While August is still a few weeks away, much of Hungary is already trapped in the torpor of uborkaszezon (“cucumber season”) that time of summer when so little happens that the media is obliged to publish stories about the size of the annual cucumber harvest. So we’ll temporarily break our own summer slowdown by reporting the stunning news that, according to portal Privátbankár.hu (based on a report by newswire MTI) locally-grown watermelons have arrived at stores with a resounding thump, thanks to a harvest expected to reach 180,000 tons, up 30,000 tons from last year, this despite the fact that the area devoted to görögdinnye has dropped by 5%-10%, to roughly 7,000 hectares.
Meanwhile, Béla Mártonffy, director of the national vegetable and fruit product council FruitVeb, says that this year’s watermelon crop, of which roughly 60% is expected to be exported, has seen “extreme” variations, with some farmers reporting yields of 70-80 tons per hectare, and others just 20 tons. Meanwhile, in case you are wondering, local melons will be available until late August or early September, or whenever cucumber season ends.
I can always rely on this site for a giggle. I love the humour in the stories. I’d not even heard of the term ‘uborkaszezon’ before. But I guess they do have seasons don’t they?!!