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Collect Chestnuts Yourself

When it smells seductively again at the weekly markets, then it’s the chestnut time! Did you know that you can collect chestnuts, or chestnuts as they are also called, yourself? So that you don’t confuse them with the common horse chestnut, EAT SMARTER has put together the most important information for collectors.

We probably all collected chestnuts as children to build little people with them or simply to enjoy the deep brown, shiny hand flatterers.

Unlike its noble sister, the chestnut, the horse chestnut is not edible. Not only does it taste unpleasantly bitter, it also causes stomach pains.

The chestnut is completely different: it is a delicious and healthy snack in autumn and winter. If you keep your eyes open, with a bit of luck you will find a chestnut tree around the corner and you can collect the prickly delicacies yourself.

Incidentally, sweet chestnut and horse chestnut are only related by name. Biologically, the two belong to different genera.

This is the difference between horse chestnuts and sweet chestnuts

  • Leaf shape: Horse chestnuts have finger-shaped, lush green leaves whose stalks can be up to 20 centimeters long. Sweet chestnuts, on the other hand, have single, elliptically shaped leaves with serrated edges.
  • Fruit capsules: Horse chestnuts are in light green to brownish shells that have individual spines. If you break it open, there is only a single chestnut in it. It’s different with sweet chestnuts: their shell is densely covered with green spines that later turn light brown. There are several fruits in the bowl.
  • Fruits: If you put a horse chestnut and a chestnut next to each other, the difference quickly becomes
  • clear: While horse chestnuts are uniformly round or oval, chestnuts have a clearly flattened side and taper to a point.

Where can I find sweet chestnuts?

Happy are those who live in the south of the republic: In Germany, sweet chestnut trees grow most frequently in the Palatinate, on the Nahe, Saar, and Moselle. You can also go on a chestnut collecting tour yourself in the western Black Forest, in the Odenwald, on the lower Main, and in the Taunus.

But with luck, you can also find some chestnut trees in the rest of Germany. The website mundraub.org offers a good overview, where users can enter the location of “abandoned” fruit trees, berry bushes, and even chestnut trees. Exciting: The makers of Mundraub also offer discovery bike tours in the city, on which you can discover fruit to pick yourself in unusual places – for example, chestnut trees not far from Alexanderplatz in Berlin.

Tips for collecting chestnuts

The greenish-brown fruit cups of the chestnuts lie in the foliage like little hedgehogs. And they are just as prickly. It is therefore best not to use your hands to crack the fruit cups. The heel of a stable shoe has proven itself. So you can collect the brown, shiny fruits without pricking yourself.

Chestnuts are ripe when the skin is evenly brown. Wrap fruits that still have white spots in the newspaper for a few days and let them ripen in a warm, dry place.

It is also best to store your collected chestnuts between two layers of newspaper. In a dry place, the fruits will last for several months.

How to prepare chestnuts

In my opinion, the simplest method is still the best for sweet chestnuts: cut the skin at the pointed end of the fruit crosswise (this works well with a serrated knife, for example, a bread knife).

Now place the fruit on a baking tray in an oven at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. The chestnuts are done when the shells are lightly browned and the characteristic chestnut scent can be smelled.

Now let the chestnuts cool down a bit and use your fingers to remove the shells and the furry “skin” around the fruit. Serve with some butter and salt if you like.

However, the peeled chestnuts can also serve as the basis for more unusual types of preparation. For example, the French family I stayed with when I was a student liked to cook chestnuts in buttermilk – different, but not bad either. Chestnuts also taste great caramelized.

Interesting not only for people with gluten intolerance: chestnuts can also be used to make flour that gives bread and cakes a slightly nutty taste. Since this flour has no adhesive power of its own, it can only replace part of the flour.

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Food

Collect, Identify, Eat Wild Herbs: 11 Tips

Collecting wild herbs is not only popular in spring and summer: you can also find wild herbs outside in winter. They literally shoot out of the ground, along the way, in the forest and on meadows.

They are delicious and also a health boost for your body. Here are 11 things you should know about wild herbs.

Wild herbs – the hidden heroes

By definition, wild herbs are on the one hand herbaceous plants that are suitable for consumption and on the other hand have not been processed by breeding. “Herbal” means that the plants do not become woody. Some of them are also medicinal herbs, and they have been proven to have a positive health effect.

