We prepare materials for crafts. How long do raw chestnuts last? Crafts from acorns and cones

Chestnuts are a popular nut for the holidays and can be quite expensive in stores. This is one of the easiest nuts to harvest in the fall if you can find a chestnut.

With a little effort, you can save money and enjoy these sweet treats in your favorite recipes.

How to collect chestnuts

Chestnuts are typically harvested from mid-September to November and are one of the easiest nut varieties to prepare for storage.

Pull on a pair of work gloves and give it a try.

Wait for the chestnuts to fall to the ground.
Collect any nuts with exposed burrs. (You will definitely need gloves for this job.)
Remove the nuts from the burrs. Discard any worm holes or other signs of damage.
Immediately store chestnuts in airtight containers and freeze or freeze.

Identification of chestnut trees

Chestnuts are the fruit of the Castanea trees, which are found throughout the world. The American chestnut tree suffered from blight and many of the native trees were destroyed.

This deciduous tree is very easy to identify. Look for long, vibrant leaves with very short stems. The leaf is oblong and has many sharp “teeth” running along the edge.

The nuts are protected by a prickly husk called a burr (or bursa). The burrs of some species contain more than one chestnut. Hangnails grow in clusters and usually appear in early summer.

They fall from the tree in early late fall and are ready to harvest.

They beat up the squirrels. Try to pick the chestnuts as soon as they fall to the ground. This will preserve the quality of the nuts and minimize the loss of squirrels (they also love chestnuts).
Look for openburrs . When the chestnut is ripe, the burrs will open and that's when you want to remove the husk (while wearing gloves). Leave the inner shell dark brown.
Do not break the shell until needed. The chestnuts will dry out within a week after being removed from the shell. Keep them fresh by shelling right before you are ready to use them.
Store correctly. Shelled chestnuts will keep in the refrigerator for a month or in the freezer for a year.
Listen to the rattle. Chestnuts that are in the shell can also dry out and shrink and crack. Experience the freshness of chestnuts by shaking them. If you hear rattling inside the sink, it may be too dry to eat.
Sorting chestnuts. When sorting chestnuts, look for smooth, glossy and heavy shells. They will contain the most delicious nuts.

Nutrition for your lactating porridges

Chestnuts are tasty and have a mild, semi-sweet flavor. When raw, they are crunchy and will soften when cooked.

There are many ways to enjoy your harvested chestnuts. Roasting unpeeled chestnuts is a very popular method and a holiday favorite. Chestnuts can also be boiled or stewed.

Chestnuts are a common ingredient in many recipes. They can be used in desserts, fillings, soups and savory meat dishes. Candied chestnuts are absolutely delicious and a great way to reward yourself after the harvest!

You can even make your own chestnut flour to use in bread.

Roasted chestnuts are a popular fall dish in many countries around the world. They smell like baked potatoes and hazelnuts, which will not leave anyone indifferent. The product has a lot of useful properties. Therefore, you need to know how to store chestnuts at home in order to enjoy interesting dishes throughout the long winter.

Rules for choosing chestnuts

The maximum benefits for the body come from nuts that have reached their maturity. Therefore, when choosing edible chestnuts at the market or in a supermarket, you need to follow the following recommendations:

The season for fresh chestnuts is from September to February. It is during this period that the nuts will contain a large number of nutrients, minerals and vitamins. If you can’t buy fresh chestnuts, you can pay attention to frozen or pickled products. They do not require cleaning, so they are ready to cook immediately.
Check the shell. It should be hard to the touch, as well as visually smooth, even and with a glossy sheen. There cannot be any stains or other visual defects on the surface of the chestnut. A fresh, ripe nut will have a dark brown color.
All chestnuts should be approximately the same size and weight.
It is best to give preference to chestnuts that have a slightly rounded shape. This type has a brighter and richer taste.
To determine the degree of freshness of the fruit, you need to press it with your fingers. A soft peel indicates that the terms and conditions of storage of the edible chestnut were violated.

Also, before purchasing, you should pay attention to the presence of a specific green layer. It indicates insufficient ripeness of the nut. Chestnuts must undergo heat treatment. Unripe fruits in raw form are strictly prohibited.

