Chestnut
Encyclopedia
Chestnut some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus
of eight or nine species
of deciduous
trees and shrub
s in the beech family Fagaceae
, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts
they produce.
as the oak
and beech
. There are four main species, commonly known as European
, Chinese, Japanese
and American chestnut
s:
Chestnuts should not be confused with horse chestnuts
(genus Aesculus
), which are unrelated to Castanea and are named for producing nuts of similar appearance but of no notable edibility. Nor should they be confused with water chestnut
(family Cyperaceae
), which are also unrelated to Castanea and are tubers of similar taste from an aquatic herbaceous plant.
Other trees commonly mistaken for the chestnut tree are the chestnut oak
(Quercus prinus) and the American beech
(Fagus grandifolia).
or in Ancient Greek
. Another possible source of the name is the town of Kastania in Thessaly
, Greece; but it is more probable that the town took its name from the most common tree growing around it. Among the Mediterranean climate zone, chestnut trees are rarer in Greece because the chalky soil is not conducive to the tree's growth. Kastania is located on one of the relatively few sedimentary or siliceous outcrops. They grow so abundantly there, that their presence would have determined the place's name. Still others take the name as coming from the Greek name of Sardis glans (Sardis acorn) – Sardis
being the capital of Lydia
, Asia Minor, wherefrom the fruit had spread.
The tree's names are virtually identical in all the most ancient languages of Central Europe: in Breton kistinen for the tree, and kistin for its fruit, in Welsh castan-wydden and sataen, in Dutch kastanje for both the tree and its fruit, in Albanian gështenjë, and many others close to the French châtaigne and to the Latin name chosen for the genus.
The name is cited twice in the King James Version of the Bible. In one instance, Jacob puts peeled twigs in the water troughs to promote healthy offspring of his livestock. Although it may indicate another tree, all indicates that that fruit was a local staple food at that time.
The following synonym
s are or have been in use: Fagus castanea (used by Linnaeus in first edition of Species Plantarum, 1753). Sardian nut. Jupiter's nut. Husked nut. Spanish Chestnut (U.S.).
The Chinese and more so the Japanese chestnuts are both often multileadered and wide-spreading, whereas European and especially American species tend to grow very erect when planted among others, with little tapering of their columnar trunk
, which is firmly set and massive. When standing on their own, they spread on the sides and develop broad, rounded, dense crowns
at maturity. The two latter's foliage
has striking yellow autumn colouring.
Its bark
is smooth when young, of a vinous maroon
or red-brown colour for the American chestnut, grey for the European chestnut. With age American species' becomes grey and darker, thick and deeply furrowed; the furrows run longitudinally, and tend to twist around the trunk as the tree ages; it sometimes reminds one of a large cable with twisted strands.
The leaves are simple, ovate or lanceolate, long and wide, with sharply pointed, widely-spaced teeth, with shallow rounded sinuates between.
The flower
s follow the leaves, appearing in late spring or early summer or onto July. They are arranged in long catkin
s of two kinds, with both kinds being borne on every tree. Some catkins are made of only male flowers, which mature first. Each flower has eight stamen
s, or 10 to 12 for Castanea mollissima. The ripe pollen
carries a heavy sweet odour that some people find too sweet or unpleasant. Other catkins have these pollen-bearing flowers, but also carry near the twig
from which these spring, small clusters of female or fruit-producing flowers. Two or three flowers together form a four-lobed prickly calybium, which ultimately grows completely together to make the brown hull, or husk
, covering the fruits.
The fruit is contained in a spiny (very sharp) cupule
in diameter, also called "bur" or "burr
". The burrs are often paired or clustered on the branch and contain one to seven nuts according to the different species
, varieties and cultivar
s. Around the time the fruits reach maturity, the burrs turn yellow-brown and split open in 2 or 4 sections. They can remain on the tree longer than they hold the fruit, but more often achieve complete opening and release the fruits only after having fallen on the ground; opening is partly due to soil humidity
.
The chestnut fruit has a pointed end with a small tuft at its tip (called "flame" in Italian
), and at the other end, a hilum – a pale brown attachment scar. In many varieties, the fruit is flattened on one or two sides. It has two skins. The first one is a hard outer shiny brown hull or husk
, called the pericarpus; the industry calls this the peel. Underneath the pericarpus is another thinner skin, called the "pellicle" or "episperm". The pellicle closely adheres to the seed
itself, following the grooves usually present at the surface of the fruit. These grooves are of variable sizes and depth according to the species and variety.
The fruit inside these shows two cotyledon
s with a creamy-white flesh throughout, except in some varieties which show only one cotyledon, and whose episperm is only slightly or not intruded at all. Usually these varieties have only one large fruit per burr, well rounded (no flat face) and which is called "marron" ("marron de Lyon" in France, "marron di Mugello" in Italy, or "Paragon").
The superior fruiting varieties among European chestnuts have good size, sweet taste and easy-to-remove inner skins. American chestnuts are usually very small (around ), but sweet-tasting with easy-to-remove pellicles. Some Japanese varieties have very large nuts (around ), with typically difficult-to-remove pellicles. Chinese chestnut pellicles are usually easy to remove, and their sizes vary greatly according to the varieties, although usually smaller than the Japanese chestnut.
, in Asia Minor
; the fruit was then called the 'Sardian nut'. It has been a staple food in southern Europe, Turkey and southwestern and eastern Asia for millennia, largely replacing cereals where these would not grow well, if at all, in mountainous Mediterranean areas. Alexander the Great and the Romans
planted chestnut trees across Europe while on their various campaigns. The Greek army is said to have survived their retreat from Asia Minor in 401-399 BC thanks to their stores of chestnuts. Ancient Greeks like Dioscorides and Galen, wrote of chestnuts to comment on their medicinal properties—and of the flatulence induced by eating too much of it. To the early Christians, chestnuts symbolized chastity
. Until the introduction of the potato
, whole forest-dwelling communities which had scarce access to wheat
flour relied on chestnuts as their main source of carbohydrate
s. In some parts of Italy, a cake made of chestnuts is used as a substitute for potatoes. In 1583, Charles Estienne and Jean Liébault wrote that "an infinity of people live on nothing else but (the chestnut)". In 1802, an Italian agronomist
said of Tuscany that "the fruit of the chestnut tree is practically the sole subsistence of our highlanders", while in 1879 it was said that it almost exclusively fed whole populations for half the year, as "a temporary but complete substitution for cereals".
Boundary records
compiled in the reign of John
already showed the famous Tortworth Chestnut
in South Gloucestershire
, as a landmark; and it was also known by the same name of “Great Chestnut of Tortworth” in the days of Stephen
. This tree measured over 50 feet (15.2 m) in circumference at 5 feet (1.5 m) from the ground in 1720. The chestnut forests on Mount Etna
contain many trees that are said to be even larger. Chestnut trees particularly flourish in the Mediterranean basin
. In 1584, the governor of Genua
, who dominated Corsica
, ordered to all farmers and landowners to plant four trees yearly, among which a chestnut tree – plus olive
, fig
and mulberry
trees (this assumedly lasted until the end of Genoese
rule over Corsica
in 1729). Many communities owe their origin and former richness to the ensuing chestnut woods. In France, the marron glacé, a candied chestnut involving 16 different processes in a typically French cooking style, is always served at Christmas and New Year's time. In Modena
, Italy, they are soaked in wine before roasting and serving,) and are also traditionally eaten on Saint Simon's Day in Tuscany
. It is traditional to eat roasted chestnuts in Portugal on St. Martin's Day
.
Their popularity has declined during the last few centuries, partly due to their reputation of "food for poor people". Many people did not want to take chestnut bread as "bread
" because chestnut flour does not rise. Some slandered chestnut products in such words as the bread which "gives a sallow complexion" written in 1770, or in 1841 "this kind of mortar which is called a soup". The last decades' worldwide renewal may have profited from the huge reforestation efforts started in the 1930s in the United States to establish varieties of Castanea sativa which may be resistant to chestnut blight, as well as to relieve the strain on cereal supplies.
The main region in Italy for chestnut production is the Mugello region
; in 1996 the European Community granted the fruit Protected Geographic Indication (equivalent to the French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) status to the Mugello sweet chestnut. It is markedly sweet, peels easily, is not excessively floury or astringent
, and has notes of vanilla
, hazelnut
and, more subtly, fresh bread. There is no unpleasant aroma, such as yeast
, fungus
, mold
or paper, which sometimes occur with other chestnuts. The main regions in France for chestnut production are the départements of Ardèche
, with the famous “Châtaigne d’Ardèche” (A.O.C), of the Var, and of the Lyon
region. France annually produces over 1,000 metric tons, but still imports about 8,000 metric tons, mainly from Italy.
In Portugal's archipelago of Madeira, chestnut liquor is a traditional beverage, and it is gaining popularity with the tourists and in continental Portugal.
and the Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) possibly for 2,000 to 6,000 years.
During British colonial rule in the mid-1700s to 1947, the Sweet Chestnut
(Castanea sativa) was widely introduced in the temperate parts of the Indian Subcontinent
, mainly in the lower-to-middle Himalayas
. They are widely found in British-founded hill stations in Northern India
, and to a lesser extent in Bhutan
and Nepal
. They are mainly used as an ornamental tree and are found in almost all British-founded botanical gardens and official governmental compounds (such as larger official residences) in temperate parts of the Indian Subcontinent.
China has about 300 chestnut cultivar
s. Moreover, the Dandong
chestnut (belonging to the Japanese chestnut Castanea crenata) is a major cultivar
in Liaoning Province
.
were eating the American chestnut species, mainly Castanea dentata and some others, long before European immigrants introduced their stock to America, and before the arrival of chestnut blight
. In some places, such as the Appalachian Mountains
and others, one quarter of hardwood
s were chestnuts. Mature trees often grew straight and branch-free for 50 feet (15.2 m), up to 100 feet, averaging up to 5 feet in diameter. For three centuries, most barn
s and homes east of the Mississippi River
were made from it. In 1911, the famous food book The Grocer's Encyclopedia noted that a cannery in Holland included in its "vegetables-and-meat" ready-cooked combinations, a "chestnuts and sausages" casserole besides the more classic "beef and onions" and "green peas and veal". This to celebrate the chestnut culture that would bring whole villages out in the woods for three weeks each autumn (and keep them busy all winter), and to deplore the lack of food diversity in the United States's shop shelves.
