The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s in the genus ''Castanea'', in the

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

family

Fagaceae The Fagaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with about 927 species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as evergre ...

. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

they produce. The unrelated horse chestnuts (genus ''Aesculus'') are not true chestnuts, but are named for producing nuts of similar appearance that are mildly poisonous to humans. True chestnuts should also not be confused with water chestnuts, which are tubers of an aquatic herbaceous plant in the sedge family

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

. Other species commonly mistaken for chestnut trees are the chestnut oak ('' Quercus prinus'') and the American beech ('' Fagus grandifolia''),Chestnut Tree
in chestnuttree.net. both of which are also in the Fagaceae family. Brazil nuts, called "Brasil chestnuts" (''castañas de Brasil'' in Spanish) or "chestnuts from Pará" (''castanha-do-Pará'' in Portuguese) are also unrelated.

Species

Chestnuts belong to the family

, which also includes oaks and

es. The four main species groups are commonly known as American,Industry information
by David McLaren. From ''The Chestnut Growers Information Book'', Chestnut Australia Inc. European, Chinese, and Japanese chestnuts.

Etymology

The name "chestnut" is derived from an earlier English term "chesten nut", which descends from the Old French word ''chastain'' (Modern French, ''châtaigne''). The French word in turn derives from Latin ''Castanea'' (also the scientific name of the tree), which traces to the Ancient Greek word κάστανον (sweet chestnut).''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. By A. Huxley ed. 1992. Macmillan . A possible source of the Greek word is the ancient town of Kastanea in Thessaly. The town probably took its name, though, from the trees growing around it. In 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 Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...

, Asia Minor, from where the fruit had spread.The Meaning of Trees
By Fred Hageneder, Chronicle Books – Nature. 2005. 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.Vegetarians in Paradise
Although it may indicate another tree, it indicates the fruit was a local staple food in the early 17th century.
These

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

s are or have been in use: ''Fagus Castanea'' (used by Linnaeus in first edition of ''Species Plantarum'', 1753),''On the Name of the American Chestnut''
By Geo. B. Sudworth. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 19, No. 5 (May 5, 1892), pp. 152–154 (article consists of 3 pages). Published by: Torrey Botanical Society. Sardian nut, Jupiter's nut, husked nut, and Spanish chestnut (U.S.).
By Mrs. M. Grieve.

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,
. In Yard and Garden Brief, Horticulture department at University of Minnesota. to the giant of past American forests, ''C. dentata'' that could reach . Between these extremes are found the Japanese chestnut (''C. crenata'') at average; followed by the Chinese chestnut (''C. mollissima'') at about , then the European chestnut (''C. sativa'') around .
. By the New Zealand Chestnut Council, 2000. 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 trunks, which are firmly set and massive. When standing on their own, they spread on the sides and develop broad, rounded, dense crowns at maturity. The foliage of the European and American species has striking yellow autumn coloring.Autumn Foliage Color:Past, Present, and Future.
Harvard University. Its bark is smooth when young,The American Chestnut Tree
By Samuel B. Detwiler. Reprinted from American Forestry, October, 1915. Chattooga Conservancy. of a vinous

maroon Maroon ( US/ UK , Australia ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word ''marron'', or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown". According to multiple dictionaries, there are var ...

or red-brown color for the American chestnut, grey for the European chestnut. With age, American species' bark 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.Chestnut
in Answers.com. The flowers follow the leaves, appearing in late spring or early summer or into July. They are arranged in long

catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...

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 The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s, or 10 to 12 for ''C. mollissima''. The ripe

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

carries a heavy, sweet odor 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 Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective ...

, covering the fruits. Chestnut flowers are not self-compatible, so two trees are required for pollination. All ''Castanea'' species readily hybridize with each other. The fruit is contained in a spiny (very sharp) cupule in diameter, also called "bur" or "

burr Burr may refer to: Places * Burr (crater), on the Jovian moon Callisto *Burr, Minnesota, an unincorporated community, United States * Burr, Missouri, an unincorporated community, United States *Burr, Nebraska, a village, United States * Burr, Sa ...

".Chinese Chestnut
, College of Natural Resources, Department of Forestry, VirginiaTech. The burrs are often paired or clustered on the branch and contain one to seven nuts according to the different species, varieties, and cultivars.''Trees of Britain and Europe''. By K. Rushforth. Collins. 1999. .''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles''. By W.J. Bean. 8th ed., vol. 1. John Murray. 1976. . Around the time the fruits reach maturity, the burrs turn yellow-brown and split open in two or four 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, shiny, brown outer hull or

, called the pericarpus;''Chestnut Know-How''
. By David McLaren. Written for Chestnut Australia Inc. 1999. 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 depths according to the species and variety. The fruit inside these shows two cotyledons with a creamy-white flesh throughout,''What Are Chestnuts''
Information page by a small Australian grower in Balingup, Western Australia. 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''). Chestnut fruit has no epigeal dormancy, so germinate right upon falling to the ground in the autumn, with the roots emerging from the seed right away and the leaves and stem the following spring. Because the seeds lack a coating or internal food supply, they lose viability soon after ripening and must be planted immediately. 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.

