Foraging Sweet Chestnuts

Sweet Chestnuts chestnutsinhabitat sweetchestnuts

Name: Sweet Chestnuts

Location: Under Sweet Chestnut Trees

Months: October

Edible Parts: Inside the shell including skin

Non-Edible Parts: Everything else

We foraged around 2.2kg of sweet chestnuts in one hour today and there are stil plenty more to be had. The special thing about sweet chestnuts is not only are they packed full of goodness but they are only viable every few years. Not every crop of Chestnuts will be ripe every year. If the chestnut is soft, and small and flat/angular in appearance they are not ready for eating. You may go some years without seeing any viable chestnuts. That’ why as soon as we saw good chestnuts this year, we went crazy collecting as many as possible for our snacks and Christmas of course!

Sweet Chestnuts don’t taste great raw, although they can be eaten this way. Don’t be put off if you try them raw, get these bad boys roasted and then try them to avoid disappointment.