about 135 kilograms. The following year, the remaining potatoes were planted in the Moscow pharmacy garden, and the resulting crop was sent to the provinces. Local governors supervised the implementation of this measure. But the idea failed again - the people stubbornly did not want to allow a foreign product on their table.
In 1839, during the reign of Nicholas I, there was a severe shortage of crops in the country, followed by famine. The government has taken drastic measures to prevent such incidents from happening again. As usual, "fortunately the people were driven with a club." The emperor ordered that potatoes be planted in all provinces.
In the Moscow province, state peasants were ordered to grow potatoes at the rate of 4 measures (105 liters) per person, and they had to work for free. In the Krasnoyarsk province, those who did not want to plant potatoes were sent to hard labor to build the Bobruisk fortress. "Potato riots" broke out again in the country, which were brutally suppressed. However, since then the potato has really become the "second bread".
And yet, the notoriety of this plant remained in Russia for a long time. The Old Believers, of whom there were many in Russia, opposed the planting and eating of potatoes. They called it "devil's apple", "devil's spit" and "fruit of harlots", their preachers forbade their co-religionists to grow and eat potatoes. The confrontation of the Old Believers was long and stubborn. Even in 1870, there were villages not far from Moscow where peasants did not plant potatoes in their fields.
Eggplant
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In Russia, eggplant is known from 17th century. It is believed that it was brought from Turkey and Persia by merchants, as well as Cossacks, who made frequent raids on these territories. The birthplace of eggplant is India and Burma, where the wild form of this vegetable still grows.
Eggplant, which is a heat-loving plant, perfectly took root in the southern territories of Russia, where they received the name "blue ones". The local population appreciated their excellent taste. Eggplant began to be cultivated in large quantities, diversifying Russian cuisine, incl. "overseas" eggplant caviar.
Tomato (tomato)
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Tomato or tomato ( from ital. pomo d "oro - a golden apple, the French converted it into a tomate) - a native of the tropical regions of South and Central America.
Compared with other vegetable crops, tomato is a relatively new crop for Russia. Growing tomatoes began in the southern regions of the country in XVIII century. In Europe at that time, tomatoes were considered inedible, but in our country they were grown both as an ornamental and as a food crop.
Under Catherine II, who made many discoveries for Russia, the first information about tomatoes appears. The Empress wished to listen to a report "on strange fruits and unusual growths" in European fields. The Russian ambassador reported to her that "French vagabonds eat tomatoes from the flower beds and, it seems, do not suffer from this."
In the summer of 1780, the Russian ambassador to Italy sent a consignment of fruits to Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg, which also included a large number of tomatoes. Both the appearance and the taste of the outlandish fruit were very liked in the palace, and Catherine ordered that tomatoes from Italy be regularly delivered to her table. The empress did not know that tomatoes, called "love apples", had been successfully grown by her subjects on the outskirts of the empire for more than a dozen years: in the Crimea, Astrakhan, Tauris and Georgia.
One of the first publications about the culture of tomatoes in Russia belongs to the founder of Russian agronomy, scientist and researcher A.T. Bolotov. In 1784, he wrote that in the middle lane "tomatoes are grown in many places, mainly indoors (in pots) and sometimes in gardens."
Thus, in the 18th century, the tomato was more of an ornamental "pot" culture, only the further development of horticulture made the tomato completely edible: by the middle of the 19th century, tomato culture began to spread through the gardens of Russia in the middle regions, and by the end of this century it was widely distributed in the northern regions. .
Parsley
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It is believed that parsley comes from the Mediterranean countries. In the wild, it grows among stones and rocks, and its scientific name is "petroselinum", i.e. "growing on rocks" The ancient Greeks called it "stone celery" and appreciated it, but not for its taste and healing properties, but for its beautiful appearance.
The root of the word, meaning stone, passed into the German name, and then the Poles came up with a diminutive name - "parsley", borrowed by Russian people.
Parsley acquired nutritional value only in the Middle Ages in France, when ordinary people decided to include this plant in their menu with "hunger". But, when the fame of the excellent taste of dishes with parsley roots and leaves reached the aristocracy, then broths, meat and soups with this plant appeared even on the richest tables.
