Chestnut season
The season has begun.
Head gear firmly in place. Walk under all chestnut trees with respect.
A fat chestnut falling on your head wrapped around a very prickly burr is an experience you don’t want to repeat.
This fantastic late summer of rain and warmth has brought on the trees about ten days early.
Well, I think so. I never look back in my notes to check. But things feel ready now and the few trees that are always dropping ahead of the others are doing their thing.
And best of all, there are a lot of trees lining the path of my walk through the forest that are dropping the bounty right at my feet.
I challenge anyone to walk in a straight line in this season. Or keep up a good speed.
There are at least four really good trees on my route that force me to stop and fill my pockets.
And I mean fill.
I stagger back to the kitchen with pockets positively bulging.
That was yesterday’s haul. Jeans so heavy with the back pockets full of nuts it looked like I needed to change a nappy.
Ugh. Sorry!
But I now have collected enough that it’s time to act. Time to prepare them for a big bean dish I have planned.
Anon.
Christine
26th October 2022 @ 8:01 pm
How lovely, it must be wonderful to encounter such bounty on your walks. It’s too high here for chestnuts to mature, but I remember the delight of chestnut picking as a child. The contrast between the prickly “bogue” and the impossibly shiny and perfect nut inside. In my family chestnuts were mostly eaten boiled, peeled while still hot with cold milk poured over them.
Lindy
26th October 2022 @ 9:20 pm
Yum. I know that milk is the ideal preserving medium when making chestnut puree.