Harvesting Edible Chestnuts in Vancouver
Photo by Michael Levenston. Chestnuts up in the tree. Porcupine quill-like burs encase the nuts.
Most people find Horse Chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum) lying on the ground in the Fall. They are a beautiful, shiny brown nuts but inedible. However, there are in Vancouver a few Spanish Chestnut or Sweet Chestnut trees (Castanea saliva), the nuts of which are edible, and elderly Asian and European residents are quick to harvest them as they fall to the ground. They often use long poles to hit them out of the trees.
Photo by Michael Levenston. Spanish Chestnut tree at Kits Beach, Vancouver.
Photo by Michael Levenston. Harvesting edible Chestnuts.
Photo by Michael Levenston. Edible Chestnuts on left. Horse Chestnuts on right.
Photo by Michael Levenston. Edible Chesnuts baked for 30 minutes and peeled (right side).
10 comments
This is a good article. I almost just ate horse chestnuts as we didn’t know the difference! Any tips on where to harvest sweet chestnuts in English Bay or Commercial Drive? Thanks.
tomorrow I will visit that tree
BTW any knows where can I buy raw or cooked chestnut products in Vancouver ? if I buy from USA, customs ? or illegal to bring from USA like feta cheese ?
Where can I buy sweet chestnut Trees on Vancouver Island. I moved here from Britain in 2008 and I miss them a lot. Where I lived, sweet chestnut trees lined the roads so in October/November each year, it was a ‘free for all.’
Where can I buy sweet chetnus here in Vancouver??? PLease help me with an answer, I would love to find them!!
I saw them this morning at Santa Barbara Market on Commercial Drive.
I also took a nibble of a horse chestnut. Will I die? I can’t actually tell what kind it is; So horse chestnuts are bigger? I have no nuts to compare with!
Sunrise market, chestnuts for $.99 a pound
hello guys I know where you can buy..
There are a really good chestnuts,readies, the sellers use to be in front of London Drugs(Granville with Georgia Street), In robson Street(in front of Bananas) , infront of Art Galery,and in Granville Island.I used to work for this company, so I am pretty sure that you will like then guys ! Enjoy it !
Almost poisoned myself and housemates yesterday by roasting some chestnuts I’d found out in front of our house. I didn’t know there were two kinds. The first taste was awfully bitter so I knew something was wrong, and we Googled “bitter chestnuts” and found out about horse chestnuts. Fortunately we hadn’t eaten enough to get sick, but we had a good scare. Called poison control. Once they heard how little we’d eaten they said we didn’t need to worry. They were kind of giggling. I guess they get that call fairly frequently in Vancouver.
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