Heirloom crops of Eastern Europe.

Greetings! I wanna find out if anybody know of any type of heirloom veggies grown in Serbia, Greece and Poland cause I had these type of immigrants that came to my community in the 1900s for a better life. My community was once a vast industrial place and Eastern European immigrants have contributed greatly to the local economy. Any of you know of any crops that were brought to America by these immigrants? Any of you heard of elephant beans, elephant ear peppers and a seven foot Serbian gourd which was used in art fairs? There was a white Serbian corn, and I'd like to learn more about it. If anybody know more history of these type of crops, being deeply tied to Eastern Europeans, please let me know. See you then!

My first thought would be to search around at https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org. I've also been noticing a lot of origin-based offerings at https://www.thebuffaloseedcompany.com/.

Found only a few Serbian and Greek types, but little history on them. Anybody heard of the name kikinda a gourd from an easy Serbian village and has been used in art fairs and stuff? I've heard it has good flavor when it's young. I saw an article somewhere on the Baker Creek Facebook page just a few weeks ago and it was interesting.

You are talking about quite different cultures and growing climates.
Poland's cuisine is very similar to German one: Apart from pork and meat, there are potatoes, grains, cabbage, sauerkraut, onions, leek, cucumber and beets (also pickled), different kinds of mushrooms and herbs and spices like dill and poppy seeds.

Serbia has a warmer climate which allows for tomatos, peppers (also hot peppers), beans, grapes, melons, corn, filled grapeleaves.

Greece is definitely mediterranean and the most southern of these countries (a bit more south than NYC) with a much longer growing season, lots of eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, figs, pulses, of course olives...

Here in Germany we have restaurants from all three regions because many migrant workers came from there to work in Germany, starting in the 1960s. In many cities there are shops that cater to them, but also many supermarkets have a little section dedicated to ethnic specialties (even my tiny supermarket, they have birch juice for example from Poland).

As to gourds: Kikinda is just the name of a town. If you google you find a gardener who grew a huge pumpkin but it is not a local variety (gourds are not native to Europe). You could google Beogradska Tikvica if that is what you were looking for?

Hey Anita. You seen some huge elephant ear shaped red peppers from Serbia before? And the huge elephant beans from Serbia and Greece you had those before? My community has a rich East European immigrant history from the industrial period in the 1900s and wanna find out if there are some heirloom varieties from that timeframe. What does the Serbian corn look like and what conditions it need in order to be successful in the western hemisphere?

Blake Lenoir wrote:Hey Anita. You seen some huge elephant ear shaped red peppers from Serbia before? And the huge elephant beans from Serbia and Greece you had those before? My community has a rich East European immigrant history from the industrial period in the 1900s and wanna find out if there are some heirloom varieties from that timeframe. What does the Serbian corn look like and what conditions it need in order to be successful in the western hemisphere?

Have you contacted the people of that community to see if some still garden? I know from Germany that you find all kinds of specialty crops in the allotments with migrant populations. Most are willing to exchange seeds and crops with you, in any case it is very easy for them to get the seeds if they visit their home countries during the summer vacation (which is very common here).
I know from my chinese sister in law that there are Facebook (or equivalent) groups for Chinese expats where they exchange tips about growing their special crops here in the harsh German climate. She even earns some extra cash by growing bitter gourds and similar and sending them on demand to other Chinese craving those foods.

My community's located on the south side of Chicago and it has been industrial for decades. My community had the Germans, Swedes, Irish and British first beginning in the 1840s, and Serbians, Greeks, Poles and Croatians after in the 1900s. I'm looking for some stuff that has been closely tied to these immigrants who came to America in the 1900s for a better life and employment. I've done my very best to research my community's European settlement history and what type of life they had, but it get tricky from here. I haven't reached out yet to folks of East European descent about any immigrant agricultural history after they came to America, but I wish I could. I'll welcome any help from abroad or from those who have ancestry to these groups I'm talking about on this forum. I want a chance to restore my community's history for edification of my community so others are better informed of the community's original past. Thanks!

Blake, my advice as a hobby genealogist is to search by region of origin.
Nobody in Europe would lump together Poland, Serbia and Greece as "Eastern European". No offence meant, but instead of trying to tackle the complete range of backgrounds, I would focus on one country/region and go from there.
Which interests you most, which members of your community can give you the most support?
Then reach out in social media, work with google translate or DeepL if necessary and research traditional crops. The research might be slow and tedious but I don't know of a better way.
A good starting point might be immigrants from later immigration waves that are still closer to their home countries and tradional foods.

I'd like to begin with the Serbians since they were among the largest ethnic immigrant groups in my community and hometown. Chicago has the largest Serbian population in America and I like to revive that history and culture into this modern time. I know there's a cabbage out there that's closely tied to Serbians, but don't know which one is popular among them. I'm also trying to look for heirloom potatoes and kale that have been tied to the peasants and immigrants for years. They've been an underrated group among the European Immigrant population for years and I wanna bring that to the forefront for awareness and edification to all in my community. I'm looking for Serbian heirlooms from the Middle Ages to the immigration period to help make my future gardens more historic. Anybody can chime in to aid or contribute to make this topic more edifying to all. Have a good day!

Happy 2026 folks! How are you? Seeking help in acquiring a few Serbian varieties.
Here's my list.
1. Osmak eight row corn
2. Serbian white or gray pumpkin
3. Serbian old melon (very sweet and juicy)
4. Serbian cucumber (green one)
5. Serbian white beans
6. Serbian white or red onion
7. Serbian leek
8. Serbian white sweet pepper
9. Serbian carrot
10. Serbian green salad (lettuce type)
I'm trying to restore my community's European Balkan past in Chicago for its economic and religious contributions in the late 1800s to the 1900s, but needed some help in finding a few places and folks that would help acquire me some of those historic crops to America to help the Serbian and Balkan communities remember their motherlands and ancestors who came there after heavy political persecution years ago. I can't find those anywhere else in America or in the world for that matter.
If there's anybody in America who's of Serbian or Balkan descent growing some of this stuff, please let me know in the comments or in the Purple Moosage to discuss more and how to acquire them. One of those I already have is the Futog cabbage and I'm planning to grow those this year. Please shoot back as soon as possible.
Take care!