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Imperiia: a spatial history of the Russian Empire

Sary Sinap apple

Botanical lithograph of a variety that likely originated in the southern coast of the Black Sea (at Sinop) and thrived in Crimea. With the Saint Germaine pear the "alpha and omega" of Crimean orchardry. The Sary Sinop is considered a first-class market fruit, appealing for eating and cooking. Candied fruit factories use it exclusively. Yield is high, which explains why it plays a crucial role in the Crimean economy despite fetching 1 ruble 50 kopeks per pood (half the price of many reinette varieties). This is the calling-card apple of Karasubazar.

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Contents of this tag:
1. Sary Sinap apple Botanical lithograph of a variety that likely originated in the southern coast of the Black Sea (at Sinop) and thrived in Crimea. With the Saint Germaine pear the "alpha and omega" of Crimean orchardry. The Sary Sinop is considered a first-class market fruit, appealing for eating and cooking. Candied fruit factories use it exclusively. Yield is high, which explains why it plays a crucial role in the Crimean economy despite fetching 1 ruble 50 kopeks per pood (half the price of many reinette varieties). This is the calling-card apple of Karasubazar.
2. Winter Master pear A tree identified in Belgium in the second half of the 18th century. In the right circumstances (warm and sheltered locations), this pear is delicious; but less than ideal conditions yield pears for cooking. Crimean gardeners complain that the Winter Master requires too much moisture and protection. The fruit fall easily in the wind - a problem in Crimea. The editor writes that whenever one sees gorgeous Winter Masters on the table you can be sure they are from France. Russian-grown Winter Masters are few in number. Yet a correspondent writes from St. Petersburg to point out that in general, Crimean pears increasingly compete with French pears and their progress is such that the latter "might soon be a memory."
3. Breda apricot
4. Golden Drogan cherry
5. Saint Germaine pear The Saint Germaine (Сен Жермен) originated near Paris and enjoys renown throughout Europe. The Sary Sinap and Saint Germaine "are the alpha and omega of Crimean orchardry" and there isn't a garden in Crimean where the Saint Germaine does not grow. It fetches anywhere from 2 rubles 50 kopeks to 4 rubles per pood. Moscow fruit sellers reported that the highest quality fruit came from Alushta and Kuru Uzen, Karasubazar and Bahcesaray.
6. Duchesse d'Angouleme pear
7. Williams pear
9. Bere Dil pear
10. Napoleon cherry
11. Golden Winter Pearmain apple An English pear identified in 1800. At an 1894 international exposition there were 33 Golden Winter Pearmain entries, including from the western provinces, the Baltics, Crimea, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Tersk and Kuban. The fruit ripens in October. This is a case of beauty over longevity though, thus the Golden Winter is best dried or made into cider. Atlas correspondents wrote in to add that the Golden Winter Pearmain stood up well to rain but could fall victim to moths and geese.
12. Bere Bosc pear
13. Renet Champagne apple
14. Louise apricot
15. Simirenko apple Atlas notes: In Russia the apple comes from the gardens of the sugar merchant and gardener Platon Fyodorovich Simirenko, who brought it in from Belgium. It has received increased attention among cultivators since 1887 and can be found in the provinces of Kiev, Poltava, Kharkov, Kherson, Podolsk, Chernigov, and in Crimea. Despite its many charms, explain the editors, it has not taken the market by storm because it is largely unknown and because there is another, well-established, green apple in Crimea.
16. Forest Beauty pear
17. Orleans Renet apple The Reinette d'Orleans ripened in November (earlier in Crimea) and lasted several months after harvest. A first-class table apple - the most flavorful and aromatic of all renets - that fetched good prices. The Moscow markets relied on fruit from Bahcesaray, Karasubazar, and Simferopol, with the best fruit coming, as it so often did, from the Kacha River orchards. Kapustin describes it as "a dessert apple of highest quality that will never go out of fashion."
18. Bere Clairgeau pear
19. Autumn Mistress pear
20. Canadian Renet apple
21. Short-Stemmed Queen apple
23. White Rosemary apple
24. Triumf Zhoduan pear
25. Gros Noir (cherry)
26. Golden Denissen cherry
27. Ardanpon pear The Ardanpon (Hardenpott) was identified in 1750. In the late 19th century it was well-established in Crimea and the most profitable (and tasty) of all winter pears. In Crimea it was known as the Ferdinand, and was often sent to the Moscow markets from the Kacha valley and from Alushta and Kuru Uzen. (St. Petersburg markets sold French pears.) This chromolithograph is based on a pear sent for the purposes of the Atlas in 1896 from Alushta. It weighed 422 grams.
28. Green Reine Claude plum
29. Kandil Sinap apple
30. English Renet apple
31. Curé pear
Contents of this tag:
1. Sary Sinap apple Botanical lithograph of a variety that likely originated in the southern coast of the Black Sea (at Sinop) and thrived in Crimea. With the Saint Germaine pear the "alpha and omega" of Crimean orchardry. The Sary Sinop is considered a first-class market fruit, appealing for eating and cooking. Candied fruit factories use it exclusively. Yield is high, which explains why it plays a crucial role in the Crimean economy despite fetching 1 ruble 50 kopeks per pood (half the price of many reinette varieties). This is the calling-card apple of Karasubazar.
2. Golden Winter Pearmain apple An English pear identified in 1800. At an 1894 international exposition there were 33 Golden Winter Pearmain entries, including from the western provinces, the Baltics, Crimea, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Tersk and Kuban. The fruit ripens in October. This is a case of beauty over longevity though, thus the Golden Winter is best dried or made into cider. Atlas correspondents wrote in to add that the Golden Winter Pearmain stood up well to rain but could fall victim to moths and geese.
3. Renet Champagne apple
