Sweet Chestnut

I found a Sweet Chestnut tree (Castanea sativa) yesterday. Sadly, it's quite a young one so there were no delicious nuts to collect. It can take 20-25 years before the first fruits appear and this one is no more than eight or nine years old.  

Luckily I do know some more mature trees nearby where I can gather in a supply before the squirrels grab them all.

The smell and taste of roasting Chestnuts is one that takes me right back to my childhood. And it's something I like to repeat every year as I am lucky enough to have an open fire in my house. But, if I didn't, I'd chuck them on the barbecue.

You might be surprised to hear that - despite looking very similar - the Sweet Chestnut, also known as the Spanish Chestnut or Marron, is only distantly related to the Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) or Conker tree. The Sweet Chestnut is actually more closely related to the Beech and the leaves do look more like Beech than Horse Chestnut. 

Here's a Sweet Chestnut leaf.

And here's a Horse Chestnut, which grows in a composite 'hand' of five leaves with a common anchor point.

Conkers are poisonous of course (and don't deter spiders - it's an old wives' tale. See here). 

Meanwhile, raw Sweet Chestnuts, though edible, have a skin which is astringent and unpleasant to eat. It's much better to remove it - something that happens a lot more easily once they've been cooked. They then become soft and acquire a sweet flavour and a floury texture similar to a sweet potato. In fact, they can be dried and ground up to use as a flour for bread or cake making or thickening soups. However, I like to roast them. And sometimes I candy them whole to make marrons glacés.

Roman soldiers were given Chestnut porridge before going into battle and carbonised nuts were found in a Roman villa at Torre Annunziata, near Naples, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79CE (as was Pompeii). 

Leaf infusions were traditionally used to tackle respiratory diseases and were a popular remedy for whooping cough. Several ancient Greek authors wrote about medicinal properties of the Sweet Chestnut, specifically as a remedy against lacerations of the lips and of the oesophagus. People would also make a shampoo by infusing the leaves and husks.

There is very little mythology or folklore surrounding the Sweet Chestnut in the UK. Nor does it appear in the ancient Ogham tree alphabet (see here). That's probably because it was introduced by the Romans. However, the ancient Greeks dedicated it to Zeus and its botanical name Castanea comes from Castonis, a town in Thessaly where the tree was cultivated.

The world’s oldest known Sweet Chestnut tree grows on Mount Etna in Sicily and has a circumference of 190 feet. It is said to be between 2,000 and 4,000 years old.

The one I found yesterday has a bit of growing to do yet it seems. 

But as these trees regularly live in excess of 700 years, it's in no hurry.