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"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose." I was always struck how nobody roasts chestnuts anymore. Then I learned how some forests
by abnry 3y ago
"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose."
I was always struck how nobody roasts chestnuts anymore. Then I learned how some forests in the US had 25% chestnut trees and that blight killed almost all of them. What a fascinating thing that chestnuts were as common as acorns for our grandparents and great-grandparents but are almost non-existent for us.
- ponector 3y agoStreet vendors with roasted chestnuts are common all over Europe, especially at Christmas markets
- o0-0o 3y agoThose are a different type of Asian / Chinese chestnut. Smaller, less flavorful etc etc.
- hinkley 3y agoThose shells are no joke either.
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoWhen I collect the nuts from around my property even leather mittens don't work. The spikes on them (both Chinese and American) are intense. I don't know how the squirrels can handle it, but they do (though they go after them after the nut has fully open and fallen to the ground. I imagine the spikes are the trees way of discouraging the rodents from taking them until they're fully ripe and fertile)
- saiya-jin 3y agoWhat the heck you write about, back home we have chestnut trees being up to 500 years old (thats the local record setter in one tiny eastern european country). No chinese products around, not sure if you actually have any real experience of stuff you comment on.
- fisian 3y agoThese are the chestnuts I know, that are sold as street food: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanea_sativa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanea_sativa Native in Europe and Asia. There also is a different kind of chestnut commonly found in parks, along roads, that is not edible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_hippocastanum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_hippocastanum
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago"a different kind of chestnut commonly found" Sometimes called horse chestnut, but not actually a chestnut, completely unrelated. North American native, though I understand it's been introduced into Europe.
- pjlegato 3y agoThey are a third sort, European chestnuts. They are generally held to be better flavor than the Asian varieties, but not as good as the nearly extinct (but not quite) American Chestnuts.
- balaji1 3y agodo the European / Asian versions survive and grow in America? Are they being grown?
- nkurz 3y agoThis is a good question, and I'm struggling to find a clear answer. The Asian varieties are generally blight resistant and grow in the US, but they aren't as good for nuts or lumber. The European varieties are slightly less susceptible to blight, but are definitely susceptible. There are European/Asian crosses that are more resistant, but they don't seem to be widely grown here. Maybe they aren't as cold tolerant as the native American varieties, and thus more restricted for where they can be grown? The parallel question is why Europe doesn't seem to be having as many problems with blight if their trees are susceptible. I think it's partly that the disease just isn't as prevalent yet, and partly that there are some "odd" biological controls being used there that for some reason don't work as well in the US: https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/Fact-Sheets/Plant-Pathology/Protecting-Chestnut-Trees-from-Blight https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/Fact-Sheets/Plant-Pathology/Prote...
- balaji1 3y agowould it be possible to cross the plants the other way? Make the European/Asian ones big and tasty like the American ones. I am sure there are people thinking about this full time and would have much better ideas, but just wondering.
- pjlegato 3y agoYes. The American Chestnut Foundation has been working on that for several decades; not quite there yet, but it's probably possible. More at https://tacf.org/ https://tacf.org/
- agtech_andy 3y agoWhile American chestnuts are often more flavorful, they are almost always smaller than the commercial Chinese and Japanese varieties.
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoAmerican chestnuts are actually smaller still than the Chinese variety. The varieties grown and sold in Europe are larger than the Asian. I have an American/Chinese F1 hybrid here on my hobby farm and its nuts are smaller than the Chinese. Which aren't very large.
- jakebasile 3y agoMy father roasted chestnuts every Christmas. I think it held on longer in Italian-American households. I was going to do it this year, but couldn't find any locally in time.
- jhawk28 3y agoOur local grocery store (Publix) sells them for $9/bag. They were quite good this year and peeled easily. I think they are sourced from Italy.
- linsomniac 3y agoI used to, and almost got some this year until I saw a bundle not much bigger than my fist was $15.99 at the grocery store...
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoThey do seem unusually expensive this year, and I wonder if it's related to the same drought in the western mediterranean that decimated olive crops. Persimmons also seem more rare and expensive this December than in other years and I believe a lot of those are grown in Spain.
- washadjeffmad 3y agoNot sure where they're sourced from, but I buy them from Costco every year. They're really a treat when warmed.