American Chestnut (Castenea Dentata): An American Phoenix Rising from the Ashes

Dr. Michael Lee

TRAGEDY OF BIBLICAL proportions occurred silently in the American heartland after the importation of Chinese Chestnut trees, which were brought in for an exposition in New York in 1904.

American Chestnut trees were the apex trees in our forests at the time. One in every four trees were Chestnuts. It was said that a squirrel could travel from Maine to Georgia without ever touching the ground. During a full bloom in the summer, the forests were wreathed in snowy, white pollen, becoming white, undulating ocean waves from Canada to the southern Alleghany mountains.

This wonderous specimen of hardwood tree hosted and sustained thousands of creatures from nematodes, to forest creatures, to man with its nourishing nut and strong, smooth-grained, long-lasting, chestnut-brown wood, for tens of thousands of years. These were the monarchs of the eastern forests, often rising over 100 feet high, boasting a girth of over 22 feet and a bole of over six feet.

Native American tribes used the wood for bows, for building shelters, rib wood for canoes, smoking pipes and firewood. The nut was unusual for a tree nut. It had little oil, but was rich in vitamin C, selenium, protein, carbohydrates and fiber. It was used similarly to grain or beans. After gathering, the nuts were left in a cool dry place for several days, allowing the carbohydrates to turn to sugars. The shell was sliced open to allow for steam to escape while roasting over open fires or over coals or they would explode like mini hand grenades. They could also be boiled. These methods allowed for easier peeling of the shell and the bitter dark brown membrane encasing the meat of the nut. What you had left was a large creamy white solid, sweet nut meat useful for eating out of hand, adding to stews, baked with other meats or vegetables in the fire pits, or making a sweet nut cooked in maple syrup or honey.

Chestnuts could be dried and ground into flour, then used in porridges, soups and a kind of gluten-free bread or cake, similar to a bean cake or simply stored for wintertime use. The taste has been described as carroty tasting, the texture was smooth and pleasant.

Captain John Smith reported in 1612, that the local tribes “boiled the nuts for four hours to make broths and bread for feasts.”

Early American pioneers used the tree for its nut, it’s wood and its shade. They enhanced their meager diets with this “famine” food as it stored up to six months in dry storage. The nuts ripened later than other mast trees, so the food supply lasted longer. Deer, boar, elk preferred Chestnuts over acorns as the bitter tannins were less prevalent in the nut and did not take so long to process as acorns. A heavily producing Chestnut was a good place to find game in the fall.

Pioneers loved the tree, using the wood for building cabins, furniture and fence posts, as the wood was rot resistant. They took the nut one step farther than the local Indians and soon discovered they could make a beer out of the pulp and even whiskey. The nut developed a brewing sugar of eight percent after boiling or roasting. Later, as land was cleared and grain farming became more prevalent, corn and barley became the main grains for alcohol production.

EARLY AMERICAN PIONEERS ENHANCED THEIR MEAGER DIETS WITH CHESTNUTS, A “FAMINE” FOOD THAT WAS ABLE TO BE STORED FOR UP TO SIX MONTHS IF KEPT DRY. DEER, BOAR, AND ELK PREFER CHESTNUTS OVER ACRONS, AS WELL, MEANING A HEAVILY-PRODUCING CHESTNUT TREE WAS A GOOD PLACE FOR A HUNTER TO FIND GAME IN THE FALL.

The chestnut was the thread that bound the eastern forests together for insect, man and animal.

That all changed after the exposition in 1904 in New York city. A fungal scab was detected on a Chestnut tree across the street from the exposition. One of the biologists who walked past the tree every day noticed it on his way home. He gathered some samples to take back to his lab for examination.

Crytophonectria parasitica or endothia parasitica was the isolated culprit. Asian chestnuts had developed immunity over thousands of years of natural selection. Castanea dentata did not.

Imagine the light grid we see on TV, of all of the millions of homes being lit by our electrical power grid. Now imagine watching each of those lights winking from bright to black with the epicenter in New York, spreading ever faster outward like a forested tsunami wave. By 1950, over four billion chestnut trees in the eastern forest were dead. Laid end to end, these trees would have stretched one and a half times around the world. We could not stop it. Nothing could be done. The ecosystems around these trees disintegrated. Life forms that depended on these trees for their survival vanished without a whimper or much notice by the public. Deer population plummeted. Bee populations dropped. Without a single sound, an entire way of life had vanished right before our eyes and there was nothing, we could do to stop it.

IN 1904, DISASTER STRUCK THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREE POPULATION IN THE FORM OF BLIGHT. LETHAL AND FAST-MOVING, BY 1950, IT HAD DECIMATED THE CHESTNUT FORESTS OF NORTH AMERICA, RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF OVER FOUR BILLION TREES. NOTHING COULD STOP IT.

