The Discovery And Invention of Chestnut Tea

I was going to try roasting fresh green coffee beans to see how it works but had none and then thought why not try to roast chestnuts the way coffee is roasted and try that instead just to try out the coffee roaster. I did and was amazed to find a palatable new beverage I have never had before. The actual means of roasting chestnuts to create chestnut tea may still be a trade secret . It tasted better than Postem and might even had tasted better with cream and sugar than plain. It worked so perfectly as it could become the "native tea of the pacific Northwest" I have been looking for a native tea that could be grown here for some time and by accident I found it except that it is somewhere between tea and coffee in it's consistency. Right now if interested you could become a taster and help to develop an all new product. I am excited by the prospects because usually when I experiment the first cup of tea is not so good that I want to make a second one immediately afterwards. For people who already love chestnuts this is a perfect beverage and for some people who liked caffeine free postum this is better than buckwheat tea, better than Korean roasted corn tea and better than barley and wheat tea. Like coffee it can be roasted light or dark and it is gluten free, caffeine free and great tasting or maybe an acquired taste for some but that is what makes it interesting as a tea or coffee substitute. At the moment the name of the product is Chestnut Tea but that could change. The coffee brand Chock Full of Nuts from NYC pretty much sums up the nutty flavor . It is naturally sweeter than coffee of course but that could depend on how dark the roast is. There is more to learn about it but someone told me that if it tastes as good as I say it does it could be a million dollar product. Here is hoping. If in Portland and interested in helping to roast and taste test the product. Get in touch and become an official or unofficial taste tester. I can also send out a free sample if interested. I don't know the shelf life of the product yet or if it can be ground and completely dehydrated because some dehydrated Chinese chestnuts seem too bitter as does Italian chestnut flour. It may have to be a refrigerated product? Too early to tell yet.

Chesnuts for Sale in Season:

How To Make A Chestnut Soup With Any Recipe

It is easy to make Chestnut Soup with any recipe that already has potato's in it. I make at least one batch of chestnut soup a year since i have so many chestnuts around being a chestnut grower. My favorite chestnut soup is Chestnut leek soup. The last one i made this year was both chestnut and potato leek soup. I just used one potato instead of two and substituted chestnut meat for one of the potato's. It took around 20 chestnuts which i flash cooked after making holes in them in the microwave oven. The recipe is in any cook book or your own. Just precook the chestnuts peal and get the inner skin off too, mash or dice and add to the boiling soup base instead of all the potato's or just some of them.

The approximate recipe i use for chestnut leek soup is:

6 cups of water

20 chestnuts precooked and mashed from the microwave and one yellow potato or 4o chestnuts and no potato

3 leeks pan fried before boiling with light oil

a half of a carrot diced

a bay leaf, thyme, pepper, salt and other spices to taste

Several drops of Aromatic bitters used for flavoring cocktails

3 garlic sections mashed from a fresh clove or garlic powder.

This is the basic recipe and it is boiled until it has the consistency of a melded soup.

You can use any recipe with chestnuts instead of potato's including making a chestnut clam chowder as one of the more unusual sounding suggestions. Any potato soup recipe can become a chestnut bisque instead by substituting all or just some of the the potato's for chestnuts.

How To Buy Fresh Chestnuts Online

Just go online to Ebay or Amazon.com and look for listings of fresh chestnuts. On ebay there are a variety of different sellers in season and the same is true on Amazon.com. On ebay you can buy chestnuts at various prices and Varioius types of edible chestnuts from various locations. The price varies. One example is you are able to get ten pounds including postage on Ebay for $36 which comes to just $3.60 per lb which can be less than at your local super market including the postage. The only way to mail chestnuts efficiently is to send them using the postal services flat rate boxes. The lowest price to send one of these boxes is now $10.35 for up to 11.5 lbs. There are also pre-cooked preserved gourmet nuts available online from a variety of different vender's. These are not the same thing as fresh although they do have their uses.

How to instantly tell an edible chestnut from a horse chestnut.

Horse chestnuts are not really true chestnuts. They are from a completely different species of tree. Horse Chestnuts are mildly poisonous to humans but are eaten by animals that have different digestion systems. Horse Chestnuts contain a soap like substance that is disagreeable to humans. Sometime horse chestnuts are used for medicinal purposes or to feed animals and can be found sold online. To eat a horse chestnut it is necessary to do something like boil them many times to make a mush out of them and drain off the the inedible components. A slimilar process is used for acorns but there is no reason to eat something that tastes so bad when you can get edible chestnuts instead. Edible chestnuts are not as pretty , smooth and shiney as the rounder horse chestnuts are . Edible chestnuts tend to have flatter sides too. The real distinction is the tail that edible chestnuts have at their pointy tips. These tails allow small rodents to drag the whole nut away and could be part of the reason the nuts have them. You can pick up an edible chestnut by this tail on their pointy tip. There is no such apendage on the poisonous horse chestnut. There really are not as many similarities beteween the two types of nuts once you explore the pictures or both or the actual nuts side by side. See the picture on the top of this site and note the tails at the pointy end of the nuts that means they are true chestnutds and edible . If the nuts you find do not have the tail then do not eat them but you can collect them for decorative purposes or to feed squirels and other animals that like them.

Having trouble finding fresh chestnuts available where you live?

Did you know that when chestnuts are in season you can find them online and easy to order from a variety of sellers. The season begins every late September. You can find Chestnuts to Order on Both Amazon and Ebay. We sell ours for the price of the nuts per pound plus the cost of the flat rate box which costs about $10 to mail anywhere in the USA by the US Post Office. It holds up to 12 lbs in the medium size flat rate box. The ten pound box is most popular. A box of ten pounds can cost as little as $35 in an ebay auction though we would prefer to sell it for more like $40 or more. The Amazon box is listed at a higher price because it is not an auction. Other sellers have other methods of selling but most have no cheaper means of mailing the fresh nuts other than the flat rate postal rates. Thus the total cost of mail order from a consumer's perspective is from $3.50 to $4 per lb total including postage which can compare favorably to super market prices. In high season , the ebay auction price can be a lot higher . That usually happens around Christmas time. Find our listings and our competition's on either ebay or Amazon to order . You can order direct and negotiate a price . Chestnuts without cold storage here can be discounted because they won't last though Thanksgiving and Christmas without cold storage. If you want chestnuts in advance of Thanksgiving and have empty refrigerator space you can get them and store them so they are in good shape to use later. For Chestnuts contact St. Peter's Dome Flora Care of oregondirect@yahoo.com and I can send you an invoice on paypal for your negotiated price. There is also a larger flat rate box that costs $14 to mail that might get up to 15 or more lbs of nuts packed inside. I have not loaded one of these yet so I have to check before selling. A small flat rate box may or may not be able to hold five pounds of nuts but not sure if it is cheaper than the medium size box that handles about 10-12 lbs. Our nuts vary in size and type and include a mixture of European, hybrid American, American, Asian nuts. I can try to pack smaller or larger nuts. Just started this blog and more information on the uses and how to use coming later. Our nuts are grown in Oregon.