How to store chestnuts

Fresh chestnuts are very difficult to store. They are a rather capricious product that can quickly deteriorate. At home, chestnuts can retain all their beneficial properties for only 5 days. To do this, they must be in a dark, dry place at room temperature. After this period of time, the fruits begin to dry out and wrinkle.

In the refrigerator, the shelf life can be slightly increased. The chestnuts will stay here for 2 weeks. The main thing is to first wrap them in a plastic bag, in which you need to make several neat holes. If this is not done, the air will not be able to circulate fully, which will lead to the formation of mold.

When you want to enjoy the amazing taste of dishes made from chestnuts at any time of the year, it is best to freeze the fruits. In this state, the product will retain all its positive qualities for six months. Chestnuts can only be frozen in foil or a special vacuum container. They will quickly deteriorate in a plastic bag.

If a person lives in his own home, then there is another interesting way to store the product. Unpeeled fruits are placed in wooden boxes and then covered with sand. In this position, the containers are placed in the basement or cellar. Here the temperature fluctuates between 2-5 degrees, so chestnuts can be kept until spring. If there is no sand, then you can replace it with chestnut leaves.

The nutritional value

Not all types of chestnuts are suitable for consumption. Edible fruits do not grow in our latitudes. Therefore, you can only buy them in large stores and supermarkets. Visually, the chestnut resembles a hazelnut, but has a completely different composition, which includes:

starch - 60%;
sugar - 15%;
proteins – 6%;
fats – 2%.

Depending on the type of chestnut, the composition may vary slightly. The product is not much like nuts. It is more similar in its composition and properties to rice or potatoes. Properly cooked chestnuts quickly replenish lost energy. They will give a person a feeling of fullness for a long time.

Chestnuts are often found in various diets, as well as common weight loss systems. The main thing is to consume them no more than the norm allowed by a nutritionist.

It is very important not to violate the storage conditions of chestnuts. So that they bring maximum benefit. If you follow all the rules and recommendations, the product contains:

pectin;
folic acid;
vitamins of group B, as well as A, C, K;
cellulose;
glycosides;
tannins;
microelements. Among them:
- potassium;
- calcium;
- magnesium;
- phosphorus;
- sodium;
- silicon;
- selenium;
- copper;
- zinc.

Chestnuts are one of the main dishes of Mediterranean cuisine. It is rightfully called the most useful in the world. If a person introduces chestnuts prepared in different ways into his daily diet, then after a short period of time he will notice a positive trend in improving his health. His gastrointestinal tract will begin to work properly, metabolic processes will improve, and toxins will be removed from the body and the immune system will be strengthened.

Beneficial features

Women always strive to look fresh and young. They spend a large amount of money on modern cosmetics to preserve their beauty for a long time. But few people know that you can easily turn back time with the help of ordinary chestnuts. They are actively involved in the production of collagen and elastin, which contribute to proper cell regeneration and skin renewal.

Chestnuts have a positive effect not only on the skin, but also on the general condition and appearance of hair and nails. The product contains zinc and phosphorus, which are essential microelements in improving the condition of teeth and gums.

The pharmaceutical industry has long used horse chestnuts as a main or additional substance to create various types of medicines. They help quickly cope with the following diseases:

Dysentery.
Haemorrhoids.
Cystitis.
During menstruation, which is accompanied by severe pain.
Climax.
Mastopathy.
Various swellings.
Thrombosis and other disorders of the process of proper blood circulation.
Vascular spasms.
Atherosclerosis.
Neuralgia.
Respiratory dysfunction.
Rheumatism.

Carefully!

When creating medicinal or cosmetic products, it is very important to follow the rules for storing, transporting and processing chestnuts. Violation of at least one of the stages may lead to the development side effects or complications after the prescribed course of treatment.

Contraindications

Despite the fact that the product has a large number of useful properties, it should be used extremely carefully. Chestnut contains a high level of carbohydrates, which is why nutritionists classify it as a heavy food. Therefore, it should not be given to children under 5 years of age, even in small quantities. This may lead to stomach upset, flatulence, or colic.

Women who are on breastfeeding, you will also need to give up chestnuts. They can cause severe gas formation in infants and also provoke an allergic reaction.