But soon after that, the American chestnuts were nearly wiped out by chestnut blight. The discovery of the blight fungus on some Asian chestnut trees planted on Long Island
, New York
was made public in 1904. Within 40 years, the near-four billion-strong American chestnut population in North America was devastated; only a few clumps of trees remained in California
and the Pacific Northwest
. Due to disease, American chestnut wood almost disappeared from the market for decades, although quantities can still be obtained as reclaimed lumber
. Today, they only survive as single trees separated from any others (very rare), and as living stump
s, or "stools", with only a few growing enough shoot
s to produce seeds shortly before dying. This is just enough to preserve the genetic material used to engineer an American chestnut tree with the minimal necessary genetic input from any of the disease-immune Asiatic species. Efforts started in the 1930s are still ongoing to repopulate the country with these trees, in Massachusetts
and many places elsewhere in the United States.
Today, the nut's demand outstrips supply
. The United States imported 4,056 metric tons of European in-shell chestnuts worth $10 million in 2007. The U.S. chestnut industry is in its infancy, producing less than 1% of total world production. Since the mid-20th century, most of the US import
s are from Southern Italy, with the large, meaty, and richly flavored Sicilian chestnuts being considered among the best quality for bulk sale and supermarket retail. Some imports come from Portugal and France. The next two largest sources of imports are China and South Korea
. The French varieties of marrons are highly favoured and sold at high prices in gourmet
shops.
A study of the sector in 2005 found that US producers are mainly part-timers diversifying an existing agricultural business, or hobbyists. Another recent study indicates that investment in a new plantation takes 13 years to break even, at least within the current Australian market. Starting a small-scale operation requires a relatively low initial investment; this is a factor in the small size of the present production operations, with half of them being within 3 to 10 acres (40,468.6 m²). Another predetermining factor in the small productivity of the sector is that most orchards have been created less than 10 years ago, so have young trees which are as now barely entering commercial production. Assuming a 10 kilograms (22 lb) yield for a 10 year-old tree is a reliable conservative estimate, though some exceptional specimens of that age have yielded 100 kilograms (220.5 lb). So most producers earn less than $5,000 per year, with a third of the total not having sold anything so far.
Moreover, the plantings have so far been mostly of Chinese species, but the products are not readily available. The American Chestnut Foundation recommends waiting a little while more before large-scale planting. This is because it and its associates (the American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation and many others from education, research and industry sectors contributing to the program) are at the last stages of developing a variety that is as close as possible to the lost American chestnut, while having incorporated the blight-resistant gene of the Asiatic species. Considering the additional advantage that chestnut trees can be easily grown organically, and assuming the development of brands in the market, it has been asserted that, everything else being equal, home-grown products would reach higher prices than imports, the high volume of which indicates a market with expanding prospects. As of 2008, the price for chestnuts sold fresh in the shell ranges from $1.50 per pound ($3.30/kg) wholesale to about $5 per pound ($11/kg) retail, depending mainly on the size.
are around 120 years old and up to 60 metres tall.
Chestnuts grow well in southwest Western Australia
, which has cold winters and warm to hot summers. As of 2008, the country has just under 350 growers, annually producing around 1,200 metric tons of chestnuts, of which 80% comes from northeast Victoria. The produce is mostly sold to the domestic fresh fruit market. Chestnuts are now slowly gaining popularity in Australia. A considerable increase in production is expected in the next 10 years, due to the increase in commercial plantings during the last fifteen to twenty-five years. By far the most common species in Australia is the European chestnut, but there are small numbers of the other species, as well as some hybrids.
The Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata) does well in wet and humid weather and in hot summers (~30 °C); and was introduced to New Zealand in the early 1900s, more so in the upper North Island
region
s (800 kJ) per 100 grams of edible parts, which is much lower than walnut
s, almond
s, other nuts and dried fruit (about 600 kcal/100 g). Chestnuts, as with all plant foods, contain no cholesterol
and contain very little fat, mostly unsaturated, and no gluten
.
Their carbohydrate content compares with that of wheat and rice; chestnuts have twice as much starch
as the potato. In addition, chestnuts contain about 8 percent of various sugar
s, mainly sucrose
, glucose
, fructose
, and, in less amount, stachyose
, and raffinose
. In some areas, sweet chestnut trees are called "the bread tree". When chestnuts are just starting to ripen
, the fruit is mostly starch and is very firm under finger pressure from the high water content. As the chestnuts ripen, the starch is slowly converted into sugars; and moisture content also starts decreasing. Upon pressing the chestnut, a slight 'give' can be felt; the hull
is not so tense, and there is space between it and the flesh of the fruit. The water is being replaced by sugars, which means better conservation.
They are the only "nuts" that contain vitamin C
, with about 40 mg per 100 g of raw product, which is about 65 percent of the U.S. recommended daily intake. The amount of vitamin C decreases by about 40 percent after heating. Fresh chestnuts contain about 52 percent water by weight, which will evaporate relatively quickly during storage; they can lose even 1 percent of weight in one day at 20 °C and 70% relative humidity
.
Tannin
is contained in the bark as well as in the wood, leaves and seed husk
s. The husks contain 10–13% tannin.
period. Frosts and snowfalls are beneficial rather than harmful to the trees. The dormant plant is very cold-hardy in Britain. Chestnut is hardy to zone 5
, which is 22 °C (12 °F) lower in average minimal temperature than London in zone 9
. But the young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost
-tender; bud
-burst is later than most other fruit trees, so late frosts can be damaging to young buds.
Trees can be found at altitudes between 200 and 1000 meters above sea level; some mention between 300 and 750 m altitude, while the famous Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses
on Mount Etna
stands at 1200 meters.). They can tolerate maritime exposure, although growth is reduced.
When grown from seed, the trees do not begin to yield
fruit until they are thirty to forty years old. Grafted
trees can start bearing in their fifth year.
Seeds germinate
in late winter or early spring, but the life length is short. If kept moist, they can be stored in a cool place for a few months, but must be checked regularly for signs of germination. Low temperature prolongs dormancy. It is better to sow them as soon as ripe, either in cold frame
s or seedbed
s outdoors, where they can be left in situ for 1 to 2 years before being planted in their permanent positions, or in pots, where the plants can be put out into their permanent positions in summer or autumn. They must be protected from the cold in their first winter, and also from mice
and squirrel
s.
Chestnuts are considered self-sterile, so at least two trees are needed for pollination.
and adequate moisture. The tree prefers sloping, deep soils; it does not like shallow or heavy soils with impermeable, clay
subsoil
s. The Chinese chestnut prefers a fertile, well-drained soil, but it grows well in fairly dry, rocky, or poor soils.
Although Castanea can grow in very acid
soil, and while these soils are reasonably well tolerated, the preferred range is from pH 5.5-6.0. It does not grow well on alkaline soils, such as chalk
, but thrives on soils such as soils derived from granite
, sandstone
, or schist
. On alkaline soils, chestnut trees can be grown by grafting
them onto oak
rootstocks.
Recently cleared land is best avoided to help resist the root rot
, Armillaria mellia.
until it has developed enough canopy
.
Wide spacing between the trees encourages low, broad crown
s with maximum exposure to sunshine to increase fruit production. Where chestnut trees touch, there is virtually no fruit production. Current industrial planting spacings
can range from 7 m x 7 m to 20 m x 20 m. The closer plantings, which are more popular, mean quicker increases in short-term production, but heavy pruning or even tree removal is required later.
ing during summer is recommended. Rainfall below 700 mm (27.6 in) per annum needs be complemented with, for example, a drip irrigation
system. This should water the soil at the outer half of the circle formed by the drip line to encourage root growth.
Independently from annual rainfall, it is recommended to water young trees at least during summer and early autumn. Once established, they resist drought
s well.
rates and consequent loss weight, the nuts react as fresh fruits (not as nuts). They should be kept cool at all times, including in shops when on display for sale. To preserve their freshness for a few months with no artificial refrigeration, the chestnuts can be soaked in cold water for about 20 hours immediately after harvest
, after which they are dried in the shade, then layered in dry sand.
On the other hand, chestnuts behave similarly to seeds in that they produce very little ethylene, and their respiration rate is low, varying between 5 and 20 mg/(kg·h) depending on the temperature.
Early in the 20th century, chestnut blight destroyed about four billion American chestnut trees, and reduced the most important tree throughout the East Coast to an insignificant presence. The American chinkapins are also very susceptible to chestnut blight. The European and West Asian chestnuts are susceptible, but less so than the American species.
The resistant species (particularly Japanese and Chinese chestnut, but also Seguin's chestnut and Henry's chestnut) have been used in breeding programs in the U.S. to create hybrids with the American chestnut that are also disease-resistant.
The bark miner Spulerina simploniella (Lepidoptera: Gracilariidae) was found in intensively managed chestnut coppices
in Greece, but not in orchards. The larvae (and the rain) may be agents in the spread of the disease. They mine under the thin periderm of young trees up to 10 years old, while the stem bark is still smooth. Rain during the pupation period (approximately the last week of May and first two weeks of June), and the actions of the larvae, may collude for conidiospores
to come into contact with the freshly exposed phloem
, and thus cause cankers.
, especially if the pellicle is not removed.
Another method of eating the fruit involves roasting, which does not require peeling. Roasting requires scoring the fruit beforehand to prevent undue expansion and "explosion" of the fruit. Once cooked, its texture is similar to that of a baked potato, with a delicate, sweet, and nutty flavour. This method of preparation is popular in northern China as well as in Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Korea and Southeast Asia, where the scored chestnuts may be cooked in a tub of heated coal pebbles mixed with a little sugar.
Chestnuts can be dried and milled into flour
, which can then be used to prepare breads, cake
s, pancakes, pasta
s (it is the original ingredient for polenta
, known in Corsica as pulenda), or used as thickener for stew
s, soup
s, and sauce
s. In Corsica, the flour is fried into doughnut
-like fritters called fritelli
and made into necci, pattoni, castagnacci, and cialdi.
The flour can be light beige like that from Castagniccia, or darker in other regions. It is a good solution for long storage of a nutritious food. Chestnut bread can stay fresh for as long as two weeks.
The nuts can also be eaten candied, boiled, steamed, grilled, or roasted in sweet or savoury recipes. They can be used to stuff vegetables, poultry, fowl and other edibles. They are available fresh, dried, ground or canned (whole or in puree).
A fine granular sugar can be obtained from the fermentation of the juice, as well as a beer; the roasted fruit provides a coffee substitute. Parmentier
, who among other things was a famous potato promoter, extracted sugar
from chestnuts and sent a chestnut sugarloaf
weighing several pounds to the Academy of Lyon
. The continental blockade
following shortly after (1806–1814) increased the research into developing chestnuts as a source of sugar, but Napoleon chose beet
s instead.