History

Eurasia

It has been a staple food in southern Europe, Turkey, and southwestern and eastern Asia''The cultivation of Castanea sativa (Mill.) in Europe, from its origin to its diffusion on a continental scale''
. By M. Conedera, P. Krebs, W. Tinner, M. Pradella and D. Torriani. Veget Hist Archaeobot (2004) 13:161–179. . This multidisciplinary study reconstructs the origin of chestnut cultivation and its spread throughout Europe in prehistoric times. for millennia, largely replacing cereals where these would not grow well, if at all, in mountainous Mediterranean areas.
By Guy Jalut. 1976. In ''La Préhistoire Française'', Vol. 2: 180–5. Paris. Cited in ''The Cambridge World History of Food'' – Chestnuts, edited by Kenneth F. Kipple and Kriemhild Connee Ornelas. Evidence of its cultivation by man is found since around 2000 BC. Alexander the Great and the Romans planted chestnut trees across Europe while on their various campaigns. A Greek army is said to have survived their retreat from Asia Minor in 401–399 BC thanks to their stores of chestnuts.Chestnut History
by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone. For Cooking resources, Food history, in About.com. Ancient Greeks, such as 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 carbohydrates. 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, "an infinity of people live on nothing else but (the chestnut)".Charles Estienne and Jean Liébault. ''L'agriculture et maison rustique''. Paris.1583. Cited in ''The Cambridge World History of Food'' – Chestnuts, edited by Kenneth F. Kipple and Kriemhild Connee Ornelas. In 1802, an Italian agronomist said of Tuscany that "the fruit of the chestnut tree is practically the sole subsistence of our highlanders",Targioni-Tozzetti 1802, Vol. 3: 154. Cited in ''The Cambridge World History of Food'' – Chestnuts. 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".Les ouvriers européens. By Frédéric Le Play. 6 vols. Paris. 1879. Cited in ''The Cambridge World History of Food'' – Chestnuts, edited by Kenneth F. Kipple and Kriemhild Connee Ornelas. In Britain, boundary records compiled in the reign of King John already showed the famous Tortworth Chestnut in South Gloucestershire, as a landmark; it was also known by the same name of "Great Chestnut of Tortworth" in the days of Stephen. This tree measured over in circumference at from the ground in 1720. The

Hundred Horse Chestnut The Hundred-Horse Chestnut ( it, Castagno dei Cento Cavalli; scn, Castagnu dî Centu Cavaddi) 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. ...

in the chestnut forests on

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina a ...

is the oldest living chestnut tree and is said to be even larger. Chestnut trees particularly flourish in the

Mediterranean basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and w ...

. In 1584, the governor of Genoa, which dominated

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

, ordered all the farmers and landowners to plant four trees yearly, among which was a chestnut tree – plus

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

, fig and

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

trees. Many communities owe their origin and former richness to the ensuing chestnut woods.The Chestnut Tree
in terracorsa. In France, the ''

marron glacé A marron glacé (plural ''marrons glacés'') is a confection, originating in northern Italy and southern France consisting of a chestnut candied in sugar syrup and glazed. Marrons glacés are an ingredient in many desserts and are also eaten o ...

'', 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 (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, Italy, they are soaked in wine before roasting and serving, and are also traditionally eaten on Saint Simon's Day in Tuscany. In the

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...

region, roasted chestnuts are often served with a traditional wine, the

Cagnina di Romagna Cagnina di Romagna was an Italian wine-producing zone in Emilia-Romagna region, in northeastern Italy. In 2011 it was incorporated into the Romagna Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) alongside the denominations of Pagadebit di Romagna, Romag ...

. It is traditional to eat roasted chestnuts in Portugal on St. Martin's Day. Their popularity declined during the last few centuries, partly due to their reputation of "food for poor people".''Traitement des maladies par les légumes, les fruits et les céréales''. By Dr Jean Valnet. Ed. Maloine s.a., 1977, pp. 213 to 216. First published in 1964. . Translated in English as ''Organic garden medicine – The medical uses of vegetables, fruits and grains'', Ed. Erbonia Books Inc., New York. Many people did not want to take chestnut bread as "

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

" because chestnut flour does not rise. Some slandered chestnut products in such words as the bread which "gives a sallow complexion" written in 1770,''Dictionnaire universel des plantes, arbres et arbustes de la France'': 126. By Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz. Paris. 1770. or in 1841 "this kind of mortar which is called a soup".''Voyage dans la Belgique, la Hollande et l'Italie (1796–1798)'': 173. By André Thouin. Paris. 1841. 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 ''C. 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 th
Mugello sweet chestnut
It is markedly sweet, peels easily, is not excessively floury or astringent, and has notes of vanilla,

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...

