Chestnutcases

Furry Tentacles

You may have noticed recently, the wonderful, furry, tentacle like flowers adorning Sweet Chestnut trees in the summer.

A Compact Chestnut Tree Flowering In July

They have now turned into the familiar spiky nut cases, although they will not be ripe for a month or so yet.

Scientifically Proven to be One of The Most Prickly Things Known To Man

While we are on the subject of Nutcases...

I found this following little nugget on the internet regarding the "homoeopathic uses" for the flowers of the Sweet Chestnut…

“The flower essence

Sweet chestnut is the remedy for those who feel so stressed, even tortured, that they have reached the limits of their endurance and feel in a state of utter despair. The mind and the body are completely exhausted from uncomplainingly fighting difficulties, cither mental or physical, until a sense of hopeless­ness and complete darkness sets in. In this ‘dark night of the soul’ sufferers may come face to face with themselves and this may prove the catalyst for entering a new stage in life.

The intensity of suffering may push us on to the threshold of inner transformation, and to another level of consciousness. Sweet chestnut helps during such crises in our lives; it enhances the process of transformation that is possible in such a state of despair and helps to prevent us from simply going to pieces and deriving little or no benefit from the experience.”

Why, Thank you - Internet, for supplying us with such appalling English and so much drivel…

We All Know What We Do With These...

You will be pleased to hear that the Urbane Forager will be avoiding this kind of gibberish; and when they duly arrive around October, we will be roasting our chestnuts over an open fire in the traditional way.

That's Better!
Don't Forget To Slit Them First Though

Incidentally, did you know that the Greeks, apparently, call chestnuts Zeus’s Acorns?

Chestnuts

In the Urbane Forager's calendar October and November means it's time to gather Sweet Chestnuts. Autumn is always our favourite time for walks out in the New Forest but Chestnut trees can be found in many places within the city too and often it is easier to spot them when they fall onto the pavement. 

You can carefully remove the spiny hulls with your shoes or boots and it is always special when the shiny mahogany brown nuts pop out - you are the first person to ever witness this magical moment.

We only collect the largest, fattest of the nuts we find. We always try to find the one tree in an area, which provides the biggest nuts and they we comb the area to find and collect the cream of the crop to take home and roast. You can freeze your hoard if you wish to preserve them for later.

We pierce and roast our chestnuts over a small fire or BBQ but you can do them in an oven (always make a small cut in each shell prior to cooking or they will explode). I find that the flames help to burn the shells and pith, making them more easy to peal, which can be a really tricky job. Roast Chestnuts are the perfect accompaniment to a chilly Autumn night or to nibble while watching fireworks on Guy Fawkes night.

It is easy to make all kinds of things out of Chestnuts, even flour to bake with; clearly you need patience to peel off all the shells and pithy skin. My Mum used to cook Chestnut Tarts (like jam tarts but filled with Chestnut purée) as an Autumnal treat. This year I made a "Chestnut roasting tin" so that we could also cook them in the hot ashes of our garden fire chimney.

Don't forget to put, the Urbane Forager book on your Christmas present list. 

Order your copy now!

You can buy this lovely book for your friends and family from all good book-stores or even Amazon.

the Urbane Forager: Fruit and Nuts for Free

Author: Alan Gibson

ISBN: 978-1-78507-300-7

Chestnut Stuffing

Halloween is on the horizon and Sweet Chestnuts are ready for gathering. I’m sure that last year the kids and I were wrapped up in scarfs and gloves for this activity but this year things are different.

Can't Touch This!

You can easily spot the places where they fall because of the spiny cases and crushed nuts on the pavements. The best way to avoid the prickles is to trap the cases using the edges of your shoes and squeeze downward until the nut pops out. Having said this, somebody always gets spiked on this kind of expedition – just the same as when you pick blackberries.

The Tell Tale Signs

I tell the children to only collect the very biggest nuts; otherwise you end up with far too many and end up composting some. We normally have a bit of a contest to see who can find the largest chestnut or draw the most blood.

This Could Hurt But It's Worth It

It’s always best to cook your chestnuts as soon as you can after collecting them as they don’t tend to keep too well, although you can freeze them. I like to roast them on a barbeque of burning twigs and let the flames actually burn the cases and skin, which makes them far easier to remove. They do not take very long under these conditions and generally as soon as they start hissing and bubbling (or exploding if you are unlucky) they are done enough. You can also bake them in a hot oven or by an open fire.

Always cut or pierce your nuts before cooking them or they will explode in a spectacular and possibly dangerous way. This cutting also helps to ease the removal of the pith (the bitter tasting skin between the shell and the nut).

A Small Amount of Big Brown Beauties

You can bake all kinds of things using chestnuts; on the continent they are used for making flour and chestnut stuffing is common in the UK. For many people the preparation required and the time this takes is prohibitive but chestnuts roasted on a fire are always a winner on a cold night.

Quick, Get The BBQ Burning.
Hang on, There's a Hazelnut in there too.

