The day is getting shorter, and temperatures are starting to drop in Auckland.
That means... Autumn is here!
Autumn means all sorts of yummy autumn harvests will become available... including chestnuts!
So we have been looking around for chestnuts, and found some places we can go to pick fresh chestnuts.
When is the Chestnut Picking Season in New Zealand?
Chestnut picking season in New Zealand is autumn, around mid-March to mid-April.
It may change depending on the weather for the particular year, but usually mid- to late-March is a good season for them in North island.
And... chestnut picking season is actually quite short compared with other fruit like citrus, only lasting about a month, or sometimes only a few weeks.
So if you want to pick your own chestnut, you got to be keeping close eyes on these chestnuts trees once the end of summer approaches... otherwise, they might all fall and be gone before you even notice them!!
If you want to go pick your own chestnut at established chestnut farms, starting collecting information once March begins!
Where to Pick Fresh Chestnut: Local Parks?
So where are chestnuts trees.... ?
Some people have chestnut trees in their garden. You can also find some chestnuts trees in public parks and reserves.
We found some chestnut trees in our local, west Auckland park: Tui Glen Reserve！
Tui Glen Reserve is an awesome park for children with a lot of outdoor play toys.
But this park also has a few chestnut trees, and they were starting to drop chesnuts around February.
This is a bit early than typical chestnut.... may be due to warm Auckland weather?
Some of chestnuts are really small, but some are edible size.
You cannot find that many, but if you are lucky enough to find some on the ground, they are sweet and yum!
Some small chestnuts found at the Tui Glen Reserve
You can always checkout the foraging map available online (see walnut article http://en.japakiwidaisy.com/2018/02/fresh-walnuts-picking-season-in-new.html).
There may be some known chestnut trees in nearby parks and public domains.
Chesnut Picking in New Zealand: Farms?
If if you want to pick your fresh chestnuts, in a large quantity enough to enjoy them... the best place to go is your pick-your-own chestnut farms!
There are a few places around, where owners have opened up their chestnut-farm for people to pick chestnuts and purchase them.
There isn’t a chestnut forest in the middle of Auckland... but comes close! Some places are only about one-hour drive from Auckland.
Here is a few places I found on the internet...
In Clevedon：Chestnut Charlies
Address：291 Monument Rd, Clevedon, Auckland 2582
Phone: 021-182-3030
Between Auckland & Hamilton, near Rangiriri：Chestnut Ridge Farmstay
http://www.chestnutridge-nz.com/index.html
Address：40 Moorfield Rd, Te Kauwhata 3782
Phone：027 250 0941
Could not confirm this place is still operating, but there’s one in Waiaupa: Chestnut Farm
169 Percy Millen Dr, Waiau Pa 2679
There may be other places not listed on the internet.
Many places sell chestnut you pick, at a good whole sale price (some times as cheap as 2~4 dollar per kilo!) .
Most places also ask you to bring your own bags for chestnuts.
Chestnut shells are very spikey so you might choose to bring gloves and good shoes, and even a tong to pick chestnuts with.
When you are making a plan for chestnut-picking, make sure to contact chestnut-farm first, to ask them about their open days (when chestnuts are ready), cost, and what to bring.
Once you know where and when to go chestnut picking, keep a good manner at the chestnut-farm, and happy picking!
Chestnuts in shells – spikey!!
You will be so happy after picking big chestnuts... yum!
Buying Chestnuts
If you do not care about picking up your own chestnuts, you can always purchase them.
Some Asian fruit & vegetable shops tend to sell them around chestnut season.
They are sold at much higher price than when you pick your own though.
Some chestnuts sold at shops may have been stored for a while and become a bit dry.
You need to carefully check chestnuts for how fresh they look, how dry they are or if they have any mold on them, before buying them.
In addition, sometimes people sell chestnuts from their farm/garden at local market or on trade website like trademe.
If you are lucky to find chestnuts for sale in these occasions, you can buy fresh chestnuts at very reasonable price.
So it is worth keeping eye out for chestnuts for sale around March ~ April.
How to Store Chestnuts
Freshness is very important for chestnuts; they are perishable food.
Chestnuts can be stored in the fridge for a few weeks easily; storing chestnuts for two weeks after picking them is said to actually improve the flavor of chestnuts.
But after that, gradually chestnut will go bad...
So what if you picked heaps of chestnuts and want to enjoy them over a long period of time?
Well for a long term storage, you may wish to freeze them in the freezer.
There are a few different ways of freezing chestnuts,
１．Freeze as is (in hard shell)- not very recommendable
First is to throw chestnuts in the freezer as is, with hard shells still attached.
While it is easy just throwing chestnuts in the freezer, it may be hard to peel them after they defrosted.
So I personally do not think this is a good idea...
２．Peel shells first, then freeze them – recommended
Many people freeze chestnuts after peeling outer shells and inner skin.
Peeling chestnut is a bit of tough work, as chestnuts shells are hard.
But once you peeled them then freeze them, it is much easier to used after you defrost them.
Over a long time of storage, your peeled chestnut may start to dry out, or change color.
To prevent this from happening, some people sprinkle in a bit of sugar in the same freezer bag as peeled chestnuts before freezing.
Sugar will lightly coat the peeled chestnuts, and help them stay good in freezer.
３．Cook Chestnuts in Syrup & Freeze – recommended
My favorite way of storing chestnut is first cook chestnuts in syrup (with a lots of sugar), then store chestnuts with plenty of syrup in freezer bag.
Even if you store for a long term in a freezer, chestnut will not dry out as they are inside syrup.
Thick sugar-syrup prevents ice crystals from forming and keeps chestnut in a good condition.
When it comes to eating, you can simply defrost them and enjoy them as is!
So We Picked and Ate Our Chestnuts!
So we already enjoyed some chestnuts we collected by going around parks...
First, we peeled shells off from chestnuts we picked.
Chestnuts skin is really hard, so it helps if you first soak chestnuts in hot water for a while; this softens outer shell.
I boiled a jug of water, and poured hot water onto chestnuts (raw), and left it until the hot water cools down enough for me to touch.
Then peel chestnuts with a sharp knife.
Still mostly raw – just softening skin by pouring hot water over them.
Once you peeled chestnuts clean, you soak them for 15-20 minutes in water with a pinch of salt.
This helps remove a bit of alkaline flavor (bitterness) from chestnuts. – an optional step (as chestnuts taste good as is), but supposed to make them taste even better.
Peeled chestnut
This time, I cooked chestnuts in a syrup.
In brief,
1. boil chestnuts in a pot of hot water with 1TBS of added vinegar – for about 15~20 minutes at low heat or until chestnuts are cooked.
2. drain and discard water – cool chestnut in a bowl.
3. place chestnut in a pot with water just enough to cover chestnut.
4. add sugar, approximately half the weight of chestnut (200~250g for every 500g of peeled chestnut)
5. cook at low heat for about 10 minutes – sugar will dissolve and water will become slightly thicker. Be careful not to burn the chestnut – or brown the syrup – cook at low heat!
Oh no, Burned it for the first try... still yummy though
Try again, this time successful sweet chestnuts in syrup! Yum!
Chestnut Picking in New Zealand Summary
- Chestnut picking season in NZ: Mid-March ~ April
- Chestnuts trees in parks/ or chestnut farm!
- Freeze them to enjoy them longer!
- Chestnuts in sweet syrup ... yum!
Hopefully 2018 would be another great year for chestnut picking....
Happy Chestnut-picking & eating!