, and, more subtly, fresh bread. It has no unpleasant aroma, such as yeast, fungus, mold, or paper, which sometimes occur with other chestnuts.The IGP Mugello Sweet Chestnut.
/ref> The main regions in France for chestnut production are the départements of

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019."Châtaigne d'Ardèche" (A.O.C)
of the Var (Eastern Provence), of the Cévennes (Gard and Lozère départements) and of the Lyon region. France annually produces over 1,000 metric tons, but still imports about 8,000 metric tons, mainly from Italy.Candied chestnuts (in French).
/ref> 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's menu in Japan, chestnuts represent both success and hard times—mastery and strength. The Japanese chestnut (''kuri'') was in cultivation before riceJapanese Chestnut
in Japan House and the Chinese chestnut (''C. mollissima'') possibly for 2,000 to 6,000 years. During British colonial rule in the mid-1700s to 1947, the sweet chestnut, ''C. 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 cultivars. Moreover, the 'Dandong' chestnut (belonging to the Japanese chestnut ''C. crenata'') is a major cultivar in

Liaoning Province Liaoning () is a coastal provinces of China, province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and i ...

.Economic forest trees
. In South Korea, roasted chestnuts (''gunbam'') are a popular winter snack, and serve as a symbol of abundance in ancestral rituals. Roasted chestnuts are also included in folk songs of Korea, which include "''Gunbam Taryeong''", a song that celebrates chestnuts, as well as "''Jeongseokga''", a song from the Goryeo period. Gongju, one of Baekje's former capitals, is renowned for its chestnuts, with an annual chestnut festival that takes place in the winter. In the '' Samgukji'', a book that was compiled during the Qin dynasty about the Three Kingdoms, chestnuts are used in the description of Mahan, the former land of Baekje. In the Philippines, the endemic ''talakatak'' or Philippine chestnut (''

Castanopsis philippinensis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. A total o ...

'') is not cultivated commercially, though its nuts are harvested from the wild and consumed locally. Imported chestnuts (known as ''kastanyas'' in

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

, from Spanish ''castañas'') are traditionally sold as street food in the Philippines during the Christmas season.

North America

Native Americans were eating the American chestnut species, mainly ''C. dentata'' and some others, long before European immigrants introduced their stock to America, and before the arrival of

chestnut blight The pathogenic fungus ''Cryphonectria parasitica'' (formerly ''Endothia parasitica'') is a member of the Ascomycota (sac fungi). This necrotrophic fungus is native to East Asia and South East Asia and was introduced into Europe and North America ...

. In some places, such as the Appalachian Mountains, one-quarter of

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

s were chestnuts. Mature trees often grew straight and branch-free for , up to 100 ft, averaging up to 5 ft in diameter. For three centuries, most barns and homes east of the Mississippi River were made from it.American Chestnut Restoration
Salem Board & Beam. In 1911, the food book ''

The Grocer's Encyclopedia ''The Grocer's Encyclopedia'' (1911) is a book about the growing, preparation, and marketing of foods that was written and published in New York City by Artemas Ward, an author and an advertising and marketing innovator. Ward released a specializ ...

'' noted that a cannery in Holland included in its "vegetables-and-meat" ready-cooked combinations, a "chestnuts and sausages" casserole beside the more classic "beef and onions" and "green peas and veal". This celebrated the chestnut culture that would bring whole villages out in the woods for three weeks each autumn (and keep them busy all winter), and deplored the lack of food diversity in the United States's shop shelves. Soon after that, however, 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 is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, was made public in 1904. Within 40 years, the nearly four billion-strong American chestnut population in North America was devastated;The American Chestnut Foundation – Mission & History
. only a few clumps of trees remained in Michigan, Wisconsin, 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.''Trees, Woods and Man''. By H.L. Edlin. New Naturalist. 1970. . Today, they only survive as single trees separated from any others (very rare), and as living stumps, or "stools", with only a few growing enough shoots 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.American Chestnut Foundation
In the 1970s, geneticist Charles Burnham began back-breeding Asian chestnut into American chestnut populations to confer blight resistance with the minimum difference in genes. In the 1950s, the Dunstan chestnut was developed in Greensboro, N.C., and constitutes the majority of blight-free chestnuts produced in the United States annually. Today, the demand for the nut outstrips supply. The United States imported 4,056 metric tons of European in-shell chestnuts worth $10 million in 2007.Agricultural Marketing Resource Center: ''Chestnuts''
By Malinda Geisler, content specialist, Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University. Revised May 2008. 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 imports are from

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

, 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 favored and sold at high prices in gourmet shops. A study of the sector in 2005 found that U.S. 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 between . Another determining 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 yield for a 10-year-old tree is a reliable conservative estimate, though some exceptional specimens of that age have yielded . So, most producers earn less than $5,000 per year, with a third of them 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 currently recommends waiting a while more before large-scale planting, because the organization and its associates (the American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation and many others from education, research, and industry sectors contributing to the program) are in the last stages of developing a variety that is as close as possible to the 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 and 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/lb ($3.30/kg) wholesale to about $5/lb ($11/kg) retail, depending mainly on the size.

Australia, New Zealand

The

Australian gold rush During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of Ne ...

of the 1850s and 1860s led to the first recorded plantings of European chestnut trees, brought from Europe by settlers. Along the years, most chestnut tree plantations were ''C. sativa'' stock, which is still the dominant species. Some of these remain today. Some trees in northern Victoria are around 120 years old and up to 60 m tall. Chestnuts grow well in southwest Western Australia, which has cold winters and warm to hot summers. As of 2008, the country has nearly 350 growers, annually producing around 1,200 metric tons of chestnuts, of which 80% come from northeast Victoria. The produce is mostly sold to the domestic fresh fruit market. Chestnuts are 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 15 to 25 years. By far, the most common species in Australia is the European chestnut, but small numbers of the other species, as well as some hybrids, have been planted. The Japanese chestnut (''C. crenata'') does well in wet and humid weather and in hot summers (about 30°C); and was introduced to New Zealand in the early 1900s, more so in the upper

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

region.