Chestnuts in any form are contraindicated for people with diseases such as:

diabetes;
stones bladder and kidneys;
hypotension;
liver and kidney failure;
dysfunction or inflammatory processes of the gastrointestinal tract.

Carefully!

Conclusion

Each person chooses for himself the best way to store chestnuts. The main thing is to prevent spoilage of the product in order to enjoy amazing dishes prepared according to unusual recipes, collected from all corners of the globe.

Has two higher education. The first is the Faculty of Psychology of Omsk Pedagogical University. Gorky. Second - in the specialty "Human Resource Management" of Omsk state university them. Dostoevsky. She headed the press service of one of the city-forming enterprises of Omsk. She was responsible for corporate and external communications, promoting the brand in the country’s information field, and oversaw the publication of the company’s newspaper.

Chestnut (Castanea Sativa) belongs to the beech family. Its Latin name comes from the city of Castanea in Thessaly (Greece), a city famous for its beautiful trees.

What do we know about chestnuts?

Chestnut is a nut from the chestnut tree of wild or cultivated varieties. The chestnut tree can reach 35 meters in height. It has long leaves with serrated edges, blooms in May-June with long “catkins”, the flowers are very popular among bees (chestnut honey, mustard color, bitter taste, one of the best beneficial properties). Not every chestnut is edible: for example, horse chestnut and other wild varieties are not intended for human consumption.

The spines in which the nut is hidden are the chestnut fruits. The centers of growth of cultivated chestnut trees are the Mediterranean, East Asia, and the Atlantic coast of the United States. In a number of countries - France, for example, chestnuts are an integral part of cooking.

How to choose the right chestnuts?

They should be hard and glossy, uniform in size, large and heavy. When buying, you need to keep in mind that the best chestnuts are seasonal: they ripen in late October and early November. However, if desired, you can buy them both fresh frozen, peeled, and pickled, including in Russia. So you can cook all year round.

How to clean chestnuts?

Chestnuts are difficult to peel. Place them in a pan of boiling water for 2-4 minutes. Warm, they will clean much easier. Another way is to immediately place it under cold water after dipping it into boiling water for a short time.

How to cook chestnuts? How to determine readiness?

Chestnuts can simply be boiled and then peeled. You can make a preliminary cut with a very sharp knife and cook for about half an hour in salted water with a sprig of dill for flavor.

To check readiness, insert a culinary needle into the chestnut. Chestnuts may burst - this is also proof that they can be removed from the heat. If you fry them in a frying pan, you should know that when they are ready, they “bounce” and “explode.”

Before putting the chestnuts in the oven, add a little butter to the baking sheet to soften them. To achieve the same result, pour a little vegetable oil into the water in which you will boil the chestnuts.

Chestnuts are used very widely in Mediterranean cooking: for the preparation of bakery and confectionery products (flour and fruits), jams, mousses, soufflés, purees, pancakes, soups, salads, creams, fillings for meat pies, for stuffing poultry or as side dishes for offal. There are very famous dishes, real masterpieces: and “drunk” chestnuts.

How to store chestnuts?

Fresh chestnuts will keep in the refrigerator for several days. After this time they become covered with mold. Chestnuts can be stored in sand, like carrots and beets, for several months. You can freeze them boiled or baked, then they will also be stored for a long time.

What are the properties of chestnut?

Chestnut is very nutritious and energetic. Eating it will help you avoid snacking throughout the day. Chestnut is easily digested when cooked. Raw chestnuts or cooked chestnuts, but in large quantities, can lead to active gas formation.

Chestnut is rich in potassium, magnesium, sulfur and iron, it contains vitamins B1, B2 and C.

The energy value of chestnut is:
196 calories per 100 grams, or 1.63 g protein, 1.25 g fat and 44.17 g carbohydrates

Who, if not mothers, knows that our children like to remember at 21-22 pm that tomorrow they need to bring a craft made from natural materials, a bouquet of dried leaves and flowers, a herbarium, and so on. So what should I do? We get ready and go with a flashlight to collect “reserves”, and then spend the whole night sculpting, gluing, painting, most often without the child. And sometimes in the garden they give you a task, it seems like it’s still light, but it’s raining outside. How to collect the necessary material? In order to at least partially protect myself from this (it won’t be possible completely, unfortunately), I began to collect a “collection” of natural materials, selecting for this a small shoe box and various smaller boxes and boxes, which I put in this same shoe box. shoes Well, plus various books help. So what can we prepare?

