INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.”

That holiday recording by Nat King Cole in 1946 invokes images of people sitting around a warm fireplace or outdoor bonfire, humming a few holiday tunes while sipping on hot latte.

Many may ask: do people really roast chestnuts? Are these nuts even edible? Are chestnuts tasty? The answers: yes, yes and yes.

“The tender meat of the chestnut has a slightly sweet flavor, and when you roast them they’re a bit spongy rather than crunchy,” said Paul Thomason, who has 15 chestnut trees on his 24-acre farm near Yellow Springs, Ohio. “People can and do eat them, but they’re not the preferred nut like walnuts or pecans. There’s money to be made with these nuts. A healthy, mature chestnut tree will produce up to 10 pounds of chestnuts, or about 2,000 pounds per acre.”

Prior to the blight in the early 20th century, American chestnut trees covered the eastern United States. Homes, barns and fences were made from hard, straight-grained chestnut lumber. Chestnuts were enjoyed by humans and used as a mineral rich feed supplement for livestock.

In the early 1900s a fungal blight wiped out the American chestnut tree population. The disease felled in just 40 years more than four billion American chestnut trees growing among the hills of the eastern United States. The trees grew as far west as Ohio and southern Indiana and through Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Alabama and parts of Mississippi.

The edible nut was significant in the rural economy as hogs and cattle grew fat on the nuts they found. The nuts had wide human appeal and chestnut ripening coincided with the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.

The mature chestnut trees seen today are likely Chinese-American crosses. Crossing Chinese and American chestnut trees is an effort to breed the American chestnut back with disease resistance.

“My chestnut trees have stood since my grandfather planted them in the 1930s,” Thomason said. “I’m told they started producing nuts when they reached their fourth year. Granddad watered them a lot to ensure of getting abundant, large-sized nuts. He told me some chestnut tree types can live up to 800 years.”

According to the Northern Nut Growers Association (NNGA), chestnut trees should be planted in soil with good drainage and adequate moisture. They should be spaced 35 feet apart and require 6-8 hours of sun. They normally grow to an average height of 25-30 feet tall. The sweet-tasting, nutritious nuts can be eaten fresh, roasted, raw or salted. Chestnuts can be ground into flour and are even used to brew craft beer. The can be preserved in dry storage or frozen. The NNGA adds that nuts at local grocery stores are likely imported. Though the U.S. imports $40 million of chestnuts annually, less than 1percent of the world’s chestnuts are grown in the United States.

Some have taken this relatively obscure nut to a higher level. In 1957, Jay Miller planted 500 Chinese chestnut seedlings on his farm in Carroll County, Ohio.

“I’ve been a full-time chestnut grower since 1984,” said Greg, Jay’s son. “My father’s chestnut-growing hobby had gotten out of control and it became my business.”

A business indeed, one he calls the Empire Chestnut Co. In 2004, Greg began marketing the chestnuts from four of his neighbors. By 2007, the production from the neighbors’ orchards exceeded Greg’s production. In 2009, the combined production topped 60,000 pounds. After that record crop, a cooperative was formed and another family joined in. Today, they call themselves Route 9 Cooperative, offering tasty chestnuts to eat, along with chestnut seeds and trees to plant.

“Chestnuts do well in our well-drained hilltops of Appalachian Ohio,” Greg said. “Since the 1980s, I have evaluated thousands of chestnut seedlings and cultivars representing all species of Castanea, including both pure species and hybrids. In terms of nut quality and adaptation, I found the Chinese chestnut is the best species for us.”

Heath Stolee, of Radcliffe, Iowa, tends to 800 chestnut trees he planted five years ago. He says the trees are roughly nine years from marketable production. The family already has corn and soybeans. Stolee was trying to find something different – a niche market – and chestnuts was the choice. He calls his nut company Nutty Farmer Chestnuts. The chestnut harvest season in Iowa is about six weeks, from mid-September to October.

According to Stolee, the first two to three years are important for the plant’s root establishment. Weed and grass control is vital, as is lots of water. He utilized drip irrigation lines to help his trees in their early stages, adding that chestnut trees grow best in well-drained soils. Planting on slopes will help control drainage issues and full sun exposure works best. He planted his trees 40 feet apart with 40 feet between rows.

“Chestnuts are something different here in corn and soybean country,” Stolee added.

How much a nut is worth is related to its size. Generally, the value of chestnuts ranges from $0.75 to $2.50 per pound wholesale and from $2 to $5 per pound retail, according to USDA’s Ag Marketing Resource Center. Chestnuts are primarily sold fresh in the shell.

The United States doesn’t have a significant chestnut industry. Surprisingly, the country is a net importer and brought in 3,200 metric tons of chestnuts in 2019, mostly from Italy.

USDA counts 919 farms producing chestnuts on 3,700 acres. The top five states with the most chestnut acreage were California, Florida, Michigan, Oregon and Virginia. U.S. chestnut production is less than 1 percent of total world production. Consumption could support 20,000 acres of chestnuts.

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Cooking chestnuts

Warm, fresh chestnuts are soft, fleshy, sensuous, creamy and sweet. They might best be served with a glass of Port wine or a mug of Swedish Glogg, and, on the bearskin rug in front of the fireplace, with Nat King Cole singing in the background.

Fresh chestnuts must always be cooked before use and are never eaten raw, owing to their tannic acid content. There are six ways to prepare chestnuts:

- Roasting chestnuts over an open fire: Rinse and score the shells, then put the nuts in a cast iron frying pan flat side down. Rest the pan on a bed of glowing coals for about five minutes. Roll the nuts over once, then back over the coals for another five minutes.

- Roasting chestnuts in the oven: Rinse and score the shells. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Roast on a center shelf for roughly 25 minutes. Meat is tender when easily pierced by a knife or toothpick.

- Grilling chestnuts: Rinse and score the shells. With the grill very hot, put the nuts on the grates on the direct side cup side down and close the lid. Roast until the shell peels back and begins to scorch and the meat starts to turn golden, perhaps 10 minutes.

- Broiling chestnuts in an oven: Rinse and score the shells. Put the broiler on its highest level. Put the nuts in a pan cup side up on the top rack. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove when the meat turns a golden color.

- Boiling chestnuts: Rinse and score the shells. Boil the nuts for about 15 minutes. Boiled chestnuts can be hard to peel.

- Microwaving chestnuts: Rinse and score the shells. Set the microwave on 100 percent power and place the nuts on a plate. Nuke them for one minute or until tender.