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).
7 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
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