Cucujães is located inthe municipality ofOliveira de Azeméisin the district ofAveiro in Portugal.

Cucujães is a fertile region and privileged conditions, which attracted many ancient people. Cucujães instituted by D. Afonso Henriques in July 7, 1139, was donated to the Benedictine monastery in the same town. Cucujães gained the status of small town in June 11, 1927 and it is considered, in our days, an important industrial and commercial Portuguese centre. With monuments and places worth a visit, it offers us the cloister of the monastery, the sacristy of the Church, the Bridge of Pica (a Roman style bridge built in the sixteenth century over the river Ul, the Santa Luzia’schapel, the Gandarinha, the magnificent villas of Picoto, Sol, Barreiro, and Misericórdia, among others.

Benedictine monastery:

Cucujães:

Corn Cabbage Lettuce Peas Parsley

Carrot Turnip Onions Potato Beans

In Cucujães, we grow corn, cabbages, lettuces, peas, parsley,turnips, onions, carrots, potatoes and beans.Here, we have a Traditional Agriculture.

It aims private consumption,it has a rudimentarycharacter: farmers use verysimple techniques, tools andnatural fertilizer. It has lowproductivity, it is carriedout in small parcels of landand several crops are grownat the same time.

Characteristics: Traditional farming

Size of the state Small properties

Variety of crops Polyculture

Use of the land Extensive

Farming techniques Rudimentary: hoe,

plough, manure and crop

rotation

Destination of the

production

Home consumption and

local markets

Income / Productivity Low / Low

Lettuce is a vegetable cultivated

annual or biennial, it has been

used as food since about 500 BC

Originating in the eastern

Mediterranean, is widely

cultivated for consumption in

salads, with numerous varieties

of leaves, colors, shapes, sizes

and textures.

Growing lettuces in small gardens

and fields is also very usual in

Cucujães.

The nuts come the husks, thethorny fruit of the Europeanchestnut.

Presumably chestnut is nativefrom Asia Minor closelyfollowing the history ofWestern civilization for over100,000 years. The chestnutgave a major caloriccontribution to the prehistoricman’s diet as well as to theanimals’ diet.

The chestnut trees alsoabound in Cucujães.

Wheat is a grassy plant grownall over the world, and it isoriginal from Syria, Jordan,Turkey and Iraq. It is, globally,after maize, the second majorcereal crop, followed by rice.The wheat grain is a basic foodused to make flour and, withthis, the bread. It is also usedto feed livestock and as aningredient in the manufactureof beer.

This crop can also be seen inCucujães.

Cabbage is the common name

of several cultivated varieties

of the species Brassica

olerácea. This plant is widely

used in cooking as a

vegetable, in the soup (like

kale, for “caldo verde” – a

very typical Portuguese soup),

preserved and in side dishes,

among others.

In Cucujães this vegetable is

irreplaceable in the families’

gardens.

Corn is a well known a

cereal, cultivated in vast

areas of the globe. Corn is

extensively used as human

food or to feed the animals,

due to its nutritional

qualities.

It is one of the most

nutritious food there is.

In Cucujães there are many

fields with this cereal.

Grape cultivation beganabout 6000-8000 yearsago in the Middle East.An original species fromAsia, the vine is grown inall temperate regionsand in Cucujães it is alsogrown by severalfamilies.