The quintessential autumnal feast, involves, cold air, steamy breath, rosy cheeks stuffed with roast chestnuts, possibly backed up with potatoes or apples baked in hot ashes of the fire on Guy Fawkes Night; all washed down with homemade mulled cider (mulled apple juice for the children).

Then it’s time to break out the sparklers before bedtime.

Telegraph Hill/Woods

I recently took a short, damp November walk in Telegraph woods near Hedge End. I had not visited this place before but it is a very popular spot for dog walkers and nature enthusiasts alike. The most abundant animals I spotted though were grey squirrels, greedily gathering and burying acorns and chestnuts.

Watch Out For The Big Bad Wolf

Like a sinister illustration from a Hans Christian Anderson book, the first thing that strikes you as you enter these woods is that you are plunged into a twilight zone due to a stand of firs. These tall straight trees let through very little sun and this can look foreboding. However, the constant background drone of the M27 does tend to spoil the fairy-tale effect.

Coppiced Sweet Chestnut

The main path leads downhill and fairly soon breaks out into a sun-dappled grove of coppiced Sweet Chestnut trees. This is something that I have not come across before but I will definitely be back here next year to gather nuts, it really was an enchanting place. It was a bit late in the season for foraging these nuts and the recent wet weather had caused many of the nuts to begin sprouting shoots.

A Damp November Day

I was surprised to discover that there was an Iron Age hill fort in the area too, these structures have always held a fascination for me and I love to visit them whenever I can. Sadly my lunch hour did not permit further exploration, so I will have to report back at a later date on this very intriguing place.

Very Pretty Even On A Bleak Day

Beech, Holly, Chestnut, Oak and Fir

Heatwaves and Premature Fruit

Blackberries Ripe and Early

Yes, Blackberries have arrived early, almost everywhere, go and gather yours or simply gobble them straight off the bush. We always get ours form the lovely Southampton Common, and the South facing sides of bushes ripen first and taste the most sweet.

Ripe Plums

Plums are also ripening on the trees, I spotted sweet yellow Plums falling into the road on my walk to work. The picture shows a reddish orange variety, equally tasty and also falling onto the road in Highfield.

Hazel Tree

The sizzling heatwaves we have been experiencing this year seem to have forced many trees fruit approximately on month early this year. Hazel is almost ready to shed its nuts. Still not quite ripe but near as damn it.

Hazelnuts (Early but Still Unripe)

Where hazelnut harvesting is concerned, you need to be quick of the mark or the grey squirrels will beat you to them. The signs are very easy to spot!

Competition with Squirrels

Another interesting tree that fruits around this time of year, is the magnificent Mulberry. This marvellous specimen is on the Salcombe estuary in Devon, where we were lucky enough to holiday this year.

Mulberry Tree

We had one eye on the exciting dingy racing - and one eye firmly under the canopy of the tree, as we hunted down the delicious, ripened, juice filled berries.

Delicious Mulberries

Here's a micro quiz for you all! Keen followers of the blog should find the answer quickly. What are these mysterious yellow tentacles on this garage roof? Finding them like this or on the ground should indicate a tasty snack later in Autumn. Answers in the text below.

What are These Mysterious Tentacles?

The tentacles are the discarded flowers or catkins of the Sweet Chestnut tree. Identifying these trees early in Summer will lead you back to a hoard of Sweet Chestnuts, ideal for roasting on a BBQ later in Autumn. 

Sweet Chestnut Tree

Incidentally, nobody should be using disposable BBQs in the middle of the heatwaves! I find it difficult to believe that they are even on sale. Wildfires are a serious danger to life when the ground & vegetation is so tinder dry. Intelligent people know that they shouldn't be burning square holes in our precious landscape or leaving litter and glass on the ground.

Telegraph Hill

Telegraph woods has a wonderful avenue of coppiced chestnut trees there are also pine trees and broadleaved oaks.



Towering Chestnut Trees

The woods also play host to an old Armada beacon and an even more ancient Iron Age hill fort. A diverse and truly fascinating landscape all tucked away in one small spot.

Coppiced Avenue

It is a handsome and intriguing place for a short autumnal walk and also a great place to collect Sweet Chestnuts. In places an eerie quiet descends, all sound muffled by the pine needles.

Eerie Exposed Root Systems in the Fort

Always be prepared; bring boots stout gloves and bags or a coat with big pockets.

Steep Banks of the Enclosure Now Pine Covered

Your main competitors will be the vast number of squirrels that inhabit the wood as well as the noisy jays.

A Fairytale Vista

Fill the coat pockets with your brown beauties and collect a few dry sticks while you are there.

A Squirrel's Breakfast Table

Then you can use the twigs to build a little fire to warm your extremities and roast your nuts on when you get home.

Cider Inside ‘er Insides

Next came the pears from by the school – they were very tasty and we picked about 30Kgs in a fairly short time. I borrowed my mum’s fruit picking tool for these and I highly recommend getting one of these. (I still have not given it back!) As we picked, we gave lots away to other curious children and parents.

