Cucumber Day was celebrated in the middle of July in several Russian towns and cities. The nationally famous gastronomic date was celebrated on July 18 in Suzdal, just outside of Moscow, for the fifteenth time.
Every year in Suzdal the first crunch of the cucumber attracts thousands of this vegetable’s fans. On the day agronomists, farmers, and amateur gardeners brought lovingly grown cucumbers and elaborate dishes prepared with vegetables from traditional recipes. The more unusual and historical the recipes the better. For example, even jam could be found among the Suzdal cucumber delicacies. The pickled cucumbers in barrels were the most familiar, but no less a tasty and crunchy treat at the festival and could be washed down with a cold spicy brine. The smallest, largest and most amusing cucumbers were displayed on exhibition stands and a noisy cucumber eating competition and a best costume competition were also held.
The sweet crunch of the cucumber is celebrated with festivities in several towns and villages in Russia and this vegetable is important for many families, as according to Rosstat, the majority of cucumbers in the country are grown by private households.
In the Russian Federation in 2014, the area of cucumber crops on open ground was 70,500 hectares, included in this are private households, 63,000 hectares (89.4% of the acreage planted in farms of all categories), so called ‘peasant’ (unofficial) farms and individual entrepreneurs - 5,800 hectares (8.3%), agricultural organizations - 1,700 hectares (2.4%).
In the agricultural organizations cucumbers are mostly cultivated in greenhouses. In 2014, the share of cucumbers out of the total production of vegetables in greenhouses, by agricultural enterprises, amounted to more than 65%.
Gross harvest of cucumbers in 2014 in all categories of farms amounted to 1,820,000 tons, including 1,174,000 from households, 501,000 from agricultural organizations, and 144,000 tons from ‘peasant’ farms.
Leaders in the gross harvest of cucumbers are the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (94,600 tons) and the Krasnodar region (90,200). The Volgograd region demonstrated a strong performance (77,300 tons), as did the Republic of Bashkortostan (71,900), Tatarstan (70,800), Dagestan (65,900), Rostov region (64,200) and Saratov Oblast (62,800 tons).
And what about Tyumen?
The region's largest greenhouse complex ‘TyumenAgro’ became functional in the Tyumen Oblast in Western Siberia, from December 2014. All products of ‘TyumenAgro’, including cucumbers, are grown hydroponically with the help of Dutch equipment. The first phase of construction of the greenhouse complex covered 11 hectares. After completion of the second stage, the total area of the enterprise will become 16 hectares.
Source: tumentoday.ru
