Beat the squirrels

[Thumbcocker]

After 5 or 6 years our Chestnut and hazelnuts are producing a little. We bought the chestnut trees at Rural King and transplanted the hazelnuts from the woods. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211011/639dbb4be3169bc05d50e193691f6efe.jpg

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[GL49]

what do you do with the chestnuts? Eat them as they are, roast them? I've never eaten Chestnuts. What's the flavor like?

[GregLaROCHE]

what do you do with the chestnuts? Eat them as they are, roast them? I've never eaten Chestnuts. What's the flavor like?

You need to cook/roast them. They can be done in a skillet, no oil or grease needed, or baked in an oven. Some people even boil them, peel them and eat them for breakfast with milk and sugar. The most important thing when cooking them, is to cut a small X in the tops so the stem doesn’t cause them to explode. Years ago people made flour out of them and mixed it with wheat flour to make bread. You can still find this bread around where I live and it’s quite good. Some people make a liquor out of it and a sweet creamy spread. They also go well when added to poultry stuffing. They don’t all taste the same, some are better than others. It’s important that they are fresh and haven’t started to dry out.

[Walks]

Roasted chestnuts, mmmmmm;GOOD.
Been 50yrs+ since I had them. Our Dachie's kept the squirrels away.

[daengmei]

I prefer them straight from the shell. And beechnuts. I ate them years ago with no ill effects despite some warnings you now hear.

[bedbugbilly]

Roasted Chestnuts by an open fire . . . . .!

[Buck Shot]

I'm fighting them off to get the pecans right now...

[Finster101]

I would love to have a hazelnut and an almond tree. Florida is not the place for them though.

[Bmi48219]

Dad really liked roasted chestnuts, probably a depression thing. I tried them several times, never could see the appeal. As kids we spent many an hour cracking black walnuts for mom. Took a week to get the stains off your fingers but her baking was worth it.

[Johnch]

I have 6 Chestnut trees in my yard
But what I have are a hybrid
So the nuts are smaller than standard Chestnuts
But I still have to fight off the squirrels
I used a long pole to knock them all down
So I could get them before the squirrels did

John

[toallmy]

This was the first year for our chestnut trees as well we only got a dozen or so but it’s a start .

[Thundarstick]

I have several of the Dunston chestnuts planted, and yes its a challenge getting them before the squirrels do. If you got them at RK that's likley what you have as well. They are a back cross American/Chinese hybrid, and some of mine exhibit more traits of one over the other. American traits being a single trunk and the nuts being smaller and hairy, where the Chinese traits are multi trunk trees with large smooth nuts. Chestnuts have a nutrition profile more like grain than nuts. My favorite ways to enjoy are rite from the tree, or candied. I have a batch being candied in the fridge now! Boil, peal, the slowly simmer in a heavy sugar syrup, cool, and repeat over a few days. Woo Wee good!

If you've got land for deer you can hardly plant a better mast tree than chestnuts! One day it's looking like they may be able to put the gene for blight resistance into the American chestnut tree through genetic engineering, and move it into the wild again!

[toallmy]

We planted a couple hybrid chestnut trees in the yard around 5 1/2 years ago just to see how they would turn out . I'm a lazy gardener so I plant fruit and nut trees .

[panhed65]

Not having that good of luck with mine, have planted quite a few for a number of years now. some are at least 18' high, still no nuts. not sure how many years, but must be 6-8.
Barry

[Thundarstick]

Not having that good of luck with mine, have planted quite a few for a number of years now. some are at least 18' high, still no nuts. not sure how many years, but must be 6-8.
Barry

Wow, I planted first year seedlings about 6 years ago that have had two small crops from some of them already.