1. Dry various leaves. On the way home, you pick up several leaves from different trees. You can also have different colors, whatever you come across: yellow, green, red... The main thing is to select the most beautiful ones, and not try to get more. After all, we still have many fine days ahead and we will have time to collect quite a large number of leaves. But let them be the most, most beautiful.

At home, we review the “loot” again; if there are spoiled ones (we accidentally didn’t finish checking them) or you simply don’t like them, feel free to throw them in the trash. We rinse the rest under running water, place it on a surface covered with paper or cloth (I cover it with disposable rags from a roll), let the moisture dry and then put it in a book, and the book can be put back on the shelf. Or you can lay it out between sheets of plain paper and press it down with something heavy. And let them dry, they will come in handy later.

By the way, if you need to dry the leaves very urgently, then place them between two sheets of white paper and iron them several times with a hot iron.

2. “Airplanes” or “pinwheels” from maple. On the way home after the maple seeds ripen, my child and I cut off a few clusters. At home, we carefully remove them from the branches, leaving them in pairs, sort them out, and remove the spoiled ones. Then we wash and dry for several days on any surface covered with paper: on a table, on a windowsill, on the floor. As soon as they are dry, pour them into a box and place them in a large box or cabinet with craft materials.

3. Chestnuts and acorns. Perhaps the most popular material for crafts. And they are not always found on trees growing near the house. Therefore, it’s better to stock up on them in advance; you don’t need a lot, but a dozen or two won’t hurt. By the way, I sometimes find acorns without caps and caps separately. I also collect this, sometimes I need caps, then acorns, and sometimes whole acorns with caps.

After collecting acorns and chestnuts, I wash them well under running water, then dry them for several days in a cool, well-ventilated room (for me this is usually a small barn). After the fruits have dried, I put them in a box, always placing them with crumpled paper (you can also store them in bulk, but with paper they dry out and “shrink” less). Then I put them in a box with the rest of the natural materials.

4. Cones. The principle is the same as with acorns: I collect, wash, dry. Except for some nuances. More often I collect still closed cones, they are easier to wash. And they open later, during the drying process, from the heat. Then I remove some of them in this form, and bleach some of them. They don't turn out perfect whites, of course, but they do lighten up. I do not bleach in bleach, under any circumstances! (For some reason there is a lot of information on the Internet about bleaching in bleach, I tried it, the “petals” of the pine cone changed their structure and became soft). How I bleach: wash well, dry. Then I put it in “mole” or similar products for a while. I take it out, wash it and dry it until the cones open (they close when wet), wash it again and dry it again. Then I place it in a special solution for bleaching wood (I buy it in hardware stores), periodically drying it if the lump is closed. After a few days I take it out, wash it, dry it, wash it again and dry it. That's all. They say that solutions containing acidity also bleach well. But I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for sure.

5. Various twigs and sticks. Completely “different sizes”: both in length and thickness, even and not so even. They are also a must in my box of natural materials. Well washed and dried.

6. If it is possible to get it, then be sure to put a bag of hay or straw. Might come in handy too.

What else is in the box: rose hips, dried flowers, reeds, some dried flowers, pumpkin seeds, nuts, sunflower seeds. And, of course, interesting pebbles, including flat pebbles. She is so fun to color. And you can add anything you find interesting to the box; the larger the supply, the easier it is to make crafts!

Unfortunately, I can’t show you my box yet, last year’s supplies have run out, and this year’s supplies have just begun to be collected.

In addition, chestnut has other advantages: it is a honey plant, its leaves are used in folk medicine, and the wood is used to make high-quality wine barrels, and in general is highly valued as a building material.

Considering the huge demand for chestnuts abroad. The lack of competition in this sector of crop production in Ukraine, planting chestnut orchards over large areas can be a good source of income.

If you are not at all familiar with the technology of growing edible chestnut, and also do not know whether you will be able to sell its fruits and seedlings, start by planting one tree on your site.