Nutrition

Chestnuts depart from the norm for culinary nuts, as they have little protein or fat; their calories come chiefly from carbohydrates. Fresh chestnut fruits provide about of food energy per 100 g of edible parts, which is much lower than walnuts,

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...

s, other nuts, and dried fruit (about per 100 g).''Chestnut – Nutritional value''
. Information page by a small Australian grower in Balingup, Western Australia. In some areas, sweet chestnut trees are called "bread trees".''The Chestnut – Fruit of the Bread Tree''
Rockridge Market Hall. When chestnuts are just starting to ripen, the fruits are mostly starch and are firm under finger pressure from the high water content. As the chestnuts ripen, the starch is slowly converted into sugars, and moisture content decreases. Upon pressing the ripe chestnut, a slight "give" can be felt; the

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

is not so tense, and space occurs between the flesh of the fruit and it.Delmarvelous nursery
(Chestnut Trees & Seed Nuts). Raw chestnuts are 60% water and contain 44 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of protein, one gram of fat, supplying 200

calorie The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...

s in a 100-gram reference amount (table). Chestnuts provide some B vitamins and

dietary mineral In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element required as an essential nutrient by organisms to perform functions necessary for life. However, the four major structural elements in the human body by weight (oxygen, hydrogen, carbon ...

s in significant content (table). Their carbohydrate content compares with that of wheat and rice. Chestnuts have twice as much

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

as the potato on an as-is basis. They contain about 8% of various

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

s, mainly

sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

, glucose,

fructose Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galacto ...

, and in lesser amounts, stachyose and raffinose, which are fermented in the lower gut, producing gas. Chestnuts are among the few "nuts" that contain vitamin C, with 48% of the Daily Value in a 100-gram serving (table). The amount of vitamin C decreases by roughly 40% upon heating (typically, the vitamin is decreased or destroyed in heated foods). Fresh chestnuts contain about 52% water by weight, which evaporates relatively quickly during storage. They can lose as much as 1% of weight in one day at 20°C (68°F) and 70% relative humidity.

Cultivation, pests, and diseases

Climate and seasonal germination cycle

Chestnuts produce a better crop when subjected to chill temperatures during the

dormant Dormant, "sleeping", may refer to: Science *Dormancy Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps ...

period. Frosts and snowfalls are beneficial rather than harmful to the trees.''Chestnut production''
. By David McLaren. Written from ''The Chestnut Growers Information Book'', for Chestnut Australia Inc. 1999 for Chestnut Australia Inc. 1999. The dormant plant is very cold-hardy in Britain,Ken Fern. Notes from observations, tasting, etc. at ''Plants for a Future'' and on field trips. Cited in ''Plants for a Future'' to the Royal Horticultural Society's H6 hardiness rating, to -20°C. Chestnut is hardy to USDA zone 5, which is lower in average minimal temperature than London in zone 9.Castanea sativa – Mill.
in ''Plants for a Future''. The young growth in spring, even on mature plants, however, is

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

-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 m above sea level; some mention between 300 and 750 m altitude,''Étude d'un produit régional : La crème de marrons''
By Sabrina Derouet, Flavie Dhellemmes, Lamia Hakam, Claire Lhaoucine and Maxime Vanhoutte. EPU Lille-USTL. 2003. while the famous

stands at 1200 metres.The Chestnut tree of Mount Etna
Detailed account of the tree, its state and its surroundings, written by Wm. Rushton on June 29, 1871. They can tolerate maritime exposure, although growth is reduced. 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. Sowing them as soon as ripe is better, either in cold frames or seedbeds outdoors,''Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers.'' By W. G. Sheat. MacMillan and Co 1948. Cited in ''Plants For A Future''. where they can be left ''in situ'' for one to two 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 A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

and

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

s. Chestnuts are considered self-sterile,Sweet Chestnut (''Castanea'' species)
Society of Ontario Nut Growers. so at least two trees are needed for pollination.

Soil requirements

''Castanea'' grows best in a soil with good drainage and adequate moisture. The tree prefers sloping, deep soils; it does not like shallow or heavy soils with impermeable, clay

subsoil Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. Like topsoil, it is composed of a variable mixture of small particles such as sand, silt and clay, but with a much lower percentage of organic matter and humus, and it ...

s. The Chinese chestnut prefers a fertile, well-drained soil, but it grows well in fairly dry, rocky, or poor soils.Kentucky Division of Forestry
. Although ''Castanea'' can grow in very

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

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 those derived from granite, sandstone, or schist. On alkaline soils, chestnut trees can be grown by

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...

them onto oak rootstocks.
Recently cleared land is best avoided to help resist the

root rot Root rot is a condition in which anoxic conditions in the soil or potting media around the roots of a plant cause them to rot. This occurs due to excessive standing water around the roots. It is found in both indoor and outdoor plants, although ...

, ''Armillaria mellia''.