Candied chestnuts (whole chestnuts candied in sugar syrup, then iced) are sold under the French name marrons glacés
or Turkish name kestane şekeri ("sugared chestnuts"). They appeared in France in the 16th century. Towards the end of 19th century, Lyon
went into a recession with the collapse of the textile market, notably silk. Clément Faugier ingénieur des Ponts et Chaussées was looking for a way to revitalize the regional economy. In 1882 at Privas
, he invented the technology to make marrons glacés on an industrial scale (although a great deal of the over-twenty necessary steps from harvest to the finished product are still accomplished manually). Chestnuts are picked in autumn, and candied from the start of the following summer for the ensuing Christmas. Thus the marrons glacés eaten at Christmas are those picked the year before.
Sweet chestnuts are not easy to peel when cold. One kilogram of untainted chestnuts yields about 700 g of shelled chestnuts.
Chestnut flavors vary slightly from one to the next, but itis somewhat sweet and certainly unique. Chestnut-based recipes and preparations are making a comeback in Italian cuisine
, as part of the trend toward rediscovery of traditional dishes and better nutrition.
. A first soak in lime water
removes their bitter flavour, then they are ground and mixed with the ordinary provender. Other methods of preparation are also used. It is given to horses and cattle in the Orient, and to pigs in England, France and other places. Sheep will pop the chestnuts out with their hooves, when in pastures containing the trees. The leaves are not as prone to be insect-eaten as those of the oak, and are also used for fodder.
Chestnut is of the same family as oak, and likewise its wood contains many tannins. This renders the wood very durable, gives it excellent natural outdoor resistance, and saves the need for other protection treatment. It also corrodes iron slowly, although copper, brass or stainless metals are not affected.
Chestnut timber is decorative. Light brown in color, it is sometimes confused with oak wood. Both woods' textures are also similar. When in a growing stage, with very little sap wood, a chestnut tree contains more timber of a durable quality than an oak of the same dimensions. Young chestnut wood has proved more durable than oak for woodwork that has to be partly in the ground, such as stakes and fences.
After most growth is achieved, chestnut timber tends to split and warp more the older it is harvested; it becomes neither as hard nor quite as strong as oak. The American chestnut Castanea dentata served as an important source of lumber, because that species has long unbranched trunks. In Britain, it was formerly used indiscriminately with oak for the construction of houses, mill-work and household furniture. It grows so freely in that country, it was long considered a true native, partly because the roof of Westminster Hall and the Parliament House of Edinburgh
were mistakenly thought of as chestnut wood. But chestnut wood loses much of its durability when grown beyond fifty years old, and despite the local chestnut's quick growth rate, it remains that the timber
used for these two buildings is considerably larger than a 50-year-old chestnut's girth. It has been now proved that they are of Durmast oak
, which closely resembles chestnut in grain
and colour.
It is therefore uncommon to find large pieces of chestnut in building structures, but it has always been highly valued for small outdoor furniture pieces, where durability is important, such as fencing and wooden outdoor cladding
(shingle
s) for covering buildings., pit-props In Italy, it is also used to make barrel
s used for aging balsamic vinegar
. Of note, the famous eighteenth century's "berles" in the French Cévennes
are cupboards cut directly from the hollowed trunk
.
), sweet chestnut has traditionally been grown as coppices, being re-cut every ten years or so on rotation for poles used for firewood, fencing
(fence posts and chestnut paling) and especially to support the strings up when hops
are grown.
forests
Sustainable forest management
incorporates more mixed plantings of proven efficiency, as opposed to monosylviculture. A study presented in 1997 has evaluated positively the potential increase in productivity with mixed stands and plantations, compared to plots of only one species. The relative yield total values of the mixed plantings steadily increase with time. It has shown that Castanea sativa responds well to competitive pressure from Pseudotsuga menziesii, the latter also showing a higher productivity. Another study with Castanea dentata seedlings in Ohio concluded that reforestation efforts is best achieved by planting it in places with little or no arboreous land cover, because of the need for light.
s, pigeons, wild boar, deer, and squirrel
s. Several insects, notably the chestnut weevil Curculio elephas
, also feed on the seeds. The leaves are used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera
species (butterflies and moths); see list of Lepidoptera that feed on chestnut trees.
American and Chinese chinquapins (Castanea pumila and Castanea henryi) have very small nuts that are an important source of food for wildlife.
Chestnut tannin has a naturally low pH value, relatively low salts content and a high acids content. It is one of the pyrogallol class of tannins (also known as hydrolysable tannin
). As it tends to give a reddish tone to the leather
, it is most often used in combination with quebracho, mimosa
, myrabolans, and valonia.
The wood seems to reach its highest tannin content after the trees reach 30 years old. The southern European chestnut wood usually contains at least 10 to 13% more tannin than chestnut trees in northern climates. Today, the largest producer of extract for tanning is Italy.
Fabric can be starched with chestnut meal
.
Linen cloth can be whitened with chestnut meal.
The leaves and the skins (husk and pellicle) of the fruits provide a hair shampoo.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of eight or nine species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
trees and shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s in the beech family Fagaceae
Fagaceae
The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like nuts. Fagaceous leaves are often...
, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
they produce.
Species
The chestnut belongs to the same Fagaceae familyFamily (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
as the oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
. There are four main species, commonly known as European
Sweet Chestnut
Castanea sativa is a species of the flowering plant family Fagaceae, the tree and its edible seeds are referred to by several common names such Sweet Chestnut or Marron. Originally native to southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, it is now widely dispersed throughout Europe and parts of Asia, such as...
, Chinese, Japanese
Japanese Chestnut
Japanese Chestnut is a species of chestnut originally native to Japan and South Korea. It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10-15 m tall. The leaves are similar to those of the Sweet Chestnut, though usually a little smaller, 8-19 cm long and 3-5 cm broad...
and American chestnut
American Chestnut
The American Chestnut is a large, deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. Before the species was devastated by the chestnut blight, a fungal disease, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range...
s:
- European species sweet chestnutSweet ChestnutCastanea sativa is a species of the flowering plant family Fagaceae, the tree and its edible seeds are referred to by several common names such Sweet Chestnut or Marron. Originally native to southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, it is now widely dispersed throughout Europe and parts of Asia, such as...
(Castanea sativa) (also called "Spanish chestnut" in the US) is the only European species of chestnut, though successfully introduced to the HimalayasHimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
and other temperate parts of AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. - Asiatic species Castanea crenata (Japanese chestnutJapanese ChestnutJapanese Chestnut is a species of chestnut originally native to Japan and South Korea. It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10-15 m tall. The leaves are similar to those of the Sweet Chestnut, though usually a little smaller, 8-19 cm long and 3-5 cm broad...
), Castanea mollissima (Chinese chestnut), Castanea davidii (China), Castanea henryi (Chinese chinkapin, also called Henry's chestnut – China) and Castanea seguinii (also called Seguin's chestnut - China). - American species These include Castanea dentata (American chestnutAmerican ChestnutThe American Chestnut is a large, deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. Before the species was devastated by the chestnut blight, a fungal disease, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range...
- Eastern states), Castanea pumila (American- or Allegheny chinkapinAllegheny ChinkapinCastanea pumila, commonly known as the Allegheny chinquapin, American chinquapin or dwarf chestnut, is a species of chestnut native to the eastern United States from southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania south to central Florida, west to eastern Texas, and north to southern Missouri and Kentucky...
, also known as "dwarf chestnut" - Eastern states), Castanea alnifolia (Southern states), Castanea ashei (Southern states), Castanea floridana (Southern states) and Castanea paupispina (Southern states).
Chestnuts should not be confused with horse chestnuts
Aesculus
The genus Aesculus comprises 13-19 species of woody trees and shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere, with 6 species native to North America and 7-13 species native to Eurasia; there are also several hybrids. Species are deciduous or evergreen...
(genus Aesculus
Aesculus
The genus Aesculus comprises 13-19 species of woody trees and shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere, with 6 species native to North America and 7-13 species native to Eurasia; there are also several hybrids. Species are deciduous or evergreen...
), which are unrelated to Castanea and are named for producing nuts of similar appearance but of no notable edibility. Nor should they be confused with water chestnut
Eleocharis dulcis
The Chinese water chestnut , more often called simply the water chestnut, is a grass-like sedge grown for its edible corms. The water chestnut is actually not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes, underwater in the mud...
(family Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
), which are also unrelated to Castanea and are tubers of similar taste from an aquatic herbaceous plant.
Other trees commonly mistaken for the chestnut tree are the chestnut oak
Chestnut oak
Quercus prinus , the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest to central Mississippi, with an outlying northwestern population in...
(Quercus prinus) and the American beech
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...
(Fagus grandifolia).
Etymology
The name Castanea is probably derived from the old name for the Sweet Chestnut, either in LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
or in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
. Another possible source of the name is the town of Kastania in Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, Greece; but it is more probable that the town took its name from the most common tree growing around it. Among the Mediterranean climate zone, chestnut trees are rarer in Greece because the chalky soil is not conducive to the tree's growth. Kastania is located on one of the relatively few sedimentary or siliceous outcrops. They grow so abundantly there, that their presence would have determined the place's name. Still others take the name as coming from the Greek name of Sardis glans (Sardis acorn) – Sardis
Sardis
Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province...
being the capital of Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
, Asia Minor, wherefrom the fruit had spread.
The tree's names are virtually identical in all the most ancient languages of Central Europe: in Breton kistinen for the tree, and kistin for its fruit, in Welsh castan-wydden and sataen, in Dutch kastanje for both the tree and its fruit, in Albanian gështenjë, and many others close to the French châtaigne and to the Latin name chosen for the genus.
The name is cited twice in the King James Version of the Bible. In one instance, Jacob puts peeled twigs in the water troughs to promote healthy offspring of his livestock. Although it may indicate another tree, all indicates that that fruit was a local staple food at that time.
The following synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
s are or have been in use: Fagus castanea (used by Linnaeus in first edition of Species Plantarum, 1753). Sardian nut. Jupiter's nut. Husked nut. Spanish Chestnut (U.S.).