1. Collect wild herbs: Not all wild plants are edible!

You should be careful when collecting wild herbs: not everything that looks like wild herbs is actually edible!

The edible wild garlic is sometimes confused with the poisonous plants lily of the valley and arum. Similarly, there is a risk of confusion between wood sorrel and poisonous wood anemone, juniper and sallow tree. Lesser celandine, which can be found under fruit trees or in the forest, should also not be eaten once it has bloomed.

2. Collect wild herbs – even in winter

Unless there is a thick blanket of snow, you can of course also find wild herbs in winter. Typical candidates are

Daisies bloom year-round and are high in vitamin C, magnesium, and iron.
Dandelions sprout very early. Especially at the end of a mild winter, fresh leaves rich in vitamins A and C will soon appear. If you have enough leaves, you can conjure up a fresh salad from them, and the leaves are also good in a smoothie.
Clover is a good addition to salads or smoothies.
Nettles grow very quickly once the snow disappears.

3. They are delicious, for example as a wild herb salad

If you have collected the right herbs, they can be processed into tasty dishes.

Daisies and dandelion leaves go well in a wild herb salad, wild garlic can be used to conjure up tasty soups or wild herb pesto, nettle can be used like spinach.

Herbs are also conquering modern cuisine as tea or green smoothies. If you like it milder, you can add it to herb butter, cream cheese and egg dishes.

4. Collect and store wild herbs

Collecting wild herbs is all well and good, but how do you pick them up? Actually like salad and vegetables: Most herbs can be stored in sealed metal or glass bread boxes in the refrigerator for a few days. They can also be hung upside down in bundles to dry.

If you have a dehydrator, you can also use it to preserve the plants. Flower buds and other plant parts can be inserted and also make an excellent small gift.

5. Wild herbs are better than some medicines

Many plants, whether medicinal or not, can be administered as home remedies. They are processed in a wide variety of forms, such as powder, tea, juice, syrup, ointment, oil or tincture.

Dandelion can be used to promote digestion, ground elder helps with gout, buckhorn against coughs.

6. Wild herbs are bursting with minerals

A simple lettuce and even the superfood kale far outshine wild herbs. If kale contains about 490 milligrams of potassium per 100 grams, the inconspicuous daisy has 600.

Stinging nettle contains three times the calcium and four times the iron of kale. It also offers twice as much magnesium as kale and six times as much as lettuce.

7. Wild herbs are rich in vitamins.

Many wild herbs are rich in vitamins. Stinging nettle, burnet and cinquefoil contain more vitamin C than the cultivated plants kale, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

The situation is similar with vitamin A and also with the protein content. Eating a wild herb salad is definitely better than doing “functional food” and dizzying vitamin products.

8. Wild herbs contain many bioactive plant substances.

Because of their many ingredients, they taste more aromatic and spicier than cultivated products and can help to cure or prevent diseases. The bitter substances it contains promote healthy intestinal flora and protect against fungal infestation.

Bitter substances are mainly found in dandelion, yarrow and daisies. Protection against free radicals is attributed to flavonoids, which can be found in lady’s mantle and plantain.

The tannins in ground ivy, lesser celandine and loosestrife inhibit inflammation, diarrhea and skin diseases. In addition, saponins, silicic acid, essential oils and much more can be found in abundance in wild herbs.

9. Determine wild herbs

Whether in meadows or fields, in river meadows or forests – you can find and collect wild herbs almost everywhere. To be on the safe side, you should identify the wild herbs before consumption.

10. Buy wild herbs?

It is also practical to have your own herb garden, which can become part of the natural garden. Since wild herbs are particularly robust against bad weather and pests, they hardly need any care. There are now also special mail order companies where you can buy wild herbs. Pharmacies and health food stores also offer them, sometimes as a powder.

Of course, your own harvest guarantees the freshest herbs – and is also more fun.

11. Wild herbs are back in fashion!

A few years ago, picking wild herbs was dismissed as a crank and a romantic, but today they are experiencing a real boom. More and more people are interested in these unjustly forgotten regional superfoods, which are hard to find in supermarkets and which many mistake for weeds.

Anyone who sees wild herbs as part of their kitchen and medicine today is back in fashion, benefits in terms of their health and, on top of that, has something delicious to eat!