Sun exposure

''Castanea'' likes a full sun position. An experiment with ''C. dentata'' seedlings in Ohio confirmed the need for sun for optimal growth.Survival and growth in size and biomass of American Chestnut (''Castanea dentata'') seedlings under various silvicultural regimens in a mixed oak forest ecosystem.
By Corinne McCament and Brian McCarthy. Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. Paper presented on 6 August 2003 at the ESA 2003 Annual Meeting. The butt of the tree is sometimes painted with white paint to protect the tree from sunburn until it has developed enough canopy. Wide spacing between the trees encourages low, broad crowns with maximum exposure to sunshine to increase fruit production. Where chestnut trees touch, virtually no fruit is produced. Current industrial planting spacings can range from 7 x 7 to 20 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 or more, ideally in even distribution throughout the year. Mulching during summer is recommended. Rainfall below per year 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, watering young trees is recommended at least during summer and early autumn. Once established, they resist droughts well.''Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses''. By D. Bown. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 .''RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement''. By F. Chittendon. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951.

Preservation

In addition to being consumed fresh, chestnuts can also be canned, pureed, or preserved in sugar or syrup (''marrons glacés''). Shelled and cooked nuts should be covered, refrigerated, and used within 3-4 days. Cooked chestnuts, either whole, chopped, or pureed, may be frozen in an airtight container and held up to 9 months. Because of their high water content, transpiration 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 Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

, after which they are dried in the shade, then layered in dry sand.
Chestnuts behave similarly to seeds in that they produce very little

ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds). Ethylene i ...

, and their respiration rate is low, varying between 5 and 20 mg/(kg·h) depending on the temperature.

Pests

Mammals and birds

* Grey squirrels strip bark from when the tree is about eight years old and onward through the life of the tree. *

Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s and wallabies 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. * Rosellas can be troublesome at harvest time. * Shrews, squirrels, mice, and other critters often eat the chestnut seed after it has sprouted within the first, and even second years of growth. Some avoid this by removing the chestnut seed from the stem.

Insects

* '' Dryocosmus kuriphilus'', the oriental chestnut gall wasp, is native to China, but is an invasive pest elsewhere. It attacks and destroys the chestnut fruit. It is considered the world's worst pest of chestnuts.CABI, 2013
''Dryocosmus kuriphilus''.
In: Invasive Species Compendium. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. * The larvae of the polyfag moth ('' Phytomyza horticola'')Plantedoktoren
A gallery of plant pests. species are among those that do most damage to shoots and foliage.''The pest control of the Chestnut tree''
by Dr Péter Szentiványi. Chestnut – Agricultural Publisher. For Sarkpont Cc., Hungary. * The most frequently occurring pests are the winter moth (''Operophtera brumata'') and the

mottled umber moth The mottled umber (''Erannis defoliaria'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is common throughout much of the Palearctic region. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759. Distribution The species can be found in we ...

(''Erannis defoliaria''). * Th
oak roller weevil
( ''Attelabus nitens'') causes relatively less damage by rolling up the leaves into a barrel shape to shelter its eggs and 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 larvae of the oak-leaf-mining moth, also called the tischerid moth (''

Tischeria ekebladella ''Tischeria ekebladella'' is a moth of the family Tischeriidae. It is found in most of Europe and the Caucasus. The wingspan is 8–11 mm. Forewings deep ochreous yellow, suffusedly irrorated with fuscous towards costa posteriorly and apex ...

''), 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 aphid ('' Myzocallis castanicola'') sucks on the apex of young shoots and leaves. Native to Europe and North America, it is, for example, active in Hungary. Leaves do not roll up, but their feeding delays the growth of shoots and damages young graft-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 ''M. castanicola'' aphids.''Chestnut mosaic virus : Transmission by the aphid Myzocallis castanicola on Chestnut tree''
By J.-C. Desvignes and D. Cornaggia (CTIFL, Centre de Lanxade, La Force, France). In Phytoma, la défense des végétaux. 1996, no. 481, pp. 39–41 (6 ref.). . * The chestnut weevil (''

Curculio elephas ''Curculio elephas'' is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae, the true weevils. It is known commonly as the chestnut weevil. It is a serious pest of chestnut (''Castanea sativa'') in Europe.Paparatti, B. & Speranza, S. (1999)Biological ...

'') most often damages the fruits. In Hungary, it swarms in chestnut orchards around August 20, particularly strongly around noon and in sunny weather. The eggs are laid into the cupules or around the

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

joints. The larvae 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 turn into pupae.
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 overwintering larvae. Regular soil work is also unfavourable to its life habits. Small grafts are sprayed with chemicals. A warm, aerosol-based protection has been developed for older trees, by Sifter and Bürgés in 1971. Planting chestnut orchards beside turkey oak forests is not advised, 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 moth (''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 grass 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 blight The pathogenic fungus ''Cryphonectria parasitica'' (formerly ''Endothia parasitica'') is a member of the Ascomycota (sac fungi). This necrotrophic fungus is native to East Asia and South East Asia and was introduced into Europe and North America ...

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 is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their tree stump, stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems ...

