DUNSTANS:
The blight resistant Dunstan chestnut is named for Robert Dunstan, a plant breeder in North Carolina who, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, crossed the American chestnut with blight-resistant Chinese chestnut trees. It was the first chestnut to receive a U.S. plant patent.
ABOUT THE CHESTNUT:
Half to 1 inch in diameter (Chinese are generally larger). Chestnuts are brown with a pointed end. The interior edible portion is called the kernel.
EATING CHESTNUTS:
The starchy nuts have about half the calories of other nuts. They have a potatolike consistency when cooked. Before cooking chestnuts, score them with a sharp knife to penetrate the shell to prevent the nut from bursting during cooking. Nothing worse than chestnuts exploding in the air.
FAT CONTENT: Chestnut 4-5%, Hazelnut 62% Pecan 71%
GETTING YOUR CHESTNUTS:
LOCALLY: Near North Side Farmers Market, Beverly Farmers Market, Andersonville Market. All in Chicago.
ONLINE:
www.chestnutridgeofpikecounty.com
www.chestnutgrowersinc.com
Maybe I'll get My "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire" Someday. --DaCoot
Showing posts with label chestnut trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chestnut trees. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Chestnuts Making a Comeback-- Part 3
Continued from Feb. 20th and 22nd.
THE CHESTNUT
Many Americans, including me (or at least I think), have never tasted a chestnut though the nut was once common throughout the country before an invasive disease wiped out virtually all American chestnut trees. Now several growers in the U.S. are working to bring the chestnut back.
TALL HISTORY
EARLY AMERICA: The eastern half of the U.S. was full of American chestnut trees before 1900. Twenty-five per cent of the hardwood canopy in the eastern forests was made up of chestnut trees.
WOOD: Because the trees grow quickly and tall (80 feet or more) and the wood resisted rot, they were preferred for building early cabins, poles and railroad ties.
FOOD: Besides humans eating the nuts, they were often used to fatten livestock. In the forests, many animals depended on the hardy trees.
BLIGHT: A fungus brought to the U.S. on Asian trees infected the forests, eventually wiping out almost all the mature trees.
NATURAL RANGE OF THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT: A band running from northern Mississippi and Alabama to the New England states. (Illinois wasn't in it, though).
There were an estimated 4 billion American chestnuts before the chestnut blight.
One More Entry to Go. --DaCoot
THE CHESTNUT
Many Americans, including me (or at least I think), have never tasted a chestnut though the nut was once common throughout the country before an invasive disease wiped out virtually all American chestnut trees. Now several growers in the U.S. are working to bring the chestnut back.
TALL HISTORY
EARLY AMERICA: The eastern half of the U.S. was full of American chestnut trees before 1900. Twenty-five per cent of the hardwood canopy in the eastern forests was made up of chestnut trees.
WOOD: Because the trees grow quickly and tall (80 feet or more) and the wood resisted rot, they were preferred for building early cabins, poles and railroad ties.
FOOD: Besides humans eating the nuts, they were often used to fatten livestock. In the forests, many animals depended on the hardy trees.
BLIGHT: A fungus brought to the U.S. on Asian trees infected the forests, eventually wiping out almost all the mature trees.
NATURAL RANGE OF THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT: A band running from northern Mississippi and Alabama to the New England states. (Illinois wasn't in it, though).
There were an estimated 4 billion American chestnuts before the chestnut blight.
One More Entry to Go. --DaCoot
Friday, February 22, 2013
Chestnuts Making a Comeback-- Part 2
Illinois' climate is just right for chestnut trees. The exact number of growers varies depending upon the source.
Dale Black, 65, worked for Stark brothers Nursery in Louisiana, Missouri as a boy and trees and plants are in his blood. They chose to grow chestnuts because they are rare.
Their biggest threat, besides a drought like last summer, are white-tailed deer who stomp on the sharp chestnut burs with their hooves to open them. They love the nuts, the leaves and the bark of the tree.
Those burs, pods, are so prickly that they can't be handled without gloves. Usually there are three nuts inside a bur.
It is estimated that 85% of Americans have never tasted a chestnut (count me among those).
Just the Facts Next. ---- DaCoot
Dale Black, 65, worked for Stark brothers Nursery in Louisiana, Missouri as a boy and trees and plants are in his blood. They chose to grow chestnuts because they are rare.
Their biggest threat, besides a drought like last summer, are white-tailed deer who stomp on the sharp chestnut burs with their hooves to open them. They love the nuts, the leaves and the bark of the tree.
Those burs, pods, are so prickly that they can't be handled without gloves. Usually there are three nuts inside a bur.
It is estimated that 85% of Americans have never tasted a chestnut (count me among those).
Just the Facts Next. ---- DaCoot
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Chestnuts Making a Comeback-- Part 1
From the October 7, 2012, Chicago Tribune "Deeply rooted in U.S. history, chestnuts make comeback: Illinois orchard helping revive once-plentiful tree and its tasty crop" by Joan Cary.
Back in September, Linda and Dale Black were busy with harvest of their chestnut trees at their Chestnut Ridge of Pike County Orchard between Quincy and Rockport in Illinois. Theirs is one of a handful of chestnut orchards and had collected 8,200 pounds of nuts by hand.
Before the chestnut blight, more than a century ago, the tree was plentiful and valued not just for their nuts but also rot-resistant wood and tannins used to process leather. However, in 1904, the blight was introduced through imported Asian trees and almost all chestnuts were gone by the 1950s.
I have to wonder about that old Nat King Cole song about "chestnuts roasting on an open fire." No wonder I don't remember ever having a chestnut roasted or otherwise.
Growers in several states have been working to restore the mighty chestnuts with blight resistant trees.
The Blacks started their orchard in 2001 with 100 seedlings and now has 3,000 tress on 30 acres of their 160-acre farm. The first seedlings are now 25-30 feet tall (can grow to 100 feet). Dale estimates the trees will be 75-feet tall at maturity at age 20 and yield 50 pounds each.
Let's Get That Fire Going. --Cooter
Back in September, Linda and Dale Black were busy with harvest of their chestnut trees at their Chestnut Ridge of Pike County Orchard between Quincy and Rockport in Illinois. Theirs is one of a handful of chestnut orchards and had collected 8,200 pounds of nuts by hand.
Before the chestnut blight, more than a century ago, the tree was plentiful and valued not just for their nuts but also rot-resistant wood and tannins used to process leather. However, in 1904, the blight was introduced through imported Asian trees and almost all chestnuts were gone by the 1950s.
I have to wonder about that old Nat King Cole song about "chestnuts roasting on an open fire." No wonder I don't remember ever having a chestnut roasted or otherwise.
Growers in several states have been working to restore the mighty chestnuts with blight resistant trees.
The Blacks started their orchard in 2001 with 100 seedlings and now has 3,000 tress on 30 acres of their 160-acre farm. The first seedlings are now 25-30 feet tall (can grow to 100 feet). Dale estimates the trees will be 75-feet tall at maturity at age 20 and yield 50 pounds each.
Let's Get That Fire Going. --Cooter
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