Sweet Chestnut

Castanea sativa The generic name, Castanea, is derived from the town Castanis in Thessaly where the tree grew in great abundance. The tree is indigenous in south-west Asia but was widely introduced in southern Europe by the Greeks, and in Britain by the Romans. The nuts are such a good source of food that in some Mediterranean countries they are a staple food, often dried and ground into flour. In the Apennine Mountains, in Savoy, Morea, Sicily, Madeira and the south of France, the poorer people used to subsist largely on a diet of chestnuts. Nor were they valued only by the poor. The Persian nobility, according to Xenophon, were fattened on chestnuts, while coffee houses in Lucca, Pescia and Pixtoga served delicious pâtés, muffins and tarts made of chestnuts.