Having spread throughout Europe as a table vegetable, parsley "reached" in this capacity in XVIII century and to Russia, where it appeared on the tables of aristocrats along with dishes of French cuisine. In the 19th century, parsley began to be grown everywhere as a vegetable plant.
But in general, in Rus', parsley was grown as a remedy with 11th century under the names "Petrosil's Grass", "Pestrets", "Sverbiga". Its juice was used to treat wounds and inflammation caused by the bites of poisonous insects.
Salad (lettuce)
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India and Central Asia are recognized as the birthplace of lettuce. In ancient Persia, China and Egypt, it was cultivated as a cultivated plant already in the fifth millennium BC.
The time of appearance of lettuce in Europe is not exactly known, but it is certain that the Greeks adopted the culture of lettuce from the Egyptians. In ancient Greece, lettuce was used both as a vegetable and for medicinal purposes. During the time of the Roman emperor Augustus, lettuce was not only eaten fresh, but marinated with honey and vinegar or preserved like green beans. The Arabs in Spain (VIII-IX centuries), in addition to head lettuce, also had summer endive (ed. - a kind of lettuce). Lettuce was brought to France in Avignon by a papal gardener in the 14th century. Forcing lettuce was first started by the gardener of King Louis XIV (circa 1700), who served lettuce on the king's table in January.
In Russia, the first mention of lettuce falls on 17th century, but the plant did not take root right away. They got used to its taste and regular use only at the beginning of the 19th century, and sowing lettuce began to be grown everywhere.
Sorrel
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AT XVII century little was known about sorrel in Russia. Many wondered how foreigners eat this sour and growing grass like a weed. So the traveler Adam Olearius and part-time translator of a German diplomat in Rus' noted in his travel notes dated 1633 that "Muscovites laugh at how the Germans eat green weeds with pleasure."
They laughed and laughed ... but then gradually they themselves began to grow them in gardens, put them in soups. This is how green cabbage soup and botvinya with sorrel appeared, now these dishes are considered traditional dishes in Russian cuisine. By the way, the origin of the word "sorrel" in Russian comes from the word "shanoy", that is, "peculiar to shcham", i.e. an essential ingredient for green cabbage soup.
Meanwhile, since ancient times, sorrel has been used as a medicinal plant. In the XVI century. healers considered it a remedy that could save a person from the plague. In the old Russian medical books they wrote: "Sorrel cools and extinguishes the fire in the stomach, and in the liver, and in the heart ...".
Rhubarb
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Rhubarb is a vegetable with the most unusual history, since it has been of national importance for Russia for more than two centuries.
Historically, rhubarb is native to Tibet, Northwestern China and Southern Siberia. Wild rhubarb in Rus' has been known since ancient times, but only as a medicinal plant, in which only the root was used. Over time, its trunk and leaves began to be used for culinary purposes.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Russian state began to actively "increase" Siberia, spreading its trade relations up to East Turkestan and North China. In 1653, the Chinese authorities officially allowed border trade with Russia, and from that moment on, Chinese rhubarb, which had the most powerful medicinal properties, attracted the attention of Russian monarchs. Already to mid-seventeenth century, the rhubarb trade became the exclusive royal monopoly, as did furs.
Having received rhubarb from China, the tsarist government immediately tried to export it to Europe. Information has been preserved about how in 1656 Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich sent his steward Ivan Chemodanov as an ambassador to Venice, who, in addition to political goals, also had two commercial tasks - to sell a batch (ten magpies) of sables and one hundred pounds of rhubarb from the Order of the Sovereign's Big Treasury. However, then the stolnik failed to sell the rhubarb, it happened later.
The state monopoly on the sale of rhubarb was also maintained under Emperor Peter I. In 1716, by his decree, people were sent to Selenginsk, who, with "care and diligence", delivered rhubarb roots with earth and its seeds to St. Petersburg. After the death of the emperor, by decree of the Supreme Privy Council in 1727, rhubarb was allowed "for free sale." However, in 1731, during the reign of Anna Ioannovna, rhubarb was again returned exclusively to the state, in which it remained until 1782, when the government again allowed private trade in rhubarb.
