When autumn arrives and the time of leaf fall, many of us make our mouths water thinking about some appetizing roast chestnuts. This fruit, typical for consumption in a large number of countries, is highly appreciated for its flavor, from simply roasted to being used as a cooking ingredient in all kinds of recipes.
It is a shell fruit that usually has a sweet flavor and that, in those types in which it is edible, has excellent nutritional properties and receives all kinds of treatments. An example of this are those known as pilongas chestnuts, which are not a type of chestnut, but an edible chestnut that has been previously dehydrated so that it can be preserved without problems for a long time.
Why do we specify that it is edible chestnuts? Because they are not all. There are toxic chestnuts that should not be eaten in any way, although luckily they are easy to identify once their characteristics are known. Continue reading DIYGardens to learn about the main types of chestnuts that exist.
castanea sativa
The one known as spanish chestnut It is the best known of the chestnut-bearing trees, as are its fruits by far. It is a plant native to the Mediterranean areas of Europe, although it was traditionally attributed to the Orient. It’s a fast growing treewhich can reach heights of up to 30 metros and stands out for its great longevity. Its leaves are deciduous and lanceolate, with serrated margins, and its dark bark becomes cracked as the tree ages.
It blooms in summer, later giving way to its prized fruits, chestnuts, which are usually consumed between autumn and early winter. The fruit is covered with long and highly branched thorns, which give the whole name hedgehog. Inside you can still find a hard brown cover, similar to leather, under which there is a last layer of fine, velvety tissue that finally holds the yellow, edible fruit. Sometimes this film separates the fruit into several compartments, although the fruits that are not are generally more appreciated.
There are also multiple Spanish or common chestnut varietiesThese are some of the best known:
- Marigoule: a hybrid variety between Castanea crenata y castanea sativa. Fruit between medium and large and ripening between September and October.
- Chestnut of Olargues: a variety that ripens in mid-October, with chestnuts of medium size. Originally from France.
- Belle Epine. A chestnut that stands out for the large size of its fruit, which ripens at the end of October.
- Chestnut Comballe: another French variety that ripens later, in early November, somewhat larger than Belle Epine.
- Bournette: hybrid variety also fruit of Castanea Sativa y Castanea Crenata. Ripens from the end of December and bears medium to large fruits.
Here you can meet the longest-lived trees of the Iberian Peninsula, the chestnut among them.
A very soft chestnut
The call chinese chestnut It comes, as its name indicates, from China, where it grows above 2,500 meters of altitude. It is smaller than the European, growing to heights of 12 metros, with a rounded umbrella-like crown and low branches. The smell of its flowers is very intense, when the tree produces them in spring, and it is cultivated thanks to its high resistance to both drought and pollution.
Castanea crenata
The japanese chestnutalso called Castanea japonica, can be found in Japan itself, in China and in Korea, in mountainous areas below 3,000 meters of altitude. It can grow a little more than the Chinese, although it is usual to find it in the form of a simple bush. Its small chestnuts are edibleusually boiled or roasted.
Chestnut toothed
This is commonly called american chestnut, a previously very numerous species, but which was seriously affected by a disease from the early 20th century that is still active today. It was a very important species to the Native Americans, who extracted its wood and ate its fruits.
Aesculus hippocastanus
This is, together with the common chestnut species, the one that could be considered the most important to know. Why? because the chestnut Asculus hippocastanus es toxic due to its aesculin content and, therefore, should never be eaten. These types of trees are large and belong to the sapindáceas family, being very commonly used in parks and green areas due to their great aesthetic appeal and their ability to provide shade.
Its leaves are distinguished by being large and compound, with 5 or 7 leaflets with slightly jagged edges. Fortunately, the fruit is easy to distinguish, as it is made up of a green capsule, much less spiny than that of the common chestnut and which houses a single chestnut inside. The chestnut itself is more rounded than the edible and does not end in a point.
After learning more about some of the best-known types of chestnuts, we recommend you read this other article on What are the edible mushrooms in Spain, other protagonists of autumn.
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