Description
Chestnut trees are of moderate growth rate (for the Chinese chestnut tree) to fast-growing for American and European species. Their mature heights vary from the smallest species of chinkapins, often shrubby, to the giant of past American forests, Castanea dentata that could reach . In between these extremes are found the Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata) at average; followed by the Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima) at about , then the European chestnut (Castanea sativa) around .The Chinese and more so the Japanese chestnuts are both often multileadered and wide-spreading, whereas European and especially American species tend to grow very erect when planted among others, with little tapering of their columnar trunk
Trunk (botany)
In botany, trunk refers to the main wooden axis of a tree that supports the branches and is supported by and directly attached to the roots. The trunk is covered by the bark, which is an important diagnostic feature in tree identification, and which often differs markedly from the bottom of the...
, which is firmly set and massive. When standing on their own, they spread on the sides and develop broad, rounded, dense crowns
Crown (botany)
The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including stems, leaves, and reproductive structures. A plant canopy consists of one or more plant crowns growing in a given area....
at maturity. The two latter's foliage
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
has striking yellow autumn colouring.
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is smooth when young, of a vinous maroon
Maroon (color)
Maroon is a dark red color.-Etymology:Maroon is derived from French marron .The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789.-Maroon :...
or red-brown colour for the American chestnut, grey for the European chestnut. With age American species' becomes grey and darker, thick and deeply furrowed; the furrows run longitudinally, and tend to twist around the trunk as the tree ages; it sometimes reminds one of a large cable with twisted strands.
The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s follow the leaves, appearing in late spring or early summer or onto July. They are arranged in long catkin
Catkin
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect pollinated . They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping...
s of two kinds, with both kinds being borne on every tree. Some catkins are made of only male flowers, which mature first. Each flower has eight stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s, or 10 to 12 for Castanea mollissima. The ripe pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
carries a heavy sweet odour that some people find too sweet or unpleasant. Other catkins have these pollen-bearing flowers, but also carry near the twig
Twig
A twig is a small thin terminal branch of a woody plant. Twigs are critically important in identification of trees, shrubs and vines, especially in wintertime. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away...
from which these spring, small clusters of female or fruit-producing flowers. Two or three flowers together form a four-lobed prickly calybium, which ultimately grows completely together to make the brown hull, or husk
Husk
Husk in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. It often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective outer covering of a seed, fruit or vegetable...
, covering the fruits.
Cupule
The calybium and the cupule make up the accessory fruit of flowering plants in the family Fagaceae. These two parts derive from different flower components....
in diameter, also called "bur" or "burr
Burr (fruit)
A bur is a seed or dry fruit in which the seeds bear hooks or teeth which attach themselves to fur or clothing of passing animals or people. The hooks or teeth can be irritants and very hard to get off of clothing, such as wool or cotton...
". The burrs are often paired or clustered on the branch and contain one to seven nuts according to the different species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, varieties and cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s. Around the time the fruits reach maturity, the burrs turn yellow-brown and split open in 2 or 4 sections. They can remain on the tree longer than they hold the fruit, but more often achieve complete opening and release the fruits only after having fallen on the ground; opening is partly due to soil humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
.
The chestnut fruit has a pointed end with a small tuft at its tip (called "flame" in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
), and at the other end, a hilum – a pale brown attachment scar. In many varieties, the fruit is flattened on one or two sides. It has two skins. The first one is a hard outer shiny brown hull or husk
Husk
Husk in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. It often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective outer covering of a seed, fruit or vegetable...
, called the pericarpus; the industry calls this the peel. Underneath the pericarpus is another thinner skin, called the "pellicle" or "episperm". The pellicle closely adheres to the seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
itself, following the grooves usually present at the surface of the fruit. These grooves are of variable sizes and depth according to the species and variety.
The fruit inside these shows two cotyledon
Cotyledon
A cotyledon , is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant. Upon germination, the cotyledon may become the embryonic first leaves of a seedling. The number of cotyledons present is one characteristic used by botanists to classify the flowering plants...
s with a creamy-white flesh throughout, except in some varieties which show only one cotyledon, and whose episperm is only slightly or not intruded at all. Usually these varieties have only one large fruit per burr, well rounded (no flat face) and which is called "marron" ("marron de Lyon" in France, "marron di Mugello" in Italy, or "Paragon").
The superior fruiting varieties among European chestnuts have good size, sweet taste and easy-to-remove inner skins. American chestnuts are usually very small (around ), but sweet-tasting with easy-to-remove pellicles. Some Japanese varieties have very large nuts (around ), with typically difficult-to-remove pellicles. Chinese chestnut pellicles are usually easy to remove, and their sizes vary greatly according to the varieties, although usually smaller than the Japanese chestnut.
Europe
The sweet chestnut was introduced into Europe from SardisSardis
Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province...
, in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
; the fruit was then called the 'Sardian nut'. It has been a staple food in southern Europe, Turkey and southwestern and eastern Asia for millennia, largely replacing cereals where these would not grow well, if at all, in mountainous Mediterranean areas. Alexander the Great and the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
planted chestnut trees across Europe while on their various campaigns. The Greek army is said to have survived their retreat from Asia Minor in 401-399 BC thanks to their stores of chestnuts. Ancient Greeks like Dioscorides and Galen, wrote of chestnuts to comment on their medicinal properties—and of the flatulence induced by eating too much of it. To the early Christians, chestnuts symbolized chastity
Chastity
Chastity refers to the sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion....
. Until the introduction of the potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
, whole forest-dwelling communities which had scarce access to wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
flour relied on chestnuts as their main source of carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
s. In some parts of Italy, a cake made of chestnuts is used as a substitute for potatoes. In 1583, Charles Estienne and Jean Liébault wrote that "an infinity of people live on nothing else but (the chestnut)". In 1802, an Italian agronomist
Agronomist
An agronomist is a scientist who specializes in agronomy, which is the science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. An agronomist is an expert in agricultural and allied sciences, with the exception veterinary sciences.Agronomists deal with interactions between plants, soils, and...
said of Tuscany that "the fruit of the chestnut tree is practically the sole subsistence of our highlanders", while in 1879 it was said that it almost exclusively fed whole populations for half the year, as "a temporary but complete substitution for cereals".
Boundary records
Boundaries in landscape history
Boundaries—particularly field boundaries—are among the oldest features in an English rural landscape. Although a boundary itself is an abstract concept, the boundary can often be seen by differences in land use on either side.-Longevity of boundaries:...
compiled in the reign of John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
already showed the famous Tortworth Chestnut
Tortworth
Tortworth is a hamlet, and civil parish, near Thornbury in South Gloucestershire, England. It has a population of 150, and is noted for a huge and ancient chestnut tree, believed to be over 1000 years old. The tree, in St...
in South Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, as a landmark; and it was also known by the same name of “Great Chestnut of Tortworth” in the days of Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
. This tree measured over 50 feet (15.2 m) in circumference at 5 feet (1.5 m) from the ground in 1720. The chestnut forests on Mount Etna
Mount Etna
Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...
contain many trees that are said to be even larger. Chestnut trees particularly flourish in the Mediterranean basin
Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
. In 1584, the governor of Genua
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
, who dominated Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
, ordered to all farmers and landowners to plant four trees yearly, among which a chestnut tree – plus olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
, fig
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
and mulberry
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
trees (this assumedly lasted until the end of Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
rule over Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
in 1729). Many communities owe their origin and former richness to the ensuing chestnut woods. In France, the marron glacé, a candied chestnut involving 16 different processes in a typically French cooking style, is always served at Christmas and New Year's time. In Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
, Italy, they are soaked in wine before roasting and serving,) and are also traditionally eaten on Saint Simon's Day in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
. It is traditional to eat roasted chestnuts in Portugal on St. Martin's Day
St. Martin's Day
St. Martin's Day, also known as the Feast of St. Martin, Martinstag or Martinmas, the Feast of St Martin of Tours or Martin le Miséricordieux, is a time for feasting celebrations. This is the time when autumn wheat seeding is completed. Historically, hiring fairs were held where farm laborers...
.
Their popularity has declined during the last few centuries, partly due to their reputation of "food for poor people". Many people did not want to take chestnut bread as "bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
" because chestnut flour does not rise. Some slandered chestnut products in such words as the bread which "gives a sallow complexion" written in 1770, or in 1841 "this kind of mortar which is called a soup". The last decades' worldwide renewal may have profited from the huge reforestation efforts started in the 1930s in the United States to establish varieties of Castanea sativa which may be resistant to chestnut blight, as well as to relieve the strain on cereal supplies.
Mugello region
Mugello is a landscape north of Florence in northern Italy. It is separated by the Santerno river valley by the Futa Pass.The area was settled by a Ligurian tribe known as the Magelli, whence the name. Then the region was occupied by the Etruscans who have left many archeological traces and who...
; in 1996 the European Community granted the fruit Protected Geographic Indication (equivalent to the French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) status to the Mugello sweet chestnut. It is markedly sweet, peels easily, is not excessively floury or astringent
Astringent
An astringent substance is a chemical compound that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical medicinal application. The word "astringent" derives from Latin adstringere, meaning "to bind fast"...
, and has notes of vanilla
Vanilla
Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...
, hazelnut
Hazelnut
A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
and, more subtly, fresh bread. There is no unpleasant aroma, such as yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
, fungus
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
, mold
Mold
Molds are fungi that grow in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae. Molds are not considered to be microbes but microscopic fungi that grow as single cells called yeasts...
or paper, which sometimes occur with other chestnuts. The main regions in France for chestnut production are the départements of Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
, with the famous “Châtaigne d’Ardèche” (A.O.C), of the Var, and of the Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
region. France annually produces over 1,000 metric tons, but still imports about 8,000 metric tons, mainly from Italy.
In Portugal's archipelago of Madeira, chestnut liquor is a traditional beverage, and it is gaining popularity with the tourists and in continental Portugal.
Asia
Always served as part of the New Year menu in Japan, chestnuts represent both success and hard times— mastery and strength. The Japanese chestnut (called kuri) was in cultivation before riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
and the Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) possibly for 2,000 to 6,000 years.
During British colonial rule in the mid-1700s to 1947, the Sweet Chestnut
Sweet Chestnut
Castanea sativa is a species of the flowering plant family Fagaceae, the tree and its edible seeds are referred to by several common names such Sweet Chestnut or Marron. Originally native to southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, it is now widely dispersed throughout Europe and parts of Asia, such as...
(Castanea sativa) was widely introduced in the temperate parts of the Indian Subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, mainly in the lower-to-middle Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. They are widely found in British-founded hill stations in Northern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and to a lesser extent in Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. They are mainly used as an ornamental tree and are found in almost all British-founded botanical gardens and official governmental compounds (such as larger official residences) in temperate parts of the Indian Subcontinent.