4. Simirenko apple Atlas notes: In Russia the apple comes from the gardens of the sugar merchant and gardener Platon Fyodorovich Simirenko, who brought it in from Belgium. It has received increased attention among cultivators since 1887 and can be found in the provinces of Kiev, Poltava, Kharkov, Kherson, Podolsk, Chernigov, and in Crimea. Despite its many charms, explain the editors, it has not taken the market by storm because it is largely unknown and because there is another, well-established, green apple in Crimea.
5. Canadian Renet apple
6. Short-Stemmed Queen apple
8. White Rosemary apple
9. Kandil Sinap apple
10. Orleans Renet apple The Reinette d'Orleans ripened in November (earlier in Crimea) and lasted several months after harvest. A first-class table apple - the most flavorful and aromatic of all renets - that fetched good prices. The Moscow markets relied on fruit from Bahcesaray, Karasubazar, and Simferopol, with the best fruit coming, as it so often did, from the Kacha River orchards. Kapustin describes it as "a dessert apple of highest quality that will never go out of fashion."
11. English Renet apple
Contents of this tag:
1. Sary Sinap apple Botanical lithograph of a variety that likely originated in the southern coast of the Black Sea (at Sinop) and thrived in Crimea. With the Saint Germaine pear the "alpha and omega" of Crimean orchardry. The Sary Sinop is considered a first-class market fruit, appealing for eating and cooking. Candied fruit factories use it exclusively. Yield is high, which explains why it plays a crucial role in the Crimean economy despite fetching 1 ruble 50 kopeks per pood (half the price of many reinette varieties). This is the calling-card apple of Karasubazar.
2. Winter Master pear A tree identified in Belgium in the second half of the 18th century. In the right circumstances (warm and sheltered locations), this pear is delicious; but less than ideal conditions yield pears for cooking. Crimean gardeners complain that the Winter Master requires too much moisture and protection. The fruit fall easily in the wind - a problem in Crimea. The editor writes that whenever one sees gorgeous Winter Masters on the table you can be sure they are from France. Russian-grown Winter Masters are few in number. Yet a correspondent writes from St. Petersburg to point out that in general, Crimean pears increasingly compete with French pears and their progress is such that the latter "might soon be a memory."
3. Breda apricot
4. Golden Drogan cherry
5. Saint Germaine pear The Saint Germaine (Сен Жермен) originated near Paris and enjoys renown throughout Europe. The Sary Sinap and Saint Germaine "are the alpha and omega of Crimean orchardry" and there isn't a garden in Crimean where the Saint Germaine does not grow. It fetches anywhere from 2 rubles 50 kopeks to 4 rubles per pood. Moscow fruit sellers reported that the highest quality fruit came from Alushta and Kuru Uzen, Karasubazar and Bahcesaray.
6. Duchesse d'Angouleme pear
7. Williams pear
9. Bere Dil pear
10. Golden Winter Pearmain apple An English pear identified in 1800. At an 1894 international exposition there were 33 Golden Winter Pearmain entries, including from the western provinces, the Baltics, Crimea, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Tersk and Kuban. The fruit ripens in October. This is a case of beauty over longevity though, thus the Golden Winter is best dried or made into cider. Atlas correspondents wrote in to add that the Golden Winter Pearmain stood up well to rain but could fall victim to moths and geese.
11. Golden Winter Pearmain apple An English pear identified in 1800. At an 1894 international exposition there were 33 Golden Winter Pearmain entries, including from the western provinces, the Baltics, Crimea, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Tersk and Kuban. The fruit ripens in October. This is a case of beauty over longevity though, thus the Golden Winter is best dried or made into cider. Atlas correspondents wrote in to add that the Golden Winter Pearmain stood up well to rain but could fall victim to moths and geese.
12. Bere Bosc pear
13. Renet Champagne apple
14. Simirenko apple Atlas notes: In Russia the apple comes from the gardens of the sugar merchant and gardener Platon Fyodorovich Simirenko, who brought it in from Belgium. It has received increased attention among cultivators since 1887 and can be found in the provinces of Kiev, Poltava, Kharkov, Kherson, Podolsk, Chernigov, and in Crimea. Despite its many charms, explain the editors, it has not taken the market by storm because it is largely unknown and because there is another, well-established, green apple in Crimea.
15. Forest Beauty pear
16. Ardanpon pear The Ardanpon (Hardenpott) was identified in 1750. In the late 19th century it was well-established in Crimea and the most profitable (and tasty) of all winter pears. In Crimea it was known as the Ferdinand, and was often sent to the Moscow markets from the Kacha valley and from Alushta and Kuru Uzen. (St. Petersburg markets sold French pears.) This chromolithograph is based on a pear sent for the purposes of the Atlas in 1896 from Alushta. It weighed 422 grams.
17. Green Reine Claude plum
18. Kandil Sinap apple
19. Orleans Renet apple The Reinette d'Orleans ripened in November (earlier in Crimea) and lasted several months after harvest. A first-class table apple - the most flavorful and aromatic of all renets - that fetched good prices. The Moscow markets relied on fruit from Bahcesaray, Karasubazar, and Simferopol, with the best fruit coming, as it so often did, from the Kacha River orchards. Kapustin describes it as "a dessert apple of highest quality that will never go out of fashion."
20. Bere Clairgeau pear
21. Autumn Mistress pear
22. Canadian Renet apple
23. Short-Stemmed Queen apple
25. White Rosemary apple
26. Triumf Zhoduan pear
27. Gros Noir (cherry)
28. Golden Denissen cherry
30. English Renet apple
31. Curé pear
Contents of this tag:
3. Sary Sinap apple Botanical lithograph of a variety that likely originated in the southern coast of the Black Sea (at Sinop) and thrived in Crimea. With the Saint Germaine pear the "alpha and omega" of Crimean orchardry. The Sary Sinop is considered a first-class market fruit, appealing for eating and cooking. Candied fruit factories use it exclusively. Yield is high, which explains why it plays a crucial role in the Crimean economy despite fetching 1 ruble 50 kopeks per pood (half the price of many reinette varieties). This is the calling-card apple of Karasubazar.
4. Golden Denissen cherry