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Food

Harvesting Walnuts: This is How You Collect Them For The Winter

You can harvest walnuts in autumn and stock them up for the whole winter. But harvesting alone is not enough. We’ll tell you what to look out for.

Harvesting walnuts – when does that work?

Walnuts are healthy and delicious. In addition, they can be stored well and for a long time. What could be more obvious than stocking up for the winter in autumn? If you have the opportunity, you should use it.

Walnuts ripen in the fall. They can be harvested from mid-September to the end of October. Strictly speaking, the term “harvest walnuts” is not so apt. Because you shouldn’t harvest walnuts from the tree. Rather, you wait until they fall from the tree on their own and collect them. This way you can be sure that they are really ripe.

Harvesting walnuts – this is the best way to do it

When walnuts grow on the tree, they have another, softer shell in addition to the hard, woody shell. This shell is initially green. When the walnuts are ripe and fall from the tree, the green shell bursts open. Later it turns black.

Especially in damp grass, the outer shell can quickly start to mold. Therefore, you should collect the nuts as regularly as possible. Preferably daily. It is best to sort out walnuts that are moldy or infested by caterpillars immediately.

Clean and dry walnuts

After collecting, you need to clean and dry the healthy walnuts. Remove the green outer shell by hand. You can also use a brush to remove any residue that gets stuck.

Drying the cleaned walnuts is not difficult. To do this, place them in boxes or baskets in a single layer if possible. It is best to turn them once a day or mix them vigorously. It is important that the walnuts dry as quickly as possible. Otherwise you run the risk of the walnuts starting to get moldy. An airy place with 20 to 25 degrees is best. If you dry the nuts outside, you should put them inside in the evening. Otherwise they will get wet again during the night.

The walnuts are dried enough when they lose about 50 percent of their weight. This is of course a bit difficult to control. The drying time is about three to six weeks.

Storing walnuts

After the walnuts have dried, you can store them for several months. Make sure that they are stored as dry and airy as possible. High humidity can lead to mold. It is best to hang the nuts in bags or nets.

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Food

4 Edible Wild Plants to Collect in The Fall

Many wild plants bear fruit in autumn and thus provide us with nutrient-rich food for free. We introduce you to four interesting wild plants and show you how you can use them in the kitchen.

If you go for a walk regularly in autumn, you can also keep an eye out for edible wild plants and thus obtain food directly from nature. You can easily recognize many plants by their colorful fruits.

Wild plants in autumn: the mountain ash

You can recognize the mountain ash, also known as the rowan berry, by its small, spherical and red-colored fruits. These usually grow in small bundles on the branch. You can harvest them between August and October. However, only the fruits of the sweet rowan varieties are edible. Other varieties contain too many bitter substances, which makes the small berries inedible.

You can recognize the Moravian (or edible) mountain ash, for example, by the multi-pinnate leaves, which are darker and larger than the leaves of other varieties. The rowan berries of this rowan species are also significantly larger with a diameter of about 13 millimeters.

Thorny, but with sweet fruits: the hawthorn

Another wild plant that bears fruit in the fall is the hawthorn. It belongs to the rose family and grows as a small tree or large shrub. It reaches a height of about 500 to 700 centimeters. Its long sharp thorns are particularly characteristic. In spring you can also recognize it by the magnificent white flowers, which look beautiful but smell unpleasant.

The fruits are ripe in August and September. They have a diameter of about one centimeter, are uniform and dark red in color. You should only harvest the fruits after the first frost, when they are really sweet and tasty.

Well-known wild plant in autumn: the rosehip

One of the best-known types of fruit that grows on wild plants in autumn is the rosehip. Rose hips are the fruit of different types of roses. They come from the blossoms of the rose. Particularly common types of roses that form the aromatic fruits are, for example, the dog, mountain or wine rose.

You can harvest the rosehips themselves in October and November. They are rarely available from September. In addition to the characteristic and mostly pleasantly scented rose blossoms, you can recognize the rose hips themselves by their spherical or oval shape. The fruits are usually red, orange or yellow in colour. However, some varieties also have a greenish to brownish tinge.

It hurts, but it’s healthy: the stinging nettle

You can use all parts of the nettle plant as a spice or medicinal herb. Leaves and roots are available all year round and contain, among other things, significant amounts of vitamins A, C and K as well as calcium, iron, magnesium and high-quality vegetable protein.