China has about 300 chestnut cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s. Moreover, the Dandong
Dandong
Dandong , previously known as Andong and Antung, is a city in Liaoning Province, Northeast China. It lies on the border between China and North Korea, which is marked by the Yalu River, and is the largest border city in China. Also, to the southwest of the city, the river flows into Korea Bay...
chestnut (belonging to the Japanese chestnut Castanea crenata) is a major cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
in Liaoning Province
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
.
North America
Aboriginal AmericansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
were eating the American chestnut species, mainly Castanea dentata and some others, long before European immigrants introduced their stock to America, and before the arrival of chestnut blight
Chestnut blight
The pathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica is a member of the ascomycota category, and is the main cause of chestnut blight, a devastating disease of the American chestnut tree that caused a mass extinction in the early 1900s of this once plentiful tree from its historic range in the eastern...
. In some places, such as the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
and others, one quarter of hardwood
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
s were chestnuts. Mature trees often grew straight and branch-free for 50 feet (15.2 m), up to 100 feet, averaging up to 5 feet in diameter. For three centuries, most barn
Barn
A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
s and homes east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
were made from it. In 1911, the famous food book The Grocer's Encyclopedia noted that a cannery in Holland included in its "vegetables-and-meat" ready-cooked combinations, a "chestnuts and sausages" casserole besides the more classic "beef and onions" and "green peas and veal". This to celebrate the chestnut culture that would bring whole villages out in the woods for three weeks each autumn (and keep them busy all winter), and to deplore the lack of food diversity in the United States's shop shelves.
But soon after that, the American chestnuts were nearly wiped out by chestnut blight. The discovery of the blight fungus on some Asian chestnut trees planted on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
was made public in 1904. Within 40 years, the near-four billion-strong American chestnut population in North America was devastated; only a few clumps of trees remained in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. Due to disease, American chestnut wood almost disappeared from the market for decades, although quantities can still be obtained as reclaimed lumber
Reclaimed lumber
Reclaimed lumber is wood taken for re-use. Most reclaimed lumber comes from timbers and decking rescued from old barns, factories and warehouses although some companies use wood from less traditional structures such as boxcars, coal mines and wine barrels...
. Today, they only survive as single trees separated from any others (very rare), and as living stump
Living stump
A living stump is created when a live tree is cut and its stump remains in the ground. The stump and root system may remain alive for several years if its roots graft to nearby living trees. A living stump capable of producing sprouts or cuttings is known as a stool, and is used in the coppicing...
s, or "stools", with only a few growing enough shoot
Shoot
Shoots are new plant growth, they can include stems, flowering stems with flower buds, and leaves. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop...
s to produce seeds shortly before dying. This is just enough to preserve the genetic material used to engineer an American chestnut tree with the minimal necessary genetic input from any of the disease-immune Asiatic species. Efforts started in the 1930s are still ongoing to repopulate the country with these trees, in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and many places elsewhere in the United States.
Today, the nut's demand outstrips supply
Supply and demand
Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers will equal the quantity supplied by producers , resulting in an...
. The United States imported 4,056 metric tons of European in-shell chestnuts worth $10 million in 2007. The U.S. chestnut industry is in its infancy, producing less than 1% of total world production. Since the mid-20th century, most of the US import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
s are from Southern Italy, with the large, meaty, and richly flavored Sicilian chestnuts being considered among the best quality for bulk sale and supermarket retail. Some imports come from Portugal and France. The next two largest sources of imports are China and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. The French varieties of marrons are highly favoured and sold at high prices in gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
shops.
A study of the sector in 2005 found that US producers are mainly part-timers diversifying an existing agricultural business, or hobbyists. Another recent study indicates that investment in a new plantation takes 13 years to break even, at least within the current Australian market. Starting a small-scale operation requires a relatively low initial investment; this is a factor in the small size of the present production operations, with half of them being within 3 to 10 acres (40,468.6 m²). Another predetermining factor in the small productivity of the sector is that most orchards have been created less than 10 years ago, so have young trees which are as now barely entering commercial production. Assuming a 10 kilograms (22 lb) yield for a 10 year-old tree is a reliable conservative estimate, though some exceptional specimens of that age have yielded 100 kilograms (220.5 lb). So most producers earn less than $5,000 per year, with a third of the total not having sold anything so far.
Moreover, the plantings have so far been mostly of Chinese species, but the products are not readily available. The American Chestnut Foundation recommends waiting a little while more before large-scale planting. This is because it and its associates (the American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation and many others from education, research and industry sectors contributing to the program) are at the last stages of developing a variety that is as close as possible to the lost American chestnut, while having incorporated the blight-resistant gene of the Asiatic species. Considering the additional advantage that chestnut trees can be easily grown organically, and assuming the development of brands in the market, it has been asserted that, everything else being equal, home-grown products would reach higher prices than imports, the high volume of which indicates a market with expanding prospects. As of 2008, the price for chestnuts sold fresh in the shell ranges from $1.50 per pound ($3.30/kg) wholesale to about $5 per pound ($11/kg) retail, depending mainly on the size.
Australia, New Zealand
The Australian gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s saw the first recorded plantings of European chestnut trees, brought in from Europe by the first settlers. Along the years, most but not all chestnut tree plantations were Castanea sativa stock, which is still the dominant species. Some of these are still standing today. Some trees in northern VictoriaVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
are around 120 years old and up to 60 metres tall.
Chestnuts grow well in southwest Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, which has cold winters and warm to hot summers. As of 2008, the country has just under 350 growers, annually producing around 1,200 metric tons of chestnuts, of which 80% comes from northeast Victoria. The produce is mostly sold to the domestic fresh fruit market. Chestnuts are now slowly gaining popularity in Australia. A considerable increase in production is expected in the next 10 years, due to the increase in commercial plantings during the last fifteen to twenty-five years. By far the most common species in Australia is the European chestnut, but there are small numbers of the other species, as well as some hybrids.
The Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata) does well in wet and humid weather and in hot summers (~30 °C); and was introduced to New Zealand in the early 1900s, more so in the upper North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
region
Nutrition
Fresh chestnut fruits have about 180 calorieCalorie
The calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule...
s (800 kJ) per 100 grams of edible parts, which is much lower than walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
s, almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s, other nuts and dried fruit (about 600 kcal/100 g). Chestnuts, as with all plant foods, contain no cholesterol
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...
and contain very little fat, mostly unsaturated, and no gluten
Gluten
Gluten is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye...
.
Their carbohydrate content compares with that of wheat and rice; chestnuts have twice as much starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
as the potato. In addition, chestnuts contain about 8 percent of various sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
s, mainly sucrose
Sucrose
Sucrose is the organic compound commonly known as table sugar and sometimes called saccharose. A white, odorless, crystalline powder with a sweet taste, it is best known for its role in human nutrition. The molecule is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula...
, glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
, fructose
Fructose
Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a simple monosaccharide found in many plants. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion. Fructose was discovered by French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1847...
, and, in less amount, stachyose
Stachyose
Stachyose is a tetrasaccharide consisting of two α--galactose units, one α--glucose unit, and one β--fructose unit sequentially linked as galgalglcfru. Stachyose is naturally found in numerous vegetables and plants.Stachyose is less sweet than sucrose, at about 28% on a weight basis...
, and raffinose
Raffinose
Raffinose is a trisaccharide composed of galactose, fructose, and glucose. It can be found in beans, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, other vegetables, and whole grains. Raffinose can be hydrolyzed to D-galactose and sucrose by the enzyme α-galactosidase , an enzyme not found in the...
. In some areas, sweet chestnut trees are called "the bread tree". When chestnuts are just starting to ripen
Ripening
Ripening is a process in fruits that causes them to become more palatable. In general, a fruit becomes sweeter, less green, and softer as it ripens. Even though the acidity of fruit increases as it ripens, the higher acidity level does not make the fruit seem tarter, which can lead to the...
, the fruit is mostly starch and is very firm under finger pressure from the high water content. As the chestnuts ripen, the starch is slowly converted into sugars; and moisture content also starts decreasing. Upon pressing the chestnut, a slight 'give' can be felt; the hull
Husk
Husk in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. It often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective outer covering of a seed, fruit or vegetable...
is not so tense, and there is space between it and the flesh of the fruit. The water is being replaced by sugars, which means better conservation.
They are the only "nuts" that contain vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
, with about 40 mg per 100 g of raw product, which is about 65 percent of the U.S. recommended daily intake. The amount of vitamin C decreases by about 40 percent after heating. Fresh chestnuts contain about 52 percent water by weight, which will evaporate relatively quickly during storage; they can lose even 1 percent of weight in one day at 20 °C and 70% relative humidity
Relative humidity
Relative humidity is a term used to describe the amount of water vapor in a mixture of air and water vapor. It is defined as the partial pressure of water vapor in the air-water mixture, given as a percentage of the saturated vapor pressure under those conditions...
.
Tannin
Tannin
A tannin is an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.The term tannin refers to the use of...
is contained in the bark as well as in the wood, leaves and seed husk
Husk
Husk in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. It often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective outer covering of a seed, fruit or vegetable...
s. The husks contain 10–13% tannin.
Climate, seasonal germination cycle
Chestnuts produce a better crop when subjected to chill temperatures during the dormantDormancy
Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be closely associated with environmental conditions...
period. Frosts and snowfalls are beneficial rather than harmful to the trees. The dormant plant is very cold-hardy in Britain. Chestnut is hardy to zone 5
Hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone...
, which is 22 °C (12 °F) lower in average minimal temperature than London in zone 9
Hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone...
. But the young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
-tender; bud
Bud
In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be specialized to develop flowers or short shoots, or may have...
-burst is later than most other fruit trees, so late frosts can be damaging to young buds.
Trees can be found at altitudes between 200 and 1000 meters above sea level; some mention between 300 and 750 m altitude, while the famous Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses
Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses
The Hundred Horse Chestnut is the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world. Located on Linguaglossa road in Sant'Alfio, on the eastern slope of Mount Etna in Sicily — only from the volcano's crater — it is generally believed to be 2,000 to 4,000 years old...
on Mount Etna
Mount Etna
Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...
stands at 1200 meters.). They can tolerate maritime exposure, although growth is reduced.
When grown from seed, the trees do not begin to yield
Crop yield
In agriculture, crop yield is not only a measure of the yield of cereal per unit area of land under cultivation, yield is also the seed generation of the plant itself...
fruit until they are thirty to forty years old. Grafted
Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
trees can start bearing in their fifth year.
