Summer on the Amur

The Amur Oblast is sufficiently large that there are great climatological differences between its northern and southern regions. As a result, there are also certain agricultural differences that have an effect on summer dacha life. For instance, when I was growing up in the North, I never saw strawberries, peaches or cherries being cultivated on garden plots. Not that they did not exist, but if they did, I did not see them, and I got around.

On the other hand, down south, where I live now (Blagoveshchensk), I have never seen lingonberries ( brusniki). This is a very tasty and beneficial berry, but it only grows up north, where it is gathered in the early fall.

One of the first signs that summer has come to the dacha is the arrival of honeysuckle berries, which normally appear in the middle or end of June.* They are gathered in the wild up north (which is the case with most berries there; rarely did I see berries planted in gardens), but often planted in dacha gardens here down south. As with all other berries we collect during the summer, honeysuckle are used to make jellies, jams, and to fill pies or just be canned for the winter.

After the honeysuckle, in June we also see strawberries, both cultivated and wild, and the first carrots.

July is when the berries really start to come in, however, including currants, raspberries, cherries, and bird cherries ( cheremukha). We also see our first onslaught of vegetables, with cabbage and the first tomatoes.

August is the most bountiful month (and the most active one at the dacha). Potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and beets all ripen, and the apricots turn their succulent color of orange.

In September, the final fruits of the harvest are gathered: more potatoes, pears, and apples.

I suspect that dacha culture in Amur Oblast differs little from that across the rest of Russia. We go there to rest and breathe the country air, and we end up working: weeding, harvesting, repairing. But we also thoroughly enjoy the fruits of our labor, namely fresh, simple vegetable and fruit salads, tasty okroshka and, of course that dacha standby, shashlik. While certainly some families, given our region’s proximity to China, occasionally experiment with Chinese food, the old standbys are always the best.

We sense that summer is coming to an end when first the young potatoes appear on our dacha tables, followed by zucchini and eggplant, mushrooms and corn. This sets in motion that final burst of dacha labor: freezing berries and herbs, salting mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumbers, preserving squash and eggplant caviar, and preparing fruit compotes.

The winters, after all, are long in Amur Oblast.

* There are nearly 200 varieties of honeysuckle. In most species the berries are mildly poisonous, but in a few (notably Lonicera caerulea, found in some of the Northern Hemisphere, and Russia in particular) they are edible.

Shashlyk ~ Шашлык

Fall may already be upon us, but you can recapture a bit of the lost summer with this recipe for preparing authentic shashlik Russian style.

2 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 1½-inch cubes

¼ cup tomato paste

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 medium sized onions, sliced

2-3 bay leaves, crushed

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the marinade ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Place meat and marinate into a large (gallon) ziploc bag, seal tightly and then mix thoroughly. Let marinate at least 4 hours, but as long as overnight.

Place the cubes onto metal or bamboo skewers (or use a closed grilling grate, as in the photo – these are increasingly popular with dacha goers).

Cook slowly over medium heat on a gas or charcoal barbeque* for 3-5 minutes per side, cooking until juices run clear or the meat’s internal temperature reaches 145º F.

Serve with a salad of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and perhaps some freshly picked mushrooms, sauteed in butter and garlic over an open fire.

* True shashlyk afficionados will insist on the importance of homemade charcoal, made by slowly burning down birch log cuttings in an outdoor fire pit until they are perfect, grey-dusted embers. The shashlyk is then slow-cooked over this open fire, guaranteeing optimal dacha flavoring.