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 (around the last week of May and first two weeks of June), and the actions of the larvae, may collude for

conidiospores A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to th ...

to come into contact with the freshly exposed phloem, thus causing cankers.''The role of Spulerina simploniella in the spread of Chestnut blight''
By S. Diamandis (NAGREF, Forest Research Institute, 570 06 Vassilika, Thessaloniki, Greece) and C. Perlerou. Received: 27.07.2004; accepted: 25.02.2005; editor: P. Raddi. . * Ink disease also appears in a number of other plants. The disease attacks the phloem tissue and the cambium of the roots and root collars about 10–20 cm above ground. Wet rot settles in as a result. It was named after the ink-black color of the tannic acid becoming ( oxidized) 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 decays 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 makes the trees dry out and wither away. It is caused by '' Phytophthora cambivora'' and '' Phytophthora cinnamomi''. * ''Phytophthora'' disease is the longest-known chestnut tree disease leading to tree death. Of the two main pathogens for this disease, the one in European chestnuts is known since 1971 to be '' Phytophthora cambivora''. '' Phytophthora cinnamomi'' 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. Differentiating between the two pathogens is difficult. Chemicals seem of little effectiveness. Many countries impose strict prophylactic rules to prevent the spread of the disease. * ''Melanconis modonia'' 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 sapling graftings in nurseries. ''Coryneum perniciosum'', one of the two conidium-like side forms of this fungus, occurs on all decayed, ligneous parts of a chestnut tree. The symptoms of infection on young, smooth trunks is similar to that of 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

stromata The ''Stromata'' ( el, Στρώματα), a mistake for ''Stromateis'' (Στρωματεῖς, "Patchwork," i.e., ''Miscellanies''), attributed to Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215), is the third of a trilogy of works regarding the Christ ...

breaking through the bark. Unlike with ''Cryphonectria'', though, no orange-colored fruiting bodies are seen. Prevention primarily includes keeping trees 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 rot Root rot is a condition in which anoxic conditions in the soil or potting media around the roots of a plant cause them to rot. This occurs due to excessive standing water around the roots. It is found in both indoor and outdoor plants, although ...

is caused by the honey fungus ''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. Chestnut plantations (10

* Leaf spot is the most common disease for chestnut trees (''Mycosphaerella maculiformis''). It is known as ''cylindrosporium'' leaf spot disease, after its summer conidium 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

vessels Vessel(s) or The Vessel may refer to: Biology *Blood vessel, a part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body *Lymphatic vessel, a thin walled, valved structure that carries lymph *Vessel element, a narrow wat ...

shrinks, and the vessels themselves become curly. * In storage rot, breaking the tuft provides the most common entrance for fungal

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

s during storage. ''Cyboria'', the most diffuse, turns the flesh black and spongy. Other fungi are known, such as ''Rhizopus'', ''Fusarium'', and '' Colletotrichum''. In chestnuts, Colletotrichum disease symptoms may also be called blossom end rot. Browning of the chestnut burs at the blossom end may be a first sign in August. At harvest time, blackening of pointed end of the chestnut shell and kernel indicates infection. The extent of blackening can vary. It can range from a barely visible black tip of the kernel to the whole nut being black. Parts of the nut kernel with no color change remain edible. * Chestnut canker can be caused by fungi of genus ''Dendrostoma''.

Coppicing

Most chestnut 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 Kent), sweet chestnut has traditionally been grown as coppices, being recut every 10 years or so on rotation for poles used for firewood, and fencing (fence posts and chestnut paling).

Sustainable forest management

An excellent soil-enriching understory in pine forests,

sustainable forest management Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management has to keep the balance between three main pillars: ecological, economic and socio-cultural. ...

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. ''C. sativa'' responds well to competitive pressure from ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'', the latter also showing a higher productivity.''Dynamics of a broadleaved (Castanea sativa) conifer (Pseudotsuga menziesii) mixed stands in Northern Portugal''
By Jaime F. Sales Luisa (Forest Department, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000 Vila Real, Portugal) and Maria do Loreto Monteiro (Forest Area, Escola Superior Agrária de Bragança, 5300 Bragança, Portugal). Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 107, Issues 1-3, 17 August 1998, pp. 183–190. Accepted 10 November 1997. Available online 15 January 1999. . ''C. dentata'' seedlings in Ohio reforestation efforts are best achieved by planting them in places with little or no arboreous land cover, because of the need for light.

Production

In 2020, world production of cultivated chestnuts was 2,322 tonnes, led by China with 75% of the total (table). Spain and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

were also significant producers.

Uses

Culinary

Avignon marchand de marrons chauds à la Porte Saint-Michel Foire Saint-André

The fruit can be peeled and eaten raw, but it can be somewhat astringent, especially if the pellicle is not removed.''Description of European Chestnut''
. By F. Ferrini and F. P. Nicese. Horticulture Department – University of Florence – Italy. Another method of eating the fruit involves roasting, which does not require peeling. Roasting requires scoring the fruit beforehand to prevent explosion of the fruit due to expansion. Once cooked, its texture is slightly similar to that of a baked potato, with a delicate, sweet, and nutty flavour.Sweet Chestnut Jam recipe. Storing Sweet Chestnuts
in ''The Cottage Smallholder''. This method of preparation is popular in many countries, where the scored chestnuts may be cooked mixed with a little sugar. Chestnuts can be dried and milled into flour, which can then be used to prepare breads,

cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

s, pies,

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a Starch, starch-based batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or fryi ...

s, pastas,

polenta Polenta (, ) is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. ...