Seeds germinate
Germination
Germination is the process in which a plant or fungus emerges from a seed or spore, respectively, and begins growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example the...
in late winter or early spring, but the life length is short. If kept moist, they can be stored in a cool place for a few months, but must be checked regularly for signs of germination. Low temperature prolongs dormancy. It is better to sow them as soon as ripe, either in cold frame
Cold frame
In agriculture and gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from cold weather. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via convection that would otherwise occur, particularly at night...
s or seedbed
Seedbed
A seedbed or seedling bed is the local soil environment in which seeds are planted. Often it comprises not only the soil but also a specially prepared cold frame, hotbed or raised bed used to grow the seedlings in a controlled environment into larger young plants before transplanting them into a...
s outdoors, where they can be left in situ for 1 to 2 years before being planted in their permanent positions, or in pots, where the plants can be put out into their permanent positions in summer or autumn. They must be protected from the cold in their first winter, and also from mice
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
and squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s.
Chestnuts are considered self-sterile, so at least two trees are needed for pollination.
Soil requirements
Castanea grows best in a soil with good drainageDrainage system (Agriculture)
An agricultural drainage system is a system by which the water level on or in the soil is controlled to enhance agricultural crop production.-Classification:Figure 1 classifies the various types of drainage systems...
and adequate moisture. The tree prefers sloping, deep soils; it does not like shallow or heavy soils with impermeable, clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
subsoil
Subsoil
Subsoil, or substrata, is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. The subsoil may include substances such as clay and/or sand that has only been partially broken down by air, sunlight, water, wind etc., to produce true soil...
s. The Chinese chestnut prefers a fertile, well-drained soil, but it grows well in fairly dry, rocky, or poor soils.
Although Castanea can grow in very acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
soil, and while these soils are reasonably well tolerated, the preferred range is from pH 5.5-6.0. It does not grow well on alkaline soils, such as chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
, but thrives on soils such as soils derived from granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, or schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
. On alkaline soils, chestnut trees can be grown by grafting
Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
them onto oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
rootstocks.
Recently cleared land is best avoided to help resist the root rot
Root rot
Root rot is a condition found in both indoor and outdoor plants, although more common in indoor plants with poor drainage. As the name states, the roots of the plant rot. Usually, this is a result of overwatering. In houseplants, it is a very common problem, and is slightly less common in outdoor...
, Armillaria mellia.
Sun exposure
Castanea likes a full sun position. An experiment with Castanea dentata seedlings in Ohio confirmed the need for sun for optimal growth. The butt of the tree is sometimes painted with white paint to protect the tree from sunburnSunburn
A sunburn is a burn to living tissue, such as skin, which is produced by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation, commonly from the sun's rays. Usual mild symptoms in humans and other animals include red or reddish skin that is hot to the touch, general fatigue, and mild dizziness. An excess of UV...
until it has developed enough canopy
Canopy (forest)
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
.
Wide spacing between the trees encourages low, broad crown
Crown (botany)
The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including stems, leaves, and reproductive structures. A plant canopy consists of one or more plant crowns growing in a given area....
s with maximum exposure to sunshine to increase fruit production. Where chestnut trees touch, there is virtually no fruit production. Current industrial planting spacings
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
can range from 7 m x 7 m to 20 m x 20 m. The closer plantings, which are more popular, mean quicker increases in short-term production, but heavy pruning or even tree removal is required later.
Watering
The optimum rainfall for chestnut trees is 800 mm (31 in) or more per annum, ideally in even distribution throughout the year. MulchMulch
In agriculture and gardening, is a protective cover placed over the soil to retain moisture, reduce erosion, provide nutrients, and suppress weed growth and seed germination. Mulching in gardens and landscaping mimics the leaf cover that is found on forest floors....
ing during summer is recommended. Rainfall below 700 mm (27.6 in) per annum needs be complemented with, for example, a drip irrigation
Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation, also known as trickle irrigation or microirrigation or localized irrigation , is an irrigation method which saves water and fertilizer by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either onto the soil surface or directly onto the root zone, through a network of valves,...
system. This should water the soil at the outer half of the circle formed by the drip line to encourage root growth.
Independently from annual rainfall, it is recommended to water young trees at least during summer and early autumn. Once established, they resist drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
s well.
Preservation
Because of their high water content, transpirationTranspiration
Transpiration is a process similar to evaporation. It is a part of the water cycle, and it is the loss of water vapor from parts of plants , especially in leaves but also in stems, flowers and roots. Leaf surfaces are dotted with openings which are collectively called stomata, and in most plants...
rates and consequent loss weight, the nuts react as fresh fruits (not as nuts). They should be kept cool at all times, including in shops when on display for sale. To preserve their freshness for a few months with no artificial refrigeration, the chestnuts can be soaked in cold water for about 20 hours immediately after harvest
Harvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
, after which they are dried in the shade, then layered in dry sand.
On the other hand, chestnuts behave similarly to seeds in that they produce very little ethylene, and their respiration rate is low, varying between 5 and 20 mg/(kg·h) depending on the temperature.
Pests
- The main threat to chestnut trees comes from grey squirrels stripping its bark, from when the tree is about 8 years old and onwards through the life of the tree.
- RabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s and wallabiesWallabyA wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
can do great damage to young trees, which need guarding by some fence or by wrapping the tree trunk in sisal or other appropriate material. Deer and kangaroos can also be troublesome. - Cattle and horses may require temporary fencing to prevent them from damaging fallen chestnuts at harvest time.
- The sulphur crested cockatoo can damage branches up to 10 mm in diameter by carrying out "beak maintenance" on young trees.
- RosellaRosellaA rosella is one of five to eight species of colorful Australian parrots in the genus Platycercus. Platycercus means "broad-tailed" or "flat-tailed", reflecting a feature common to the rosellas and other members of the broad-tailed parrot tribe...
s can also be troublesome at harvest time. - The larvaLarvaA larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of the polyfag mothMothA moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
(Phytomyza horticola) species are among those who do most damage to shootShootShoots are new plant growth, they can include stems, flowering stems with flower buds, and leaves. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop...
s and foliage. - The most frequently occurring pests are the winter mothWinter MothThe Winter Moth is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is an abundant species of Europe and the Near East and one of very few Lepidoptera of temperate regions in which the adults are active in the depth of winter....
(Operophtera brumata) and the mottled umber moth (Erannis defoliaria). - The oak roller weevil (Attelabus nitens) causes relatively less damage by rolling up the leaves into a barrel shape to shelter its eggs and its developing larvae. The insects swarm from the end of April to mid-June, and damage the tree's flower buds during their feeding season.
- The larvaLarvaA larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of the oak-leaf-mining moth, also called the Tischerid moth (Tischeria ekebladella), digs white, see-through mines in chestnut leaves. It lays its eggs in the leaves between May and June. The larvae cause white spots in the leaves by chewing them from the inside. - The oak aphidAphidAphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions...
(Myzocallis castanicola) sucks on the apex of young shootShootShoots are new plant growth, they can include stems, flowering stems with flower buds, and leaves. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop...
s and leaves. Native to Europe and North America, it is for example active in HungaryHungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Leaves do not roll up, but the feeding delays the growth of shoots and damages young graftGraftingGrafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
-shoot hosts. Commercial plantations and nurseries spray pesticides during the shoots’ growth period to fight the damage. The chestnut mosaic virus is probably transmitted by Myzocallis castanicola aphids. - The chestnut weevil (Curculio elephasCurculioCurculio is a genus of weevils belonging the family Curculionidae and subfamily Curculioninae, including about 30 species worldwide. It includes nut weevils that infest the seeds of trees such as oaks and hickories. The adult female weevil bores a tiny hole in the immature nut to lay her eggs,...
) most often damages the fruits. In HungaryHungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, it swarms in chestnut orchardOrchardAn orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
s around August 20, particularly strongly around noon and in sunny weather. The eggs are laid into the cupuleCupuleThe calybium and the cupule make up the accessory fruit of flowering plants in the family Fagaceae. These two parts derive from different flower components....
s or around the pedunclePeduncle (botany)In botany, a peduncle is a stem supporting an inflorescence, or after fecundation, an infructescence.The peduncle is a stem, usually green and without leaves, though sometimes colored or supporting small leaves...
joints. The larvaLarvaA larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e feed on the nuts and leave only nutchips and excrement within. While the chestnuts ripen, the larvae retreat into the ground after having chewed their way out of the nuts. The following July they will turn into pupaPupaA pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
e.
The larvae of the chestnut weevil can only chew their way out of a fallen nut, so breeding occurs mostly where chestnuts lie on the ground for a sufficient length of time, or where the trees produce many small fruits which remain behind at the harvest. Timing the harvests to pick up the chestnuts as soon as they fall reduces the numbers of the overwinterOverwinterTo overwinter is to pass through or wait out the winter season, or to pass through that period of the year when “winter” conditions make normal activity or even survival difficult or near impossible...
ing larvae. Regular soil work is also unfavourable to its life habits. Small graftGraftingGrafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
s are sprayed with chemicals. A warm aerosol-based protection has been developed for older trees, by Sifter and Bürgés in 1971.
It is not recommended to plant chestnut orchards beside Turkey oak forests, because both trees are susceptible to the chestnut weevil (which also uses the Turkey oak acorn to develop), and the Turkey oak trees can pass it on to the chestnut trees. - In Hungary, the most common moth threatening chestnut trees is the acorn mothTortricidaeTortricidae is a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths, in the order Lepidoptera. Tortricidae is a large family with over 9,400 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea. Many of these are economically important pests. Olethreutidae is a junior synonym...
(Laspeyreisa splendana) and its subspecies. Its grayish-yellow larvae cause similar damage to that of the chestnut weevil, but they spin characteristic webs among the nutchips and larval excrement. This moth causes about 5–41% of the damage that occurs in western Hungary's plantations. Plantations need regular protection against these moths, the occurrence of which does not decrease. - In New Zealand, the grassGrassGrasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
grub beetle eats the soft new season foliage. They can entirely strip a young tree in the late spring, when they fly at dusk, often in huge numbers.
Diseases
- Chestnut blightChestnut blightThe pathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica is a member of the ascomycota category, and is the main cause of chestnut blight, a devastating disease of the American chestnut tree that caused a mass extinction in the early 1900s of this once plentiful tree from its historic range in the eastern...
fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica) (formerly Endothia parasitica) affects chestnut trees. The Eastern Asian species have coevolved with this disease and are moderately to very resistant to it, while the European and North American species, not having been exposed to it in the past, have little or no resistance.
