Fruits Of Hungarian Ancestors

While walking in Hungarian woods we could find several weel-known fruits which our ancestors could collect at their time.It is much easier to grow them at home than buy the bred ones. According to the magyarno.hu website the five most famous home-grown fruits that our ancestors regularly used are: blackberry and mulberry, domestic sorb, cornelian and sea buckthorn. Let’s learn a bit more about them.

Blackberry and mulberry

Mulberry was a typical fruit in the middle of the previous century of the Hungarian Great Plain. In summer its fruit was an excellent delicacy both for animals and children. Moreover, elder people used to make wine from the sweet fruit. The harvest of mulberry-bush contains lots of minerals, carotene, sugar, pectin and organic acids. Little white strawberries grow wild along the roads while bigger and tastier black and white fruits can be found in various ranches of the Great Plain nowadays.
Mulberry needs warm and sunny weather, this tree prefers nutrient-rich ground.
Interestingly, mulberry is still daily food in Afghanistan where people eat it raw or grind flour from the dried harvests.

Cornelian

Cornelian has not only been collected but also planted in the gardens since ancient times. Even today it is a very common plant in Hungarian forests. Cornelian contains a lot of vitamins, sugar, malic acid and pigments. Although it is an unassuming plant, cornelian prefers warm, sunny and lime-rich soil. Its fruit ripens poorly in cool, shady places. The most effective ways of breeding are using seedling and green cuttings because we can wait sometimes two years until the seeds start to grow. Only the ripe fruit tastes sweet, the half-ripe ones need 10 days to become soft and sweet as well. It can either be eaten raw, jam, syrup or pálinka can also be made from this ancient fruit.

Domestic sorb

Domestic sorb is a very old-grown fruit which is full of vitamins, sugar, micro and macronutrients. The unripe fruit is also used as herbal medicine while only the ripe ones can be eaten as jam or compote. This fruit requires warm, sunny weather and lime-rich soil, thus it may grow up to 20 meters high. Interestingly, the harvest of the fruit can be apple-shaped or pear-shaped as well.

Sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn has already been collected by our ancestors. Although it cannot be eaten raw, sea buckthorn has been discovered again nowadays for its extremely high vitamin- and carotene-content and high level of trace minerals. Juice and jam can be made from this fruit, furthermore, it can heal wounds and radiation injuries. Moreover, this fruit is a dioecious plant and can be grown to a tree or bush. Even though the sea buckthorn tolerates salty soil, it mostly spreads in mild-sour and water-rich land. Sea buckthorn is a very rare fruit, it can only be found at sandy riverbanks and thus this fruit is highly protected in Hungary.

based on article of magyarno.com
by Valentina Leanyfalvi

Photo: www.aranyhajo-patika.hu

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