Chestnut: History

The European chestnut, despite its name, is of W. Asian origin. Around 300 BC the Greek writer Xenophon described how the children of Persian nobles were fed on chestnuts to fatten them; and it was the Greeks who brought the tree to Europe, from Sardis in Asia Minor. But it flourished more in S. Europe than in its region of origin and deserved the name European long before this came into common use. The more specific name Spanish chestnut probably arose because the best chestnuts imported into Britain came from Spain.