Early in the 20th century, chestnut blight destroyed about four billion American chestnut trees, and reduced the most important tree throughout the East Coast to an insignificant presence. The American chinkapins are also very susceptible to chestnut blight. The European and West Asian chestnuts are susceptible, but less so than the American species.
The resistant species (particularly Japanese and Chinese chestnut, but also Seguin's chestnut and Henry's chestnut) have been used in breeding programs in the U.S. to create hybrids with the American chestnut that are also disease-resistant.
The bark miner Spulerina simploniella (Lepidoptera: Gracilariidae) was found in intensively managed chestnut coppices
Coppicing
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level...
in Greece, but not in orchards. The larvae (and the rain) may be agents in the spread of the disease. They mine under the thin periderm of young trees up to 10 years old, while the stem bark is still smooth. Rain during the pupation period (approximately the last week of May and first two weeks of June), and the actions of the larvae, may collude for conidiospores
Conidium
Conidia, sometimes termed conidiospores, are asexual, non-motile spores of a fungus and are named after the greek word for dust, konia. They are also called mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of mitosis...
to come into contact with the freshly exposed phloem
Phloem
In vascular plants, phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients , in particular, glucose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed. In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Greek word "bark"...
, and thus cause cankers.
- Ink disease also appears in a number of other plants. The disease attacks the phloemPhloemIn vascular plants, phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients , in particular, glucose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed. In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Greek word "bark"...
tissue and the of the rootRootIn vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating . Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either...
s and root collars about 10-20 centimeters above ground. Wet rot settles in as a result.
It was named after the ink-black color of the tannic acidTannic acidTannic acid is a specific commercial form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure...
becoming (oxidizedRedoxRedox reactions describe all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation state changed....
) after seeping out, but that symptom is not a characteristic of only that disease. The same ink-black color can appear following other types of decaysDecompositionDecomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
and mechanical injuries that make liquids seep through; these liquids can also oxidize after contact with air. Moreover, with some phytophthoric diseases, no tannic acid is generated.
With the ink disease, the leaves turn yellow and later fall off; the fruits remain small, and the nuts prematurely drop out of the burrs. These dry and remain on the trees throughout winter. In acute cases, root decay make the trees dry out and wither away. It is caused by Phytophthora cambivoraPhytophthora cambivoraPhytophthora cambivora is a plant pathogen that causes Ink disease in European Chestnut trees . Ink disease, also caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi, is thought to have been present in Europe since the 18th century and causes chestnut trees to wilt and die, major epidemics occurred during the 19th...
and Phytophthora cinnamomiPhytophthora cinnamomiPhytophthora cinnamomi is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants called root rot or dieback. The plant pathogen is one of the world's most invasive species and is present in over 70 countries from around the world.- Life cycle and effects on plants :P...
. - Sudden oak deathSudden oak deathSudden Oak Death is the common name of a disease caused by the oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. The disease kills oak and other species of tree and has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California and Oregon as well as also being present in Europe...
, or phytophthora disease, is the longest-known chestnut tree disease leading to tree death. Of the two main pathogenPathogenA pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
s for this disease, the one in European chestnuts is known since 1971 to be Phytophthora cambivora. Phytophthora cinnamoni was discovered in chestnut trees in the United States in 1932. Both trigger similar symptoms. Since then, it has also been shown to occur in most European chestnut-growing countries. It is difficult to differentiate between the two pathogens. Chemicals seem of little effectiveness. Many countries impose strict prophylactic rules to prevent the spread of the disease. - Melanconis modonia is one of the pathogens that can infect trees through injuries and induce "bark death". It was first reported in Hungary by Hausz in 1972. The damage is of little consequence in older or stronger trees, but it affects saplings's graftings in nurseries. Coryneum perniciosum, one of the two conidiumConidiumConidia, sometimes termed conidiospores, are asexual, non-motile spores of a fungus and are named after the greek word for dust, konia. They are also called mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of mitosis...
-like side forms of this fungus, occurs on all decayed, ligneousLigninLignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae. The term was introduced in 1819 by de Candolle and is derived from the Latin word lignum, meaning wood...
parts of a chestnut tree. The symptoms of infection on young smooth trunks is similar that with the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria. For this reason, it has persistently been wrongly thought of as the pathogen for ink disease. With Melanconis, the bark sinks in and takes on brownish-red tones, with black lentil-like multicell conidium bodies and black cone-like stromasThylakoidA thylakoid is a membrane-bound compartment inside chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. They are the site of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. Thylakoids consist of a thylakoid membrane surrounding a thylakoid lumen. Chloroplast thylakoids frequently form stacks of disks referred to as...
breaking through the bark. But unlike with Cryphonectria, there are no orange-colored fruiting bodies. Prevention primarily includes keeping the tree in good shape; some further protections against Cryphonectria also help prevent bark death caused by Melanconis. *Chestnut mosaic virus is probably transmitted by the oak aphid Myzocallis castanicola. - Root rotRoot rotRoot rot is a condition found in both indoor and outdoor plants, although more common in indoor plants with poor drainage. As the name states, the roots of the plant rot. Usually, this is a result of overwatering. In houseplants, it is a very common problem, and is slightly less common in outdoor...
is caused by the honey fungusHoney fungusHoney fungus, or Armillaria or оpenky , is a genus of parasitic fungi that live on trees and woody shrubs. It includes about 10 species formerly lumped together as A. mellea. Armillarias are long lived and form some of the largest living organisms in the world...
Armillaria mellia. When planting Castanea, recently cleared land is best avoided to help resist this fungus. The disease is more prevalent on heavier and poorly-drained soil types. - Leaf spotLeaf spotLeaf spots are round blemishes found on the leaves of many species of plants, mostly caused by parasitic fungi or bacteria.A typical spot is "zonal", meaning it has a definite edge and often has a darker border. When lots of spots are present, they can grow together and become a blight or a blotch...
is the most common disease for chestnut trees (Mycosphaerella maculiformis). It is known as cylindrosporium leaf spot disease, after its summer conidiumConidiumConidia, sometimes termed conidiospores, are asexual, non-motile spores of a fungus and are named after the greek word for dust, konia. They are also called mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of mitosis...
form Cylindrosporium castaneae. The pathogens spend the winter in the white spots of the fallen leaves. At spring time, it reinfects the new leaves. In or near June, tiny white spots on the leaves appear, which grow and turn brown over time. At the end of the summer, the spots entirely cover the leaf, which turns yellow. In rainy and humid weather with large temperature fluctuation, the tree loses its leaves. If August is dry and warm, the infected leaves roll up, the arteries twist, and the dead leaves dry on the tree until defoliage. This recurs yearly, though the extent of the damage varies from year to year. Some species are more resistant than others. - Oak mildew is among several foliage diseases of smaller significance for European chestnut growing. It infects the most trees (Microsphaera alphitoides). Younger trees suffer most; their shoots become short-jointed, growth is delayed and they develop sensitivity to frostbite. In older trees, the fungus usually infects only the tip of the shoots. The pathogens hibernate in the shoots and infect the leaves from there. The fungus grows on the top of the leaves, with the appearance of a coating only in midsummer. The infected leaves' development slows down or stops, the distance between their vesselsVascular tissueVascular tissue is a complex conducting tissue, formed of more than one cell type, found in vascular plants. The primary components of vascular tissue are the xylem and phloem. These two tissues transport fluid and nutrients internally. There are also two meristems associated with vascular tissue:...
shrinks, and the vessels themselves become curly. - Storage rot. Breaking the tuft provides the most common entrance for fungi sporeSporeIn biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
s during storage. Cyboria, the most diffuse, turns the flesh black and spongy. Other fungi are known, such as Rhizopus, Fusarium, Collectotrichum.
Uses
Culinary
The fruit can be peeled and eaten raw, but it can be somewhat astringentAstringent
An astringent substance is a chemical compound that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical medicinal application. The word "astringent" derives from Latin adstringere, meaning "to bind fast"...
, especially if the pellicle is not removed.
Another method of eating the fruit involves roasting, which does not require peeling. Roasting requires scoring the fruit beforehand to prevent undue expansion and "explosion" of the fruit. Once cooked, its texture is similar to that of a baked potato, with a delicate, sweet, and nutty flavour. This method of preparation is popular in northern China as well as in Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Korea and Southeast Asia, where the scored chestnuts may be cooked in a tub of heated coal pebbles mixed with a little sugar.
Chestnuts can be dried and milled into flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, which can then be used to prepare breads, cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
s, pancakes, pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
s (it is the original ingredient for polenta
Polenta
Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. The word "polenta" is borrowed from Italian.-Description:Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal , which can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired.As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier...
, known in Corsica as pulenda), or used as thickener for stew
Stew
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...
s, soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
s, and sauce
Sauce
In cooking, a sauce is liquid, creaming or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
s. In Corsica, the flour is fried into doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
-like fritters called fritelli
Fritelli
Fritelli is a Corsican doughnut or fritter made from fried chestnut flour. A preparation of the fritters is referred to as Fritelli a Gaju Frescu with fresh cheese or Fritelli di Salciccia with sausage....
and made into necci, pattoni, castagnacci, and cialdi.
The flour can be light beige like that from Castagniccia, or darker in other regions. It is a good solution for long storage of a nutritious food. Chestnut bread can stay fresh for as long as two weeks.
The nuts can also be eaten candied, boiled, steamed, grilled, or roasted in sweet or savoury recipes. They can be used to stuff vegetables, poultry, fowl and other edibles. They are available fresh, dried, ground or canned (whole or in puree).
A fine granular sugar can be obtained from the fermentation of the juice, as well as a beer; the roasted fruit provides a coffee substitute. Parmentier
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier is remembered as a vocal promoter of the potato as a food source in France and throughout Europe...
, who among other things was a famous potato promoter, extracted sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
from chestnuts and sent a chestnut sugarloaf
Sugarloaf
A sugarloaf was the traditional form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process that saw the dark molasses-rich raw sugar, which had been imported from...
weighing several pounds to the Academy of Lyon
University of Lyon
The University of Lyon , located in Lyon and Saint Etienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 16 institutions of higher education...
. The continental blockade
Continental System
The Continental System or Continental Blockade was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars. It was a large-scale embargo against British trade, which began on November 21, 1806...
following shortly after (1806–1814) increased the research into developing chestnuts as a source of sugar, but Napoleon chose beet
Beet
The beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...
s instead.
