Brian Cady

There is good-seeming advice in other crowdfunding  threads. I like your ideas, by the way.

There are different types, which are best prepared differently:
European & American are great roasted quickly at high temperatures, after cutting through the shell.
Chinese chestnuts are starchier, typically, and best roasted slowly at low temperatures, without cutting the shell.

Below is James Nave's Chinese chestnut cooking guide:

Brian
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How to Cook Chinese Chestnuts – J. M. Nave

If you have some favorite way of cooking Chinese chestnuts, I'm not trying to change that. I'm just trying to show people how you can best bring out the flavors of Chinese nuts and get better textures. Cooking Chinese nuts the same way you would cook European or American nuts is not optimal because Chinese nuts are much denser. And if you are cooking Chinese nuts optimally, you don't need to cut the shell. Low and slow is the optimal way to cook Chinese chestnuts.
The most interesting way, and most common way, to cook chestnuts in China is to roast chestnuts at low temperatures (240F or less) for extended periods of time (60 minutes or more). Roasting at lower temperatures for longer periods of time breaks down the dense Chinese nut and fully releases the flavors in the nut. It also gives the nut a softer texture, more like an American or European chestnut. A  Chinese chestnut that is cooked at 350F or above for short periods of  time (30 minutes or less), will normally have a burnt or hard exterior and an almost uncooked interior. The flavor will not be well developed. Cooking Chinese chestnuts in this manner has led to the common belief in the US that Chinese nuts are inferior to American or European chestnuts. American and European chestnuts that are cooked at high temperatures for short periods or time will be mostly cooked and falling apart and the flavors will be well developed. Because Chinese chestnuts are much denser than American and European chestnuts, they benefit from slower more thorough cooking at lower temperatures. Their density also gives Chinese nuts greater versatility in cooking. For example, Chinese chestnuts can be used in many dishes such as soups and stews without falling apart.
To fully understand how the density of the nut impacts cooking, it may be helpful to compare cooking chestnuts to cooking beef. Different cuts of beef have different textures and densities. Tenderloin (so named because of the soft texture of the meat) is quite different than brisket. Tenderloin may be cooked at high temperatures for short periods of time. The result is beef that is soft and full of flavor. Brisket on the other hand is a much denser cut of meat. Cooking it at high temperatures for short periods of time will result in a burnt exterior and an uncooked interior. The meat will also be tough and difficult to chew. To properly cook brisket requires cooking for longer periods of time at lower temperatures to allow the heat to penetrate to the interior of the meat. This results in a much more flavorful brisket with a softer texture. Chinese chestnuts are the brisket of the chestnut world. They are exceptionally good eating when properly cooked.
Another benefit to cooking Chinese chestnuts at lower temperatures is that the shells do not need to be cut. In the US, chestnut shells are normally cut when nuts are to be roasted to allow heated water vapor to escape. If the shell is not cut, the expanding water vapor will cause the shell to explode. But when a Chinese chestnut is cooked at 240F or below, it will not normally explode because the buildup of water vapor is very slow and it can escape without exploding the shell. This also results in another benefit. When the shell is not cut, the cooked nut retains more moisture which results in a better texture for the nut. To some extent, not cutting the shell also results in a partial steaming of the nut. It’s simply a better way to cook Chinese chestnuts. Which brings up the point that Chinese chestnuts can also be cooked by boiling for at least 60 minutes. Boiling is not optimal for American or European chestnuts because the nuts tend to get very soggy and fall apart which also makes them difficult to peel. Because Chinese nuts are denser, they don’t absorb much water and tend not to fall apart after boiling, which also makes them as easy to peel after boiling as they are before boiling.

That's great progress, and will save so much kitchen time - foresightful.

Hi all,

I seek others who are interested in establishing and running a mixed tree crop orchard in Colrain, Massachusetts together, using organic or regenerative methods.

I hope we will assemble a crew of competent orchardists that functions well together to manage orchard land in the Southeast part of the town of Colrain, in Western Massachusetts, USA. The crew would earn revenue from the orchard’s operation, after an orchard establishment period. Bank financing would enable pay during orchard establishment. A focus of the orchard business planning is assuring banks that they will be paid back, to ensure bank loans.
We could each specialize in a set of tree/perennial crops, thus complementing each other in managing this orchard well as a team. we might interplant shorter-lifespan crops between gradually-maturing tree crops: Strawberries, low-bush blueberries, bush cherries, christmas trees, hops vines, peaches and the like. These would bring in revenue before the main trees bear crops. I also aspire to inoculate planted tree crops with edible and/or useful mycorrhizal fungi, to benefit plants while yielding additional mushroom harvests.