Buying rhubarb from Chinese and other merchants was originally carried out in Siberian cities, but since 1737 the Russian government began to send a special commissioner with an assistant from merchants directly to Kyakhta to purchase rhubarb ( ed. - Kyakhtinsky bargaining is a large fair deployed in the village of Kyakhta, which is near the modern Russian-Mongolian border in Buryatia). The rhubarb trade was highly profitable, and the Russian Empire was practically a monopoly in the rhubarb trade with the countries of Western Europe. In Moscow, English merchants bought it in bulk, but Venetian merchants were more profitable buyers for almost a century and a half. There was a period when rhubarb was called "Moscow", "imperial" or simply "Russian" in Europe.
In 1860, after two "opium" wars of the British against the Qing Empire, Chinese ports became open to international trade, as a result, Russia lost its monopoly on this crop and practically stopped its export.
Wild rhubarb, called "Siberian", grew in Russia in the south of the Urals, in Altai and in the Sayan Mountains, but it did not have as many medicinal powers as Chinese, so it was only food for local residents. In the 19th century, it began to be planted in the Botanical Garden of St. Petersburg, and later rhubarb appeared in the gardens of the common people, who used it to make salads, sweet jams and syrups.
Afterword
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The introductory part of this article said that "according to our historians and agronomists, then ... before Rurik, the Slavs ate only turnips and peas." Indeed, somehow strange, was the dining table of the glades, Drevlyans, Krivichi and other peoples really so poor? Of course not - these peoples were surrounded by the richest forests in which an abundance of edible wild plants grew - berries, mushrooms, herbs, roots, nuts, etc. Russian cuisine among our ancestors was based on seasonality due to the climate - food was used products that gave nature itself. In winter, meat products and what was harvested in summer and autumn for the winter went into the diet.
In this article, one cannot fail to mention the traditional Russian garden weeds - nettle and quinoa, which more than once rescued our people in difficult times. The fact is that quinoa has the ability to satisfy hunger, since it contains a large amount of protein, and nettle contains many different vitamins and microelements, therefore, when there was a crop failure and there were not enough food supplies for the spring, the peasants were forced to collect these plants, which grew first after the snow melted. Of course, quinoa was not eaten from a good life, but nettle was included in the diet in well-fed times - they made excellent soup from it, salted it for the winter.
Further, there are reasons to doubt the dates of the appearance of certain vegetables in Rus'. Yes, there were no potatoes and tomatoes in pre-Rurik Rus', which, indeed, arrived in Europe from Central and South America, but those vegetables that were grown and cultivated in India and China could well have ended up on the table of our ancestors even "during the time of the king Peas". The journey of the Tver merchant Athanasius Nikitin to India in the 15th century is known to us from a literary source, but was such a journey unique? Surely not. Russian merchants before, at the risk of their lives, but tried to "leak" where they could. They tried to carry goods that were running, not heavy and not perishable - and it was better not to find these requirements than plant seeds. And these seeds more often came to Rus' earlier than to Western Europe, since the Portuguese merchants, who were the first to establish maritime trade between the West and the East, began to regularly sail to India only in the 16th century.
And lastly, have you noticed how many vegetables our people consider "originally Russian"? Of course, this is not so, all these vegetables are consumed by other peoples, but no one can boast of such quality and variety of methods for pickling cucumbers and cabbage. What other country salts green tomatoes? And what about soups that cannot be made without "primordially Russian" vegetables - cabbage soup, borscht, hodgepodge or pickle? Probably, the reason for such an attitude of Russian cuisine to vegetables lies in our people.
By the way: Historically, it so happened that among the people the division of food plants into fruits and vegetables has developed not because of the biological characteristics of the products, but because of the taste, namely: all the sweet fruits of plants were classified as fruits, and those fruits and plants that began to consume with salt. Therefore, vegetables are part of the main dish or salad, and fruits are usually served as a dessert.