(known in Corsica as ''pulenda''), or used as thickener for

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and ...

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

s, and sauces. Chestnut cake may be prepared using chestnut flour. In Corsica, the flour is fried into

doughnut A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franc ...

-like

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

s called '' fritelli'' and made into '' necci, pattoni, ,'' 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 as long as two weeks. The nuts can also be eaten candied, boiled, steamed, deep-fried, grilled, or roasted in sweet or savory 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). 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 sixteenth century. Toward the end of nineteenth century, Lyon went into a recession with the collapse of the textile market, notably silk. Clément Faugier, a civil engineer, was looking for a way to revitalize the regional economy. In 1882 at

Privas Privas (; oc, Privàs , also ) is a city located in France, in the department of Ardèche. With its 8,465 inhabitants (2019), it is the least populated prefecture (capital of a department). It was the location of the 1629 Siege of Priva ...

, he invented the technology to make ''marrons glacés'' on an industrial scale (although a great number of the more than 20 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."C'est le mois – Les marrons glacés synonymes de fêtes de fin d'année"
By Marie-Françoise Briand. Article in review n° 110. In French. Castanyera

In Spain, on 31 October on the eve of the All Saints' Day, Catalonia celebrates ''la castanyada'' a festivity that consists of eating chestnuts, panellets, sweet potatoes and muscatell. On November, in the regions of

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, Asturias, Cantabria and other Northern provinces and Portugal, the '' Magosto'' is celebrated. In

Hungarian cuisine Hungarian or Magyar cuisine is the cuisine characteristic of the nation of Hungary and its primary ethnic group, the Magyars. Traditional Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits, bread, and dairy products. ...

, cooked chestnuts are puréed, mixed with sugar (and usually rum), forced through a ricer, and topped with whipped cream to make a dessert called ''gesztenyepüré'' (chestnut purée). In Swiss cuisine, a similar dish made with kirsch and butter is called ''vermicelles''. A

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

version is known as " Mont Blanc". A fine granular sugar can be obtained from the fermentation of the juice,''Cornucopia – A Source Book of Edible Plants''. By S. Facciola. Kampong Publications, 1990. . Cited in Plants For A Future. as well as a beer; the roasted fruit provides a coffee substitute. Parmentier, who among other things was a famous potato promoter, extracted

from chestnuts and sent a chestnut sugarloaf weighing several pounds to the

Academy of Lyon __NOTOC__ The Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Arts of Lyon (French: Académie des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Lyon) is a French learned society founded in 1700. Its founders included: * Claude Brossette, lawyer, alderman of Lyons, and ...

.Antoine Parmentier. ''Traité de la châtaigne''. 1780. Bastia, Corsica. Cited in ''The Cambridge World History of Food'' – Chestnuts, edited by Kenneth F. Kipple and Kriemhild Connee Ornelas. The continental blockade following shortly after (1806–1814) increased the research into developing chestnuts as a source of sugar, but Napoleon chose beets instead.''The Cambridge World History of Food'' – Chestnuts
Edited by Kenneth F. Kipple and Kriemhild Connee Ornelas. Sweet chestnuts are not easy to peel when cold. One kilogram of untainted chestnuts yields about 700 g of shelled chestnuts.

Animal fodder and litter

Chestnuts are often added to animal

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food g ...

. A first soak in

limewater Limewater is the common name for a saturated aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide. Calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, is sparsely soluble at room temperature in water (1.5 g/L at 25 °C). "Pure" (i.e. less than or fully saturated) limewater i ...

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. The leaves are not as prone to be insect-eaten as those of the oak, and are also used for fodder.

Timber

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,Sweet Chestnut production
in Farm Woodlands – CALU Technical Note ref: 050401. July 2006. 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. The two woods' textures are 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, older chestnut timber tends to split and warp when harvested. The timber becomes neither so hard nor so strong as oak. The American chestnut ''C. dentata'' served as an important source of lumber, because it has long, unbranched trunks. In Britain, chestnut was formerly used indiscriminately with oak for the construction of houses, millwork, and household furniture. It grows so freely in Britain that it was long considered a truly native species, partly because the roof of Westminster Hall and the Parliament House of Edinburgh were mistakenly thought to be constructed of chestnut wood. Chestnut wood, however, loses much of its durability when the tree is more than 50 years old, and despite the local chestnut's quick growth rate, the timber used for these two buildings is considerably larger than a 50-year-old chestnut's

girth Girth may refer to: ;Mathematics * Girth (functional analysis), the length of the shortest centrally symmetric simple closed curve on the unit sphere of a Banach space * Girth (geometry), the perimeter of a parallel projection of a shape * Girth ...

. It has been proven that the roofs of these buildings are made of

Durmast oak ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial emble ...

, which closely resembles chestnut in

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

and color. 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, fencing, cladding (

shingles Shingles, also known as zoster or herpes zoster, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. ...