Scrumptious Pears

Later I also found pears on… Peartree Green! This inspired me to search on local maps for places with fruit in the names. Fairly soon we had found apples on Orchard Lane (thanks Mark), walnut trees in Walnut Avenue and chestnut trees in Chestnut Avenue – it’s a no-brainer when you think about it.

Very Tasty Indeed

Soon it was time for the apples, and I realised we would need to store them somehow as there were several trees filled with fruit that I had my eye on. Without getting overly technical, there are basically two types of apple in my book – eaters and cookers. Cookers are anything that is too sour to eat straight off the tree (the same is true for cherries incidentally). I decided that we could also use the large amount of excess fruit to turn into cider, as this seemed like a very sensible way of preserving the juice!

When making apple juice or cider it is a good idea to mix several different types of apples as this gives a more rounded flavour. Apples grown specifically for cider-making have a high tannin content and taste far too tart to eat fresh off the tree.

A lovely apple tree ready for picking

I hastily purchased an antique cider press off ebay and dug out an old pamphlet on how to make beer and wine. When the time came we were a whirlwind of action. In one day, my child army and I (with the help of a Gareth, his girlfriend and my brother John) picked over 40Kgs of apples and turned them into 5 gallons of lovely apple juice, which soon (with the addition of only a packet of yeast) became a five gallon barrel of highly drinkable golden cider!

It’s a very simple and enjoyable process. You chop the apples up into quarters roughly, removing any bad bits but leaving the skin and cores. Next you smash them to a pulp in a bucket and finally press the juice out. All that remains to be done is to add some Camden tablets and yeast (if you wish). Naturally you can make the process far more complicated, if you are that way inclined.

Cider Making - That 5 gallon bucket is full!

With the help of my buddy Pete and Finbar & Jonah his children, we picked a similar amount the following weekend, which we stored up and gradually consumed during the winter. The stock lasted until March. Cider will keep until you drink it all. Apparently it can keep for well over a year, although this theory has never actually been tested.

Children love to climb trees and pick apples - that bucket is full too!

Apples keep very well, but you must not let them touch each other. This way if one goes off, it will not spread to the rest, like the apocryphal bad apple in the barrel. I was lucky enough to be given a wooden apple store by my friend Gary. It’s like a skeleton chest of drawers and the apples sit in there waiting to be consumed. Some varieties keep better than others, trial and error will tell. They must not be bruised or maggoty at all for storing, so sort them appropriately and use the less good fruit for juicing.

Thanks Gary - the perfect way to store apples

Other items that we squirreled away around this time of year were Walnuts (16Kgs off one tree!) and Hazelnuts (a wicker wastepaper basket full). Nuts of course will keep all year long, as long as they are kept dry. They make tasty and healthy snacks to take to work when mixed with sultanas, raisins or even dried cherries.

Hazelnuts! I'm still eating these now.

Summer Summary

The annual regret of Wimbledon is over, the cricket is looking pretty good though; we are now past the halfway mark in the year so let’s have a quick review.

It might not seem like it, but the nights are drawing in now so pay attention at the back...

Plum, Cherry Plum, Bullace, Damson and Greengage – Currently available in huge amounts for cropping. Great for eating, jam, chutney, pies, wine, liqueurs, cordial – the list goes on. Recipes.

There Are Loads of Local Cherry Plums

Green Walnuts – If you wanted to pickle or make schnapps you should have picked in June before the shell forms. The rest will mature as nuts in September. I am currently tuned into walnut trees and keep noticing them everywhere.

Green Walnuts on a Tree

Cherry – Mostly finished now but you still find the odd late tree with fruit on it. 

Late Cherries Still Available

Elderflower – Finished now but remember the trees because Elderberries will be ready soon and they make great wine or jelly.

Young Elderberries, Should Be Black Before Picking

Blackberries – Ready now, on a bush near you. Keep an eye on your favourite bush. Think of all the fun you can have with this delicious fruit. They freeze well too.

Who Can Resist a Juicy Blackberry?

Apple and Pear – Still ripening nicely; the branches bowed under the weight of fruit. It looks like it could be another bumper year and they will be ripe a few weeks early due to the warm spring. I’m looking forward to making cider or perry again in September. Note - I have found a tree with ripe pears already!

Apples Are Going To Be Up To A Month Early This Year

Hazelnut – The unripe nuts are currently easy to spy on the trees and in the hedgerows. Don’t pick them yet, be patient and wait for them to start dropping in a couple of months.

Hazel Nuts - Not Ripe Yet!

Chestnut – These trees have been in flower and looked quite exotic. At the moment you can spy young nut cases (more about nutcases later...). Chestnuts will not be ready for a couple of months though.

Chestnut Trees Have Fantastic Flowers

People have been enquiring about my Top Secret Google Fruit Map. Well I have been schmoozing with Greg from the Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford Transition Network. We have decided to share a version of the Urbane Foragers Fruit Map (see bottom of blog or my Community Website. I have also agreed to do some talks/flashforaging trips with these guys, so contact Greg or sign up to follow the blog if you want to join us for some fruit based fun.