Though the American Chestnut tree technically still grows in the U.S., it’s highly endangered because of the blight fungus which remains rampant along the eastern region of the United States. Once planted, the tree is guaranteed to die from the fungus. The chestnuts grown in America today are primarily from Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Ohio, and Delaware. They are likely Japanese-European hybrids, a low-growing bush-like tree that is resistant to the blight. Saielli says it will be a few more decades before we see the American Chestnut’s return in forests en mass, but as far as commercial chestnut production goes, prices will stay steep until there is more of a demand on the market. It’s not the blight of the American Chestnut that’s limiting their use in the American culinary world, he says. People just aren’t interested in eating them much.
“Reintroducing the American Chestnut into the forest would have the important environmental impact of restoring a foundation species,” he says, “but it might also incentivize people to appreciate chestnuts in cooking.”
European chestnut trees also suffer from blight, but the food crop is still booming. Producers have just found a way to slow down the fungus by infecting it with a virus—a tactic known as hypovirulence. By infecting the fungus, the virus prevents the tree from dying. In America, the fungus has a greater variation among its strains versus the few strains in Europe, which makes hypovirulence less effective in the states. Experts have used hypovirulence to narrow down blight-resistant variations in America, though they have yet to develop a seed that is 100 percent resistant. Until then, your holiday chestnuts will likely remain expensive.
Chestnuts Across the World
According to this 2012 chart from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, most chestnuts come from these top five world producers : China, mainland (1,650,000 metric tons), South Korea (70,000), Turkey (59,789), Bolivia (57,000), and in fifth place, Italy (52,000). North Korea, which comes in tenth place, has seen a steady increase in chestnut production since 2000.
Overseas the market offers everything from chestnut-flavored ice cream in Japan to fancy French spreads. Italy is the top European chestnut producer, but the nuts can be found anywhere from Spain and France to Switzerland and Greece. Chestnuts appear often in sweets like the Japanese Crunky chestnut chocolate crispy bar and the classic French chestnut cream cake, mont blanc. In Korea, these soft, no-bake chestnut cookies called yul-lan are traditionally served with tea. Head west to Turkey, the world's third-largest producer of chestnuts and one of the oldest, and you'll find the nut is a popular street food—best served coal-roasted by the bag—but they also appear in savory dishes like rice pilaf and lamb stew.
But if you’re up for spending the dough this holiday season, we’ve at least got some nutty recipes for you to whip up for your guests. You might even try roasting them over an open fire:
