Chestnut

Where it grows

The sweet or Spanish chestnut is native to southern Europe, the Caucasus, and Anatolia. Romans planted it widely across their empire, including Britain. It thrives on acid, well-drained soils and is the heart of the chataigneraies of southern France, the Cevennes, and the Apennines.

How to recognise it

A massive tree with deeply furrowed, often spiraling bark. The long, sharply toothed leaves taper to a sharp point. Long creamy-yellow male catkins appear in midsummer, releasing a strong sweet scent. The nuts develop inside a spiny green husk that splits open in autumn to release two or three glossy mahogany-brown nuts.

Uses

Chestnuts are roasted, candied (marrons glaces), pureed for soups, and ground into a sweet gluten-free flour — historically the bread of mountain villages from Corsica to Galicia. The wood is high in tannins, naturally rot-resistant, and easy to split, making it a traditional choice for fence posts, beams, and chestnut paling.

Disease

The American chestnut was a dominant eastern hardwood until chestnut blight, accidentally introduced from Asia about 1904, killed an estimated four billion trees within fifty years. European chestnut is partially resistant but still affected.