This page is referenced by:

Sweet Things: A Map of Gingerbread-Bakers and Chocolatiers 38 Because everyone needs to know where to find the gingerbread-bakers and chocolatiers. plain 2024-03-07T10:30:23-05:00
Chocolate is as political as it delicious.

Consider for example the history of the Roshen Confectionery Corporation, which ranks in the top 25% of most global indexes of confectionery producers each year. The company was owned by - and named for - Petro Poroshenko until his election as president of Ukraine in 2014. While Poroshenko eventually transferred his stake to the Rothschild family, Roshen's ability to operate, let alone export, has proven inseparable from Ukrainian-Russian relations.
Access to sweets has always been a function of social status. And the nature of the sweets to which one has access has just as much to do with culture: with holidays, religious beliefs, practices associated with health and family and many other elements of daily life. While researching the Gardens of Crimea project we stumbled upon the fact that the apples and pears and cherries that grew so famous throughout the empire played a crucial role in the production of sweets: in a region with limited access to cane sugar, confectioners processed fruits into the syrups and compotes that brought candies and pastries to life on the tongue.

Confections are a sidenote in the broader history of factory production, which focuses almost exclusively on the heavy-hitters of the economy: iron, steel, and cloth.

But sweet things matter.

In 1887 the Department of Trade and Manufactures published an index of factories in European Russia and the Kingdom of Poland and it included a section on "Confections and Macaroni." It identifies
- factory owners by name and social status
- factory locations by town and (sometimes) street
- weight (poods) and value (rubles) produced on annual basis
- number of workers
- number of steam engines and mechanized parts
- the type and quantity of confection.
The factories listed in the index produced over 11,000 tons of confection and more than 6,000 tons of macaroni on an annual basis. Products in this category include pryaniki, candies, confections (unspecified), caramels, montpensiers, chocolate, cookies, wafers, halva, lokum, tahini, jam, pastila, marmalade, biscuits, and baked goods.
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