#CHESTNUT SEEDS FOR SALE SKIN#
#CHESTNUT SEEDS FOR SALE FULL#

They need well drained soil, preferably sandy and slightly acidic, and do not grow well in clay.

#CHESTNUT SEEDS FOR SALE FULL#

They are most productive in full sun, and are frost hardy, although new growth may be damaged by late spring frosts. The trees can eventually reach a height and spread of 10m but due to their ability to be coppiced they can be kept much smaller, and can even be planted at a spacing of 3 per metre to form a productive hedge (don’t cut off the catkin flowers though or you’ll have no fuit!). Chestnut wood also makes a a very good fuel. Some of these woodlands were developed hundreds of years ago and have been managed productively ever since. In the UK a good market for chestnut fence palings has emerged and chestnut plantations are coppiced on 12-16 year rotations for this purpose. The timber from chestnuts is also extremely valuable. The young growing wood is very durable, and can be used for carpentry, turnery, basketry, fence posts etc.

#CHESTNUT SEEDS FOR SALE SKIN#

The leaves, bark, chestnut pellicle and skin are all anthelmintic, and research in NZ is proving its benefits and attractiveness to alpacas. Stock can learn to stamp them open the prickly burrs to get the nuts out. The meal produced from chestnuts is also highly palatable to farm livestock. And a hair shampoo from the leaves and the skins of the fruits is said to impart a golden gleam to the hair! The leaves can also be used in the treatment of rheumatism, to ease lower back pains and to relieve stiff muscles and joints. The leaves and bark can be used fresh or dried for their anti-inflammatory, astringent, expectorant and tonic properties, and are supposed to be particularly effective in treating convulsive coughs such as whooping cough and in other irritable conditions of the respiratory system. Medicinally chestnuts are a good source of tannins and these have an astringent action useful in the treatment of bleeding, diarrhoea etc. The roasted seed can also be used as a coffee substitute. There are many recipes, especially from France and Italy, for sweet treats based on both whole nuts and flour. They can be dried, then ground and used as a flour in breads, cakes, puddings, as a thickener in soups etc.

The nuts can be eaten raw but are usually boiled or baked, making a delicious midwinter snack eaten out of their shells, which keeps your hands warm too! The nuts are very nutritious, rich in gluten-free carbohydrates and low in fat, about 5 to 7% protein, and good amounts of calcium and iron. They have many uses and deserve more recognition and commercial trialling in New Zealand where the industry is only small and fragmented. They are the ultimate in perennial crops to aid our move away from cultivation of annual grain crops. Not to be confused with the equally beautiful but mostly poisonous Horse Chestnut (of conker fame), sweet chestnuts are beautiful deciduous trees which have been cultivated for for their nuts for centuries in Europe, Japan, China and America.

Chestnut seeds for sale