Meanwhile, botanists think differently: they include all flowering plants that reproduce with the help of seeds in their fruits as fruits, and other edible plants as vegetables, for example: leafy (lettuce and spinach), root crops (carrots, turnips and radishes). ), stems (ginger and celery), and flower buds (broccoli and cauliflower).
Thus, biologically, fruits include beans, corn, sweet peppers, peas, eggplants, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes, since they are all flowering plants, inside their fruits there are seeds with which they reproduce.
It is curious that potatoes give us both fruits and vegetables at the same time, but only vegetables, i.e. tubers, we eat, but we throw out the berries, because they are poisonous.
The article was prepared using materials
taken from open sources
In the autumn, when we are preparing to harvest a good harvest from cabbage beds, I invite you to find out how and where we got white cabbage from.
Many nations dispute each other's right to be called the birthplace of cabbage.
The name "cabbage" did not appear immediately: the ancient Iberians called this vegetable the strange word "ashchi".
According to one of the legends, the Thunderer Zeus, working on an explanation of two contradictory sayings of the oracle, was sweating from a terrible overstrain. Several large drops rolled down from the brow of the "father of the gods" to the ground. It was from these drops that cabbage grew. The story, of course, is simple, but it shows the respect that the Romans had for the ancient vegetable.
Apparently, the word “cabbage” itself is somehow connected with this legend, since it came from the ancient Roman “kaputum”, which means “head” in Russian.
The birthplace of white cabbage is the Mediterranean coast.
Man began to cultivate cabbage more than 5 thousand years ago, as evidenced by archaeological excavations. Even before our era, this plant appeared in Ancient Iberia (the ancient Georgian kingdom on the territory of the historical region of Kartli, mentioned by ancient and Byzantine authors), and subsequently spread to Greece, Egypt, Rome.
Cabbage originally came from wild kale, with smooth and curly leaves. Its subsequent forms were with a low content of sugar and dry matter, loosely pumped. For thousands of years, man has managed to obtain a wide variety of species and forms from wild cabbage.
Cabbage was also known in ancient Egypt, but only in ancient Greece in the 6th-4th centuries BC. She gained wide recognition and extraordinary popularity.
In Italy, a wild plant was introduced into cultivation. With the beginning of a new era, the cultivation of white cabbage began to be practiced in the Balkans, in the Transcaucasus.
Cabbage has been known in Kievan Rus since the 11th century. There is a mention of it in the "Izbornik Svyatoslav" that has come down to us. It is believed that the ancient Slavs received it from the Greco-Roman colonists of the Crimea and other regions of the Black Sea region.
Together with the plant, they adopted the name, somewhat altering it in their own way. As mentioned above, from the Latin word "kaput" - "head", and our "cabbage" was born, which means "capitate".
According to archival data, the cultivation of cabbage in Kievan Rus began in the 11th-12th centuries. In ancient manuscripts dated 1073 and 1150, its existence is mentioned and recommendations for use and storage are given. "Domostroy" (XVI) directly indicates the cultivation of cabbage and its use for food and for feeding livestock. During the reign of Peter I, the cultivation of this crop developed intensively and soon it became an indispensable and familiar food product.
Pickled white cabbage was first practiced in Kievan Rus.
Popular customs and signs speak about the popularity of cabbage in Rus'. A lot of them are devoted to this useful vegetable. For example, May 18 - Arina-hotbed. Planting cabbage was given great attention. Having planted the first head of cabbage, they covered it with a pot, and the pot on top with a white tablecloth, so that the heads of cabbage would grow large, white and strong. They even uttered a conspiracy for cabbage seedlings.
Today, white cabbage is grown throughout the former Soviet Union. It occupies the largest cultivated area compared to other vegetable crops.
Cabbage was valued for its high gastronomic qualities. It was readily eaten with corned beef or ham. The peasants of ancient Rome especially loved cabbage with corned beef and beans. Usually cabbage is flavored with olive oil, but in combination with fatty pork meat it was good without oil. Tender cabbage stalks were used to make salads, to which olive oil and a little vinegar were added.