Candied chestnuts (whole chestnuts candied in sugar syrup, then iced) are sold under the French name marrons glacés
Marrons glacés
A marron glacé is a confection consisting of a chestnut candied in sugar syrup and glazed.-History:Candied chestnuts appeared in chestnut-growing areas North of Italy and South of France, shortly after the crusaders brought sugar back with them as one result of their endeavours. Sugar allowed that...
or Turkish name kestane şekeri ("sugared chestnuts"). They appeared in France in the 16th century. Towards the end of 19th century, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
went into a recession with the collapse of the textile market, notably silk. Clément Faugier ingénieur des Ponts et Chaussées was looking for a way to revitalize the regional economy. In 1882 at Privas
Privas
Privas is a commune of France, capital of the Ardèche department. It is the second-smallest administrative center of any department in France, larger than only the commune of Foix. It is the fifth-largest commune in the Ardèche, behind Annonay, Aubenas, Guilherand-Granges, and Tournon-sur-Rhône. It...
, he invented the technology to make marrons glacés on an industrial scale (although a great deal of the over-twenty necessary steps from harvest to the finished product are still accomplished manually). Chestnuts are picked in autumn, and candied from the start of the following summer for the ensuing Christmas. Thus the marrons glacés eaten at Christmas are those picked the year before.
Sweet chestnuts are not easy to peel when cold. One kilogram of untainted chestnuts yields about 700 g of shelled chestnuts.
Chestnut flavors vary slightly from one to the next, but itis somewhat sweet and certainly unique. Chestnut-based recipes and preparations are making a comeback in Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
, as part of the trend toward rediscovery of traditional dishes and better nutrition.
Animal fodder and litter
Chestnuts are often added to animal fodderFodder
Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
. A first soak in lime water
Lime water
Limewater is the common name for saturated calcium hydroxide solution. It is sparsely soluble. Its chemical formula is Ca2. Since calcium hydroxide is only sparsely soluble, i.e. ca. 1.5 g per liter at 25 °C, there is no visible distinction to clear water. Attentive observers will notice a slightly...
removes their bitter flavour, then they are ground and mixed with the ordinary provender. Other methods of preparation are also used. It is given to horses and cattle in the Orient, and to pigs in England, France and other places. Sheep will pop the chestnuts out with their hooves, when in pastures containing the trees. The leaves are not as prone to be insect-eaten as those of the oak, and are also used for fodder.
Timber
Chestnut timber is decorative. Light brown in color, it is sometimes confused with oak wood. Both woods' textures are also similar. When in a growing stage, with very little sap wood, a chestnut tree contains more timber of a durable quality than an oak of the same dimensions. Young chestnut wood has proved more durable than oak for woodwork that has to be partly in the ground, such as stakes and fences.
After most growth is achieved, chestnut timber tends to split and warp more the older it is harvested; it becomes neither as hard nor quite as strong as oak. The American chestnut Castanea dentata served as an important source of lumber, because that species has long unbranched trunks. In Britain, it was formerly used indiscriminately with oak for the construction of houses, mill-work and household furniture. It grows so freely in that country, it was long considered a true native, partly because the roof of Westminster Hall and the Parliament House of Edinburgh
Parliament House, Edinburgh
Parliament House in Edinburgh, Scotland, was home to the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland, and now houses the Supreme Courts of Scotland. It is located in the Old Town, just off the Royal Mile, opposite St Giles Cathedral.-Parliament Hall:...
were mistakenly thought of as chestnut wood. But chestnut wood loses much of its durability when grown beyond fifty years old, and despite the local chestnut's quick growth rate, it remains that the timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
used for these two buildings is considerably larger than a 50-year-old chestnut's girth. It has been now proved that they are of Durmast oak
Sessile Oak
Quercus petraea , the Sessile Oak, also known as the Durmast Oak, is a species of oak native to most of Europe, and into Anatolia.-Description:...
, which closely resembles chestnut in grain
Wood grain
In speaking of wood the term grain refers to the alternating regions of relatively darker and lighter wood resulting from the differing growth parameters occurring in different seasons . The term is used in several ways. Perhaps most important is that in woodworking techniques...
and colour.
It is therefore uncommon to find large pieces of chestnut in building structures, but it has always been highly valued for small outdoor furniture pieces, where durability is important, such as fencing and wooden outdoor cladding
Cladding (construction)
Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements, or for aesthetic purposes....
(shingle
Roof shingle
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...
s) for covering buildings., pit-props In Italy, it is also used to make barrel
Barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...
s used for aging balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegar is a condiment originating from Italy.The original traditional product , made from a reduction of cooked white Trebbiano grape juice and not a vinegar in the usual sense, has been made in Modena and Reggio Emilia since the Middle Ages: the production of the balsamic vinegar is...
. Of note, the famous eighteenth century's "berles" in the French Cévennes
Cévennes
The Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...
are cupboards cut directly from the hollowed trunk
Trunk (botany)
In botany, trunk refers to the main wooden axis of a tree that supports the branches and is supported by and directly attached to the roots. The trunk is covered by the bark, which is an important diagnostic feature in tree identification, and which often differs markedly from the bottom of the...
.
Coppicing
Most wood production is done by coppice systems, cut on a 12-year rotation to provide small timber which does not split as badly as large logs. In southern England (particularly in KentKent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
), sweet chestnut has traditionally been grown as coppices, being re-cut every ten years or so on rotation for poles used for firewood, fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
(fence posts and chestnut paling) and especially to support the strings up when hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
are grown.
Fuel
Dry, chestnut firewood is best burned in a closed log-burner, because of its tendency to spit on an open fire.Sustainable forest management
An excellent soil-enriching understory in PinePine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
forests
Sustainable forest management
Sustainable forest management
Sustainable forest management is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management uses very broad social, economic and environmental goals...
incorporates more mixed plantings of proven efficiency, as opposed to monosylviculture. A study presented in 1997 has evaluated positively the potential increase in productivity with mixed stands and plantations, compared to plots of only one species. The relative yield total values of the mixed plantings steadily increase with time. It has shown that Castanea sativa responds well to competitive pressure from Pseudotsuga menziesii, the latter also showing a higher productivity. Another study with Castanea dentata seedlings in Ohio concluded that reforestation efforts is best achieved by planting it in places with little or no arboreous land cover, because of the need for light.
Wildlife
The tree is noted for attracting wildlife. The nuts are an important food for jayJay
The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
s, pigeons, wild boar, deer, and squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s. Several insects, notably the chestnut weevil Curculio elephas
Curculio
Curculio is a genus of weevils belonging the family Curculionidae and subfamily Curculioninae, including about 30 species worldwide. It includes nut weevils that infest the seeds of trees such as oaks and hickories. The adult female weevil bores a tiny hole in the immature nut to lay her eggs,...
, also feed on the seeds. The leaves are used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
species (butterflies and moths); see list of Lepidoptera that feed on chestnut trees.
American and Chinese chinquapins (Castanea pumila and Castanea henryi) have very small nuts that are an important source of food for wildlife.
Other uses
Chestnut wood is a useful source of natural tannin and was used for tanning leather before the introduction of synthetic tannins. On a 10% moisture basis, the bark contains 6.8% tannin and the wood 13.4%. The bark imparts a dark colour to the tannin, and has a higher sugar content, which increases the percentage of soluble non-tans, or impurities, in the extract; so it was not employed in this use.Chestnut tannin has a naturally low pH value, relatively low salts content and a high acids content. It is one of the pyrogallol class of tannins (also known as hydrolysable tannin
Hydrolysable tannin
A hydrolyzable tannin or pyrogallol-type tannin is a type of tannin that, on heating with hydrochloric or sulfuric acids, yields gallic or ellagic acids....
). As it tends to give a reddish tone to the leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
, it is most often used in combination with quebracho, mimosa
Mimosa
Mimosa is a genus of about 400 species of herbs and shrubs, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word μιμος , meaning "mimic."...
, myrabolans, and valonia.
The wood seems to reach its highest tannin content after the trees reach 30 years old. The southern European chestnut wood usually contains at least 10 to 13% more tannin than chestnut trees in northern climates. Today, the largest producer of extract for tanning is Italy.
Fabric can be starched with chestnut meal
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
.
Linen cloth can be whitened with chestnut meal.
The leaves and the skins (husk and pellicle) of the fruits provide a hair shampoo.
Artistic references
- The jazz standard "April in ParisApril in Paris (song)"April in Paris" is a song composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical, Walk A Little Faster. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake was by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, whose version made the Cashbox Top 50.Composer Alec...
" begins, "April in Paris / Chestnuts in blossom." - In the Polish film, Ashes and DiamondsAshes and Diamonds (film)Ashes and Diamonds is a 1958 Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda, based on the 1948 novel by Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski...
, two characters reminisce about the chestnut trees that once lined a famous boulevard destroyed in the Warsaw UprisingWarsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
. - "The Christmas SongThe Christmas Song"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
" begins with the phrase "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." Nat King ColeNat King ColeNathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
's hit recording is now a Christmas standard. - In the movie Howards EndHowards End (film)Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England...
, Mrs. Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
) tells of her childhood home, where superstitious farmers would place pigs' teeth in the bark of the chestnut trees and then chew on this bark to ease toothaches. - In the novel Jane EyreJane EyreJane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...
, a chestnut tree outside Thornfield HallThornfield HallThornfield Hall is the home of the male romantic lead, Edward Rochester, in the 1847 novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Thornfield Hall is also where a large part of the action takes place....
is broken in two by lightning. This foreshadows the breakup of Rochester and Jane's engagement. - The opening lines of Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
's poem "The Village BlacksmithThe Village Blacksmith"The Village Blacksmith" is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in 1841. The poem describes a local blacksmith and his daily life. The blacksmith serves as a role model who balances his job with the role he plays with his family and community...
" are "Under a spreading chestnut-tree / the village smithy stands." This famous reference is much remarked upon by those involved in projects to return the American chestnut to the wild. - In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
the chestnut tree is used in poems recited throughout, referring to nature, modern life, and lies as in the saying: 'that old chestnut'.
Notable chestnut trees
- Chestnut Tree of One Hundred HorsesChestnut Tree of One Hundred HorsesThe Hundred Horse Chestnut is the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world. Located on Linguaglossa road in Sant'Alfio, on the eastern slope of Mount Etna in Sicily — only from the volcano's crater — it is generally believed to be 2,000 to 4,000 years old...
on Mount EtnaMount EtnaMount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...
, 57.9 m (190 ft) circumference in 1780, (64-meter circumference in 1883) - Tortworth Chestnut. 15.8-meter (52 ft) circumference in 1776, when it was described as "the largest tree in England"
- Sacred Chestnut of Istan, 46 feet (14 m) circumference, estimated to be between 800 and 1,000 years old.