The U.S. government tried different ways to fight the blight. None of their experiments worked. In about thirty-five years, an entire species had disappeared from our forests. Towering dead giants stood frozen in time as rotting monoliths. It was one of the largest, fastest extinction events in history. Our history books seldom mention this event. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire is a fairy tale we hear at Christmas. Children ask, “What are chestnuts?” Maybe, you have seen them in the market during the holidays, but didn’t try them, because you didn’t know how to prepare them. I still remember chestnut venders on the Circle in downtown Indianapolis, while I held my mother’s hand as we walked along, doing our Christmas shopping. They were like peanut vendors with roasters and cone shaped paper sleeves that they put the mildly sweet charred treats in so you could carry them with you, peeling the nuts as you went. This scene is vacant from our lexicon these days.

Charles Burnham was an accomplished plant breeder and hybridizer. He saw the government efforts at developing an immune tree failing and realized they were approaching the problem from the wrong direction. To develop a tree with immunity to the blight, he knew, would take a great effort and a very long and patient process. It had never been done before with trees,because it took time for the trees to reach breeding maturity and be able then to see how the next generation hybrid trees reacted and which ones were showing signs of resistance. He started his program to breed immunity by crossing an immune Chinese Chestnut parent with an American parent. He mixed pollen and flowers, males and females and kept careful records.

Castanea dentata was still stubbornly trying to eke out life. As the huge trees toppled, saplings sprung from the roots and stumps of the dead trees. These sapling trees grew quickly and started producing after four years, but the blight would finally get them. At best, these struggling spirits of the forest would last about fifteen years, before succumbing to the persistent blight. There were a few trees over thirty years old in isolated places around the country, that seemed to have a natural immunity. These survivors were used in the cross-breeding effort.

The American Chestnut Foundation is working with Dr. Burnham. Other breeders around the country are also using some of the trees that seem to have natural immunity in an effort to keep the American Chestnut 100% genetically pure.

The ACF has developed trees 15/16 genetically pure in an effort to build on the immunity of the Asian chestnut invader. They have started breeding nurseries around the country in an effort to build strong trees that respond to local conditions. These trees developed from back breeding of one generation to the next, appear to be the solution. They have trees surviving for decades.

The blight may still attack, but the trees seem to wall off the infection and keep growing. This work is on-going and still has years of research to go. There is much hope. Experimental orchards have been planted in different parts of the country as some varieties do better in the South, others do better in the North, East or West as well. The trees can be grown almost anywhere but prefer an acidic clay soil with dry roots. Orchards are springing up from Maine to Florida and as far west as Texas. ACF is sending out seeds as they are developed to members to plant and report back on their development. A plan is in place to begin introduction back into the National Forests. Time will tell if they will regain their Monarch of the forest status again.

Chestnuts are again being presented in our markets as fresh, canned or processed into flour. Many of these orchards are the Asian varietals. The Dunston chestnut is a popular tree for orchards and nut production. Deer populations prefer the chestnuts over their old favorites, acorns and even corn. The Midwest has a number of producers of the American variety, which has a smaller sweeter nut. Look for the labeling as to where your chestnuts are coming from. Store your chestnuts in a dry cool place, they will mold and rot if kept sealed or allow dampness on the seed. Whether they are Asian or American varietals, check to see that they are grown in the U.S.

I recommend you try this new old food. Here are many ideas for preparing chestnuts:

Roasting over an open fire; After gathering, let the nuts rest for several days to develop their sugars. The drier they are the sweeter they are. All chestnuts need to be roasted, baked or boiled, so they can be peeled. It is difficult to get the inner membrane off without these steps. Slice an x into the shell or cut a slice across the mouth of the nut so it will open like a clam. Bake at 450* until the nuts open and the shells pull back away from the meat. Fire roasting adds a welcome dimension of flavor to the taste of the chestnut. Slice open the shell before boiling as well. Peel when cool.

The freed nut can be eaten as is or chopped to put in stews, meatloaves, savory pies, casseroles. This is an easy way to explore how you like the flavor and how they fit in with your meal plans. You can use the ground flour to flavor cakes, puddings, smoothies and shakes. This nut is as useful as the soybean. You can make a pasta from it and eat like any pasta product. You can use it like a non-gluten flour. Europeans mix it with chocolate to make glaces’ and cakes. Pureeing lends itself to frozen ices, cremes and puddings. These are usually blended with chocolate, a traditional favorite. A long-time favorite is the nut sliced in half and cooked down in a sugar bath and candied.

I hope I have piqued your curiosity about the All-American nut, Castanea Dentata, fighting to rise from the forest floor, back to its rightful place in our woodlands and on our tables.

Be food curious.

—Dr. Michael Lee is a contributing correspondent for Western Writers of America “Roundup” Magazine. as well as Saddlebag Dispatches. His fresh voice paints detail and gives historical authenticity to a frontier-life coming of age saga. He lives in Branson, Missouri.