A student and friend of Aristotle, an ancient Greek naturalist and philosopher, one of the first botanists of antiquity - Theophrastus (372-287 BC), in the famous work "Studies on Plants" described in some detail three varieties of cabbage, which in those distant times cultivated by the Athenians. Another ancient Greek philosopher - Chrysippus (280-205 BC) appreciated cabbage so much that he devoted an entire book to it. In it, he considers the influence of cabbage on all organs of the human body.
To be continued
White cabbage- biennial plant. People have been growing and using cabbage since the Stone and Bronze Ages. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans already knew three to ten varieties of cabbage. The southern tribes of the Slavs first learned about cabbage from the Greco-Roman colonists who lived in the Black Sea region. Over time, they got acquainted with this vegetable crop in Rus'.
Origin
Scientists suggest that white cabbage appeared on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where, as a result of some kind of mutation, it separated from wild mustard. In any case, already in ancient times, cabbage was a typical root crop for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean.
At the same time, Transcaucasia, the Colchis lowland in Georgia, is sometimes called the birthplace of cabbage, where plants similar to cabbage, called "kezhera", grow in abundance.
The nutritional value
The nutritional value of cabbage is due to its composition, which varies somewhat depending on the variety. This vegetable contains nitrogenous substances 1.27-3.78%, carbohydrates 5.25-8.56%, a small amount of fat 0.16-0.67. In addition, cabbage contains sugars, mineral salts (sulfur, calcium, potassium, phosphorus), fiber, lactose, lipase, protease and other enzymes, phytoncides, vitamins A, B1, B6, C, P, K, U. Nutritional value 100 g of cabbage is only 24 kcal.
Application in cooking
There are many ways to use cabbage for food. It is readily eaten both fresh and processed: stewed, boiled, fried, etc. It is part of salads, soups, and is used as a side dish for second courses. Cabbage is used as a filling for pies, cabbage rolls are prepared from its leaves in Eastern Europe. Cabbage is salted, pickled, fermented for future use. No wonder there was a proverb in Rus': "If there is cabbage, the table is not empty."
Application in medicine and cosmetology
Cabbage is an incredibly healthy vegetable. First of all, it contains a significant amount of anti-ulcer vitamin U, and therefore the juice of cabbage leaves is useful in the treatment and prevention of gastric and duodenal ulcers, gastritis and colitis.
In addition, cabbage is a source of indole-3-carbinol, which helps to restore DNA chains in the cells of the body and, accordingly, slows down the development of cancer cells. This substance is also useful in the adjunctive therapy of a rare disease, laryngeal papillomatosis, in which skin neoplasms affect the oral cavity and pharynx.
Finally, cabbage juice, which has been known since ancient times and has entered the folk medicine of all European peoples, promotes the healing of festering wounds. They say that it perfectly heals the nipples of nursing women.
Cabbage leaves help to remove cholesterol from the body. Cabbage juice reduces blood sugar, helps with constipation, enhances the excretion of excess fluid from the body.
Cabbage is included in all diet low-calorie menus.
In cosmetology, cabbage juice is used for rinsing the face and preparing various cosmetic masks that have a rejuvenating, whitening effect and perfectly moisturize the skin.
Contraindications
Since cabbage has a laxative effect, its use is not recommended after surgical operations on the chest and abdominal cavities, with gastrointestinal bleeding, diarrhea and indigestion, pancreatitis, exacerbations of gastric and duodenal ulcers. Caution should be used cabbage in acute enterocolitis, accompanied by diarrhea. Restrictions on the use of sauerkraut are associated with an excess of salt in it, due to which it is better for those suffering from peptic ulcer, pancreatitis, diseases of the kidneys, liver, and cardiovascular system to refrain from consuming this product.
Interesting Facts
Cabbage is the closest relative of mustard, turnip and swede.
The ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras was engaged in cabbage breeding, who
appreciated its medicinal properties. Among more than 50 types of cabbage distributed throughout the world,
there is not a single American: cabbage was not known in the New World before the appearance of Europeans.
There are many ornamental varieties of cabbage that are native to Japan.
