I’m looking for edible chestnut seeds. For the last couple of years I’ve been looking at buying a couple seedling trees from here and there but since I do definitely want a young seedling and not a grafted tree I’d really prefer to just start a couple myself.
I’ve been looking at getting seedlings from ‘Colossal’ or ‘Whitten’ cultivators, but since the seedlings are naturally going to be rather diverse I’m not picky about the cultivator or even the species. Castanea dentate, C. mollissima and C. sativa are all supposed to grow here without much problem and I’d love any one of them.
I'm not looking for a lot of seeds - I'd just like to end up with two trees that could cross pollinate each other. If anyone has any seeds available please do let me know and of course just let me know anything that I have that would be of interest to you.
Thanks,
Amanda
Wanted: Edible Chestnut Seeds
We have something here that grows in the mountains and it's a chestnut tree. It grows to be a large tree and makes nuts that look like a pecan. I have been picking up lots of the nuts lately to eat. Is that what you are talking about or maybe you are speaking of something different?
I got the seeds you sent. They arrived in fine shape and I appreciate them so much. I can hardly wait until Spring to give them all a try. I just love melons!
The tree in your area sounds very beautiful. There is an American chestnut that used to grow wild in parts of North America, but they’re pretty rare in the wild at this point because a lot of them were wiped out by blight. There are a few pictures of the American chestnut here:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58152/
Mature trees most definitely can be very large, but the nuts don’t look like pecans. I love pecan trees, but the nuts don’t mature in my area (and they don’t like it here very much in general). These are what the chestnuts themselves look like:
http://www.cepolina.com/freephoto/vc/chestnut.country.brown-fruit.htm
And I’m so glad to hear that the seeds arrived safely and I definitely hope they give you lots of yummy melons next season.
~Amanda
That looks more like an acorn.
Here is a pic of the nuts I have been picking up. The locals call them chestnuts. Maybe they are not. Do you recognize them? They fir into the opening of a gallon milk jug but only 1 at a time. They are about the size of a regular pecan.
Yes, out of the protective layer they grow inside of many of the chestnuts do look like giant acorns without the caps.
Those are gorgeous nuts - it's always interesting how plants can e known by so many different names. The ones pictured look a lot like what's known here as hickory nuts (a pecan relative) which are supposed to grow wild in Kentucky.
Here's a picture of some hickory nuts:
http://www.pinenut.com/closehick300x225.JPG
~Amanda
Well, that surely does look like what I have found. I hope they are good to eat because I have been eating them for several seasons, now. LOL
We also have black walnuts all over these mountains. They have to be dried and hulled and it's an awful messy deal. Your hands turn black and get rough. But they taste pretty good and they are there for the picking up. Can't beat free food! I love harvesting from the wild. Wish I knew more about it.
I haven't tried them myself, but from all accounts I've read they're not only safe to eat but quite delicious and I think your survival over multiple seasons of eating them is probably testament to both those facts ;)
I would love to have a walnut tree (or a hickory tree for that matter). Neither grow wild here and I'd plant some except for the fact that the juglone chemical they release doesn't agree with a lot of the plants I like to grow. You'll have to enjoy those freshly harvested nuts for me.
You definitely can't beat free food or the simple joy of harvesting foods that grow naturally. Even though we don't have any big wild nut trees here (we do have beaked hazelnuts) we do have a number of different kind of berries and harvesting them is one of my favorite summer activities.
There are actually a number of great books out there on the subject of harvesting food from the wild. I have several that are great so just let me know if you'd be interested in any titles.
~Amanda
I sure would. Especially one with good pictures. I have one book on wild foods but the pictures are all pen and ink drawings so I can't tell much from them. We have quite a few wild foods here in our area and I would love to be able to take advantage of more of them.
I currently have five books on wild foods and all of them are pen and ink illustrated. However, what I find works very well is to get the name and harvesting/usage information about an edible plant that you're interested in from the books specializing on that subject but then use them in conjunction with a good full colored photo field guide of your local plants so you can make sure that you're looking at the right plant.
One of my books is specifically wild edibles in the Pacific Northwest and the other is just on edible seaweeds, but the three that are nationally applicable are:
'The Complete Outdoorsman's Guide to Edible Wild Plants' by Berndt Berglund and Clare E. Bolsby
'Stalking the Wild Asparagus - Field Guide Edition' by Euell Gibbons
'Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop - Field Guide Edition' also by Euell Gibbons
I love the narrative in Euell Gibbons books, but if you don't already have it, 'The Complete Outdoorsman's Guide to Edible Wild Plants' is great because it not only talks about what plants are edible but also goes into their usage and even has recipes for most of them.
~Amanda
Thanks. My Mom's twin brother was friends with Euell Gibbons. He made the cabinets for Euell's home. I will go searching for his book.
I am not sure if this is what you are looking for. The nuts aren't those nice round ones you see in the stores at Christmas. They are from some really old trees in a pioneer cemetary not far from here. I think they are a Chinese chestnut and I have seen Asian women fighting with the squirrels to get to these first. I would be happy to send them to you.
How fun that is, Cheryl. Considering what a read his books are Euell Gibbons must have been a fantastically fun fellow. Most definitely give his books a try.
Michael, that is absoltuely exactly what I'm looking for. If you wouldn't mind sending some seeds this way that would be so incredibly appreciated and of course just let me know if there are any other goodies that I have that you would be interested.
Thanks,
Amanda