I imagine a pick-your-own orchard that also functions to research and demonstrate methods, educating the public as well as other orchardists and potential orchardists about best practices, and working with nearby researchers of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to document successes and failures.

Here are a few possible sites:

- On some part of a 25 acre common lot, shared by Van Nuys Road lessees leasing from the Valley Community Land Trust (VCLT). I have a third interest in this common lot’s lease.

- On neighbors’ adjacent land to the north, next to the VCLT Van Nuys common lot – this neighbor has expressed interest.

- On almost-adjacent VCLT common land associated with a different set of lessees, on Shelburne Line Road - Some interest by one of those lessees has been expressed.

- On the land between the two VCLT common lots. These ~25 steep wooded acres are owned by a farming neighbor who raises cattle, which might graze beneath an orchard.

- On nearby land of a 160 acre farm, planned to be purchased by the VCLT in the next years.

I lease a VCLT houselot west of Van Nuys road, and, as part of this, share a third of a lease on a 25 acre common lot. As background, there are 3 two-acre individual houselot leaseholds on Van Nuys Road, as well as 25 unbuildable acres that are shared in common by the three lessees of the Van Nuys house lots. The land owner; Valley Community Land Tust - exists to steward land, and hold land apart from the speculative market, owned by the community; and to lease this land long-term; i.e. 99 year leases. The 25 acre VCLT Van Nuys common lot includes an aged sugar bush, some power line land, and much 'feral'/2nd growth forest with hickory, hemlock and such.

I built a greenhouse and toolshed on my leasehold’s two acres, am building an outdoor oven now, and plan to build a house there next year. I have about 85 2nd year chestnut seedlings potted now in the greenhouse, and am starting more. Forest crops, mycoforestry, perennial intercrops, nitrogen-fixing companions, and both groundcovers and overstory species interest me.

If these plans interest you, please send your resume and a letter describing the role you hope to fill, and the work you would like to do, to: Brian413cady@proton.me

Here's my resume: https://drive.proton.me/urls/8JF83M458R#4RdvHnktZpOY

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I haven't tasted any of these pits.

I wonder if one cuts a sliver off of a kernel, then tastes the sliver, if one could detect sweet from cyanogenic/bitter pits, yet still sprout that pit.

Brian
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That's exciting. I wonder if there are any sweet-pit genes within these seeds, as are in: https://raintreenursery.com/products/chinese-sweet-pit-apricot

Hi Lissa Malloy,

I understand that carrots can store well in moist sand, but lemme check
I'm checking 'Root Cellaring' by Nancy and Mike Bubel, Garden Way Publishing, March 1995...
They write that carrots like cold and very moist storage conditions (32-40F, 90-95 % relative humidity), and that June-planted carrots store better than early-spring-planted ones. The Bubels store carrots in damp sawdust, with carrot layers separated by the sawdust. They say sand, peat moss, moss or leaves also protect stored carrots well. They address garden storage as well.

Brian
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_stipitatum has information on Persian shallots.

Pearl Bigelow wrote:Re: eucalyptus as firewood....about 50 years ago my family lived at the edge of about 30 acres of eucalyptus trees and we used the branches that blew down and various thinnings as firewood.  My father later told me that when green it was some of the wettest and heaviest wood he had ever handled but it cut and split very easily.  However, once it dried it was like trying to split a rock.  Very hard and burned very hot.  So be sure you work it up before it dries out.  

Aren't there many, many Eucalyptus species? Each species might have different splitting properties, I imagine.

Brian
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There are many plants called 'Buckthorn': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plants_known_as_buckthorn

Maybe you two are seeing two different types of plant.

Frangula alnus = Rhamnus frangula = Alder Buckthorn / Glossy Buckthorn - USA range map: https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/FRAL4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frangula_alnus

Frangula caroliniana = Rhamnus caroliniana Carolina buckthorn - USA Range map: https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/FRCA13

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frangula_caroliniana

In Wendell, in Western Massachusetts, there are loads of Glossy Buckthorn plants. I haven't noticed it in nearby Colrain yet.