Characteristics

Chestnut blooms annually and profusely, after the leaves bloom, from mid-May, for 15-16 days. The flowers are collected in long spike-shaped inflorescences. In inflorescences located at the ends of branches, pistillate (female) flowers are located on the lower part of the floral shaft, and staminate (male) flowers are located above.

Male flowers are whitish with a yellow tint, smell pleasant and are collected in three or more balls; after flowering they fall off along with the spikelet..

Greenish female flowers form balls, usually of three flowers, surrounded by a four-parted plus (involucre) with spines.

The fruits are nuts and ripen from mid-September to mid-November. When ripe, they fall to the ground. They have a characteristic chestnut color with a clearly visible light spot at the base.

The apex of the fruit is elongated into a spout formed from the shriveled perianth and pistil columns. Usually the fruit contains one seed, sometimes two or three.

How to propagate real chestnut?

Chestnuts are propagated by seedlings from shoots and by sowing fruits. I harvest fruits in the fall from the best trees, select the largest ones and immediately, without delay, mix them with damp (not wet) sand or steamed sawdust and lower them into a cold (temperature no higher than 9 ° C) basement for storage until spring, that is, until moment of sowing.

If there are few seeds, they can be placed in a regular refrigerator.

Our advice:

To prevent the chestnuts from drying out, which is why their germination rate is significantly reduced, in winter I constantly monitor the moisture content of the sawdust.

If necessary, I moisten them with several handfuls of snow; if there is no snow, I spray them with melt water.

In the spring, at the beginning of May, I take the seeds out of the basement and inspect them. During this time, almost all chestnuts germinate and produce roots 10-20, and sometimes 30 mm long.

I sow them in prepared holes to a depth of 7-9 cm.

Necessary care

I mulch the surface with humus. Care consists of timely weeding and loosening. I don’t feed the seedlings with anything.

In the northern regions, sowing of seedlings of southern crops should be carried out later, planning for the emergence of seedlings in mid-June.

Chestnut seedlings are quite shade-tolerant. At first they need protection from frost.

At a young age, transplantation is well tolerated.

Our advice:

They grow better on acidic brown forest loams, develop well on fertile, moist soils, and do not withstand droughts.

They can grow on rocky, infertile soils, but are very inhibited on heavy, waterlogged soils. They do not withstand high lime content in the soil.

The chestnut tree blooms in the seventh year after planting.

What kind of crop can be harvested?

An adult tree produces 50-60 kg of nuts, and from 1 hectare of chestnut forest you can collect from 1 to 3 tons of fruits.

Abundant fruiting is repeated every 2-5 years.

How to store chestnut fruits?

Chestnuts are 50% water and should be stored in the refrigerator to prevent them from drying out:

fresh chestnuts in shell are stored at room temperature for a week;
keep fresh in the refrigerator for a month;
frozen - up to six months.

Beneficial features

Real chestnut, or edible chestnut (another name is sowing chestnut), is an extremely valuable honey-bearing and nut-bearing crop of the beech family.

Its fruits contain a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates (up to 70% in dry fruits), 5-7% proteins and 2-3% fats (this is more than in wheat), about 1% malic and citric acid, raw fruits even contain B vitamins and S.

Excellent honey plant

Chestnut is a honey plant. In a chestnut forest, bees collect almost as much honey as in a linden forest.

Chestnut honey is dark in color, liquid, slightly bitter (the bitterness is removed by heating), but has high healing properties.

It is used mainly in the confectionery industry and for winter feeding of bees.

How to use the fruits of real chestnut in cooking?

On the island of Corsica they replace bread.
In pre-Columbian times, when potatoes had not yet been introduced to Europe, entire families of poor people were saved from hunger thanks to the fruits of the chestnut.
At the same time, chestnut is a frequent ingredient in haute cuisine and gourmet menus. Chestnuts are eaten raw, baked, boiled and fried.
Dried flour is used to make flour, which is almost as nutritious as wheat.
A small admixture of chestnut flour to wheat flour improves the taste of bread.
In Italy and France, chestnut flour is valued twice as much as flour made from peas, beans, beans and lentils.
Confectioners use chestnuts to make pastries, cakes and sweets.
Roasted chestnuts are used as a coffee substitute.