In autumn, the wild plant provides us with its seeds in particular. You can recognize stinging nettles by their oval-shaped leaves, which end in a point at the front and are deeply notched at the edges. The burning pain that emanates from the leaves is also particularly characteristic. You should therefore be careful when harvesting.

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Food

Collect Edible Mushrooms: You Have to Pay Attention to That

Do you want to collect mushrooms, but don’t have any experience yet? No problem! Here you can find out everything you need to know for your first trip to the mushrooms.

Collect mushrooms – when and where?

Autumn time is fungus time – strictly speaking, that’s not true. In theory, you can pick mushrooms all year round. However, most of them are ready for harvest, especially in late summer and autumn. The humid and warm climate is ideal for many mushrooms.

But where do edible mushrooms grow? This is not so easy to answer:

The morel likes to grow in damp alluvial forests,
the meadow mushroom in meadows.
On the other hand, you can often find the Edelreizker under pine trees.
As you can see from the examples, you sometimes have to go to different places to collect different mushrooms. The condition of the soil plays an important role: some mushrooms grow particularly well on sandy soil, while others require acidic forest soil. Overall, you have a good chance of encountering edible mushrooms in the forest. Which one you ultimately find depends heavily on local conditions and the time of year.

Equipment and what to look out for

When collecting mushrooms, there are a few things to keep in mind. For example, mushroom picking is taboo in nature reserves. In all other forests, you are usually allowed to collect mushrooms for your own use, but do some research beforehand to be on the safe side. As with any other stay in the forest, you should behave considerately.

To collect mushrooms you need the following equipment:

a basket,
a knife
and a good mushroom identification book.
The collected mushrooms lie nice and airy in a basket. Plastic bags are not good at all. In it, mushrooms spoil very quickly.

Collect and identify mushrooms: This is how you do it

Here’s how you go about picking mushrooms:

If you have found a mushroom, you should first identify it. You can use the guide book to help you with this. Over time, however, you will be able to identify some mushrooms without a book.
If it’s an edible mushroom, you can use the knife to cut it off just above the ground, or gently twist it out of the ground.
Then you should cover the resulting hole with some soil and leaves.
When in doubt, leave a mushroom that you cannot identify with certainty. Some toadstools can be mistaken for edible mushrooms! Don’t just rely on illustrations in your mushroom book. Depending on the environment, individual mushrooms of a species can look very different.

Important characteristics for identifying fungi are, for example:

Shape and color of cap and stem
Distinction between lamellae and tubes on the underside of the mushroom
Staining of the lamellae and tubes
The site
The season
Color and smell of the pulp
Striking coloring when cut or when pressed
Especially at the beginning it will be difficult for you to identify the different species with certainty. It is best to let experienced collectors accompany you when you go mushroom picking. Mushroom tours are a great help. They are often offered by adult education centers in the fall. NABU also offers such excursions in many regions. Other good people to talk to about identifying mushrooms are mushroom consultants. You can find them in many mushroom regions.

Important: If you feel unwell after consuming your mushrooms, you should seek immediate medical attention or go to a hospital. As I said, certain fungi can sometimes be deadly to humans. Symptoms such as drowsiness, sweating or diarrhea can indicate mushroom poisoning.

The most popular edible mushrooms

There are countless types of mushrooms. Some are deadly poisonous, others are simply indigestible or inedible, for example because they are extremely bitter. A lot of mushrooms are edible, but they don’t taste very good. And then there are the really good edible mushrooms.

In Germany, for example, you can collect these well-known mushrooms:

porcini mushrooms
chestnuts
Morels
chanterelles
Other popular edible mushrooms are muscari, young ink caps, meadow mushrooms or birch mushrooms.

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Don’t Miss: 6 Wild Herbs to Collect in Spring

You can often find wild herbs that you can collect in spring on your own doorstep. They are delicious and very healthy at the same time. We introduce you to six herbs and suitable recipes.

It’s amazing what’s growing outside: In Europe, there are around 500 species of wild plants that you can collect throughout the year. In addition to the well-known medicinal and medicinal plants, this also includes wild herbs. These bring very different flavors, ranging from sweet to bitter.

But beware: Not all wild plants are edible! So before you start your search, you should read our article for tips on collecting, identifying and eating wild herbs.

In the following, we will introduce you to