The first information about tomatoes dates back to the times of Katherine II. The empress expressed a wish to hear a report “about wonder fruit and unusual plants” on European fields. To do so, the Ambassador of Russia had to wind up with all the matters in Paris and to rush to faraway Russia during the stuffy summer of 1780. In the trunk of a bulky stagecoach there were baskets with fruit never seen in Russia before. Only in 1850 they started to grow tomatoes as a vegetable in Ukraine. The first plantations were in the Crimea, in Georgia and the Lower Volga region. Thus, tomatoes first appeared as food on our tables not more than 150 years ago…
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Cucumbers had been known as a vegetable for over 6 thousand years. Originally cucumber comes from north-western India. The fruit of a cucumber, just like that of a pumpkin, is a berry. In India wild cucumbers grow in forests, they cling to trees as lianas. Fences in villages are covered with cucumber plants. When planted closely, the vines of cultured cucumbers climb up, clinging to the props.
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