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Moscow fruit, 1633-1653
Feb. 17th, 2005 01:30 pmOk, again from Olearius, from The travels of Olearius in Seventeenth-Century Russia, ed. Samel H. Baron (Stanford, CA: Stanford University, 1967):
"In some places, especially in Moscow, there are also fine garden plants, such as apples, pears, cherries, plums, and red currants. Thus the actual situation here is very different from the one depicted by Herberstein, Guagnino, and others, who contend that, because of the extreme cold, there are no fruits or delicious apples to be found in Russia. Among other good apples, there is one kind whose flesh is so tender and white that if you hold it up to the sun you can see the seeds. However, although they are of excellent appearance and taste, they cannot be stored long, unlike German apples, because of their extremely high water content.
They also have all sorts of kitchen vegetables, notably asparagus as thick as a thumb, which I myself sampled in Moscow at the home of a good friend of mine, a Dutch merchant. Besides, they grow good cucumbers, onions, and garlic, in great quantities. The Russians have never planted lettuce or other salad greens; they paid them no attention and not only did not eat them but even laughed at the Germans who did, saying that they ate grass. Now some of them are beginning to try salad. They grow melons everywhere in enormous quantities, thus providing an important article of trade and nutriment. The melons grown here are great not only in number but also in size, and are so delicious and sweet that they may be eaten without sugar. In 1643 a good friend sent me a pud of these melons when I left Moscow."
"In some places, especially in Moscow, there are also fine garden plants, such as apples, pears, cherries, plums, and red currants. Thus the actual situation here is very different from the one depicted by Herberstein, Guagnino, and others, who contend that, because of the extreme cold, there are no fruits or delicious apples to be found in Russia. Among other good apples, there is one kind whose flesh is so tender and white that if you hold it up to the sun you can see the seeds. However, although they are of excellent appearance and taste, they cannot be stored long, unlike German apples, because of their extremely high water content.
They also have all sorts of kitchen vegetables, notably asparagus as thick as a thumb, which I myself sampled in Moscow at the home of a good friend of mine, a Dutch merchant. Besides, they grow good cucumbers, onions, and garlic, in great quantities. The Russians have never planted lettuce or other salad greens; they paid them no attention and not only did not eat them but even laughed at the Germans who did, saying that they ate grass. Now some of them are beginning to try salad. They grow melons everywhere in enormous quantities, thus providing an important article of trade and nutriment. The melons grown here are great not only in number but also in size, and are so delicious and sweet that they may be eaten without sugar. In 1643 a good friend sent me a pud of these melons when I left Moscow."
