Bárkányi Ildikó szerk.: A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 7. (Szeged, 2011)
Szűcs Judit: Akinek nem volt szilvafája, az vitt a szomszédból suhát, avagy a szilva Csongrádon
Plum Cultivation in Csongrád by JUDIT Szűcs As a garden fruit, plum (Prunus domestica) was brought to Europe by the Romans. Hungarians got to know plum cultivation from the Slavic population living in the Carpathian Basin. Its characteristic features (it can be multiplied from tillers, its small foliage, it needs little nursing, it is not sensitive to parasites, its rich harvest) made plum suitable to plant both in gardens and on road sides and in tide lands. Prunes were marketed to Poland and to Western Europe via cattle trade roads from cities in Northern Hungary and Transylvania. In the town of Csongrád plums were cultivated with the means of traditional peasant cultivation. From the middle of the 19 l century the number of orchards started to increase. In the 20 t h century mostly apples, sour cherries, plums and greengages were grown in fruit gardens. Plums were cultivated mostly in family gardens: according to source data, 96 % of the total harvest was grown in small gardens. Not so well-off peasants planted tillers of plum trees, while wealthy farmers bought selected saplings. Present study discusses the cultivation, the processing and the marketing of plums, as well as plum eating habits in a day-labourer's, in a digger's, in a small-holder's, in a fisherman's and in a middlepeasant's household between 1910 and 2010. Form different conserving methods jam making, as the one most frequently applied, is described. The marketing of the jam is briefly introduced, while the plum eating habits of the families are presented more in details. Plums were consumed raw, as pickles and as sweet compote. Its juice was used to make sauce for meat, or was cooked as a sweet soup consumed in Lent. Its jam was eaten with bread, and plum was also used as filling in cooked and baked cakes. From the 1950s-1960s to 1989 ripen or half-ripen plums were taken over for export, while fallen plums were taken over for distillation of brandy. In preset day there is no possibility to sell plums. Present study draws upon the data of ethnographical literature, also upon the data provided by Dezső Surányi, local biologist, ethnobiologist. He, besides writing several articles on plum eating habits, on the types and conservation methods of the fruit, has also completed a monograph on plum. In recent years the significance of eating plum as raw, as jam or as juice has decreased. It is partly due to the formation of cooperatives in the 1960s, and to the high number of uncultivated landed properties, and partly also to the change of lifestyle, and the high number of working women in families. Cooking and baking is nowadays reduced to weekend and festive days. The spreading of illnesses caused by parasites and viruses can be stopped only by cutting out trees. Plum-culture in Csongrád county may be renewed by planting new species originating from Serbia and Germany. In the future plum could be marketed in traditional forms, such as prune, juice and jam. 154
