My chestnuts are sprouting
I spent a afternoon collecting these chestnuts last summer, and I forgot about them. I've just found them in the van, and they've started some good healthy sprouting. I think they might be too far gone to cook, so I think I'll plant them in the wild bits by the roads and layby parking areas.
I've just Googled sprouting chestnuts, and it seems you can cook them if the sprouts are shorter than 2 inches. After 2 inches, they change flavour from 'store' to 'grow'.
Here is a picture of 5 of them with longer shoots. I'm tempted to cut off the brown bits, and cook the rest. I'll try it with a few, and see if they taste any different now they have shifted to 'grow' mode.
I'm down in your region of the UK and have blogged a bit on wild food foraging and bush craft. If you scroll back in my blog a ways there are several post on it. Give me a shout if you do any in depth post on bush craft, wild food foraging, gardening, etc. and I'll help you promote them happily. A thought on this post, on Steemit we have use of 5 tags. If you had put this post under #homesteading and #gardening it would have gotten more views and potentially more votes. I started the Steemit Newbie Resteem Initiative on Steemit with @davemccoy and we can be found under the #newbieresteemday. We focus on helping new users gain more exposure and helping them out. If at any point you need a hand don't hesitate to shout.
I'm sorry to be slow in replying to you. I seem to have taken on abit too much at the moment. The chestnuts came from a private woodland in Liss in Hampshire, and they are a bit small. Probably as a result of the lack of rain last year. I'm quite keen on a lot of hedgerow products, such as nettles, ground elder, hazel nuts, dandelions, blackberries and many other common items. I use dandelion root to make a hot drink for example. When I get a chance, I'll start to post some info about my findings.
Thanks also for the Steemit tips, I need to sort out the structure in my head, and I'll probably put some info on http://SteemRewards.com - I managed to pick up that domain a while ago, and I'll start to use it as a personal notebook.
If you scroll down my blog to the write ups on wild medicinal plants, or even much much further to the book I put on Steemit around the topic you'll find a real useful format that I have found works. Well, on the topic I tend to gain anywhere from 1 to 10 sbd per go. A few have flopped but only because I was reposting high earners I created. Basically copy and pasting my old work to give it another go. Sadly cheetah flags them and it tanks the chance for vote so I stopped. And yes, the cheetah bot will flag you if you post your own work more than once. If at any point you want a hand I'm more than happy to help. Especially around bush craft as a topic. Years ago I used to teach courses on it. So it's a love of mine. Don't worry about the late response. I'm just as bad. lol. Best of luck and lnever hesitate tpo reach out if I can help.
Thanks for the offer, and I'll come back to you if I may.
I thought I would post an update.
I seem to have too much food at the moment, so I decided to do the environment a favout, and I've spread the chestnuts around in woodlands next to roads. They'll probably all get eaten, but maybe a couple will become trees.