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Following on from my 'Conker post', I thought I'd try to clear up a query about eating chestnuts!
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Now I have an excellent book on all the trees in Britain, Europe an North America. It lists hundreds and ...well...hundreds.
All with excellent details and helpful pictures.
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Without going into all the Latin names it appears that there is one big family called "Horse Chestnuts and Buckeyes".
It then goes on to list them.....California Buckeye, Red Horse Chestnut, Yellow Buckeye (Sweet Buckeye), Ohio Buckeye, our Common Horse Chestnut, then an Indian Horse Chestnut, Red Buckeye and finally a Japanese Horse Chestnut.
Nowhere does it say they are poisonous (sorry Foody), but it does say the nuts are inedible.
Several pages on, is another (Latin) family which contains the Sweet Chestnut or Spanish Chestnut.
It says it is native to Europe but is also grown in North America as an ornamental, in parks and gardens. It is edible, and of course the one we eat here at Christmas.
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"Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire"
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This took me back, but not in a way you might guess...Those long cones are exactly like the wooden ones that used to hang from my Grandparents cuckoo clock.Kath
ReplyDeleteSo Bernard, in keeping with the nuts theme (the noun - or the being). To what use shall I put millions of acorns? Yes, millions. Bumper crop this year!
ReplyDeleteDeb you need a pig!Once saw on the banks of the Thames near Barnes a Horse Chestnut and a Sweet Chestnut grafted onto the same stem, by this time mature and many years old and thriving.Just an oddity!
ReplyDeleteOh GooseBreeder, the neighbors would love that! Hmmmm, seeing as how many neighbor's dogs annoy us with barking and poo....maybe this is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteSpot on Kath. I repair and 'tinker' with clocks and have several with the 'fir cone' weights. I must do another clock post some time.
ReplyDeleteHi Deb. Apart from animal feed there are two not very palatable options.
The raw kernels are forbiddingly bitter to most palates, but chopped and roasted they can be used as a substitute for almonds.
In Europe the most common recent use of acorns has been in the roast form as a substitute for coffee. They were recommended for this use during the war. The kernels were chopped, roasted to a light brown colour, ground up, and then roasted again.
Keep you in almonds and coffee for life!
Elizabeth, I live alongside the Thames some few miles up from Barnes. I shall dig through my books on the Thames and see if I can find anything. This sounds very unusual as the two trees come from different 'families'. The Horse Chestnut is from Hippocastanaceae and the Sweet one from Fagaceae.
(just looked it up).
Thank you all for your comments.
Oh well, I once read that horse chestnuts were poisonous but that was after I had roasted and eaten soe and I'm still here. Same person told me that sweet chestnuts were the edible ones. my source was wrong, I'm glad to hear.
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