Wagram grown chestnuts!

We had a very busy summer flowing into the start of fall here at Wagram Woods and Orchard. You’ve probably noticed we changed the business name a while back. Our change from Crew Family Orchards to Wagram Woods and Orchard was significant – this names our home and represents our commitment to this land and our community.

We have also fine-tuned our focus to becoming a chestnut orchard while leaving the bordering woods wild. Our goal, in the years to come, is to have the ability to feed ourselves and others from this land. In addition to everything else we are growing, chestnuts are one more way for us to do that, not to mention that they will provide wonderful shade when mature. Plus, they are fascinating nutritionally, but I’ll get to that!

On to even more exciting news, we had one chestnut tree produce our first small harvest this year! Wagram-grown chestnuts! Unlike the smooth hulls of black walnuts, chestnut hulls (also called burs) are green and spiky and just fun to look at! And when ready, they open like a mouth to reveal the beautiful brown nut inside. The fleshy innermost part, called the fruit, is similar in color to a cashew.

Of course we sampled our small harvest, and let me tell you, the flavor is nothing like you have eaten before (well, that is unless you’ve eaten a chestnut)! They have a unique sweetness. It’s unique in the sense that it isn’t like a dessert or a candy-type sweetness but offers a rich umami flavor. To me, they can almost be described as a cross between a potato and a sweet potato in sweetness, with a slight hint of nuttiness. As you chew, a nice fluffy texture forms, leaving you with a lip-smacking “yum” and wanting more. We roasted them and ate them warm straight out of the oven, and even our sons were blown away by the pleasant flavor! In addition to roasting, as we did, there is a plethora of ways to prepare them, and I can only imagine the richness and depth of flavor they add to recipes. I look forward to a larger harvest in years to come so I can experiment with different preparation methods and make up my own recipes, including with chestnut flour one day.

A couple of years ago, when Nate first shared with me his chestnut research and the fact that they are high in starch, I was intrigued. Never having eaten a chestnut before, I was curious how a nut high in starch would actually taste. Well, after tasting our first harvest, I am hooked! Our whole family is hooked! With dreams swirling in my mind of larger harvests in the future, this got me thinking nutritionally and how they compare to other starchy vegetables, like potatoes, sweet potatoes and rice.

Not tasting like any nut I’ve eaten before, they are also very different in terms of nutrition than their tree-nut cousins. They are commonly referred to as an “un-nut” and that is a very fitting description! Just like their flavor is unique, so is their nutritional profile, and I sit here in amazement at some of the information I found. High in carbohydrates in the form of sugar and starch, and low in fat and protein, they are much closer nutritionally to starchy vegetables.

Let’s break this down a bit, so you can see how chestnuts shine nutritionally. Firstly, they are higher in fiber than potatoes, sweet potatoes and rice, and have more folate, potassium, magnesium, iron, Vitamin C and Vitamin B6. Secondly, chestnuts have a lower glycemic index (GI) than potatoes, sweet potatoes and rice. The glycemic index is of particular interest because despite being high in carbohydrates, low glycemic index foods have been shown to have a lesser effect on blood sugar than other starches, making them a great substitute for potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rice, especially for people with metabolic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes.

Chestnuts also have significant amounts of copper and manganese. According to an article on healthline.com, chestnuts are rich in antioxidants to include polyphenols, and contain gallic and ellagic acid, which studies have shown may help lower risk of heart disease, reduce insulin resistance, and suppress the growth and spread of tumors.

Okay, if that is not intriguing enough, another antioxidant they contain significant amounts of is Vitamin C. This makes them unlike any other tree nut, in fact. Michael Gold, associate director of Missouri University Center for Agroforestry, is quoted in an article from 2018 titled “Cash Does Grow on Trees” as saying, “They’re 99-percent fat-free, gluten-free, cholesterol-free and have as much vitamin C as an equal weight of lemons.” Here’s the link if you’d like to read the article: https://extension.missouri.edu/news/cash-does-grow-on-trees

Isn’t Mother Nature amazing? And so intelligent – with chestnuts being harvested in the fall, just as the weather is changing, providing a valuable dietary source of Vitamin C just when we need it the most to avoid colds and viruses!  

So, from a nutritional standpoint, chestnuts pack a punch nutritionally. It’s no wonder they have been a staple in the diet of people in the Mediterranean and elsewhere in the world, and were in America until the blight that wiped out the American chestnut in the early 1900s. Whether you eat them as a substitute or in addition to other starches, you will absolutely reap the benefits of incorporating chestnuts into your diet, and your taste buds will thank you!

If you are curious to learn more about chestnut cultivation and our desire to dig deep to enrich and nourish bodies, minds and souls through agriculture, wholesome food, and writing, I invite you to poke around www.wagramorchard.com/deeprichdirt and look at our “DeepRichDirt Project.” Scroll down and check out Nate’s note; we hope you enjoy.

Until next time.

Love, Dr. Amanda