) for covering buildings, and pit-props, for which durability is an important factor. In Italy, chestnut is also used to make

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

s used for aging balsamic vinegar and some alcoholic beverages, such as whisky or lambic beer. Of note, the famous 18th-century "berles" in the French Cévennes are cupboards cut directly from the hollowed

trunk Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (software), in rev ...

.Chestnut museum in the Beaumedrobie country – France
/ref>

Fuel

Dry, chestnut firewood is best burned in a closed log-burner, because of its tendency to spit when on an open fire.

Wildlife

The tree is noted for attracting wildlife. The nuts are an important food for jays, pigeons, wild boar, deer, and

s. American and Chinese chinquapins (''Castanea pumila'' and ''Castanea henryi'') have very small nuts that are an important source of food for wildlife.

Leather

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%.''Vegetable Tannins''. By E.H.W. Rottsieper. The Forestal Land, Timber and Railways Co. Ltd. 1946. Cited in Plants For A Future. The bark imparts a dark color 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
in Search Conservation OnLine. Chestnut tannin is obtained by hot-water extraction of chipped wood. It is an ellagic tannin and its main constituents are identified by castalagin (14.2%) and vescalagin (16.2%).
It has a naturally low pH value, relatively low salts content, and high acids content. This determines its astringency and its capability to fix raw hides. These properties make chestnut extract especially suitable for the tanning of heavy hides and to produce leather soles for high-quality shoes in particular. It is possible to obtain a leather with high yield in weight, which is compact, firm, flexible, and waterproof. Chestnut-tanned leathers are elastic, lightfast, resistant to traction and abrasion, and have warm color.''The chemistry of leather manufacture.'' By J. A. Wilson (1929). American Chemical Society, Vol. I and II, second edition.''The chemistry of leather manufacture.'' G. D. McLaughlin and E. R. Theis (1945). American Chemical Society. Chestnut tannin is one of the pyrogallol class of tannins (also known as hydrolysable tannin). As it tends to give a brownish tone to the leather, it is most often used in combination with quebracho, mimosa, tara, 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.

Other uses

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.''Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants''. By R. Chiej. MacDonald 1984. . Cited in Plants For A Future. Hydrolysable chestnut tannins can be used for partial phenol substitution in phenolic resin adhesives production and also for direct use as resin.''Mimosa and chestnut tannin extracts reacted with hexamine in solution''
By C. Peña, K. De La Caba, A. Retegi, C. Ocando, J. Labidi and J. M. Echeverria. Mondragon. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, Volume 96, issue 2 (May 2009), p. 515–521. Chestnut buds have been listed as one of the 38 substances used to prepare

Bach flower remedies Bach flower remedies (BFRs) are solutions of brandy and water—the water containing extreme dilutions of flower material developed by Edward Bach, an English homeopath, in the 1930s. Bach claimed that the dew found on flower petals retains t ...

, a kind of

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

promoted for its effect on health. However, according to Cancer Research UK, "there is no scientific evidence to prove that flower remedies can control, cure or prevent any type of disease, including cancer".

Artistic references

* In the film

based on the novel Based on the Novel (Dutch title: ''De boekverfilming'') is a Dutch drama film from 1999 directed by Eddy Terstall. The film features several Dutch celebrities in cameo appearances. The film was shown at the Hong Kong film festival. Story After ...

by E. M. Forster, '' Howards End,'' Mrs. Ruth Wilcox ( Vanessa Redgrave) 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, the tree is actually a Wych elm. * Longfellow's '' The Village Blacksmith'' begins "Under a spreading chestnut-tree / The village smithy stands; / The smith, a mighty man is he, / With large and sinewy hands; / And the muscles of his brawny arms / Are strong as iron bands. " * '' Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree'' is a set of variations, with fugue, for orchestra composed in 1939 by Jaromír Weinberger. * In George Orwell's ''

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

'' the chestnut tree is used in poems recited throughout (modifying "The Chestnut Tree" by Glen Miller 1939: "Underneath the spreading chestnut tree / I loved him and he loved me / There I used to sit up on his knee / ´Neath the spreading chestnut tree."), referring to nature, modern life, and lines as in the saying: 'that old chestnut'. * In Honoré de Balzac's novel '' Père Goriot'', Vautrin states that Eugène de Rastignac's family is living off of chestnuts; this symbolism is used to represent how impoverished Eugene's family is. * In Shakespeare's ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

,'' one of the Weïrd Sisters relates her encounter with " sailor's wife hohad chestnuts in her lap" (1.3.4). * " The Christmas Song" famously mentions chestnuts in its opening line, and is commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire." * " Dr. Evil", the villain from the Austin Powers film series mentioned that his eccentric father would, "... accuse chestnuts of being lazy." As a Belgian boulangerie owner, Dr. Evil's father may have encountered them in a culinary context.

Notable chestnut trees

, 57.9 m (190 ft) circumference in 1780, (64-meter circumference in 1883)Chestnut tree on Mount Etna

Tortworth Chestnut
15.8-meter (52 ft) circumference in 1776, when it was described as "the largest tree in England"
. ''Ancient Tree Forum''. Woodland Trust. * Sacred Chestnut of Istán, circumference, estimated to be between 800 and 1,000 years old.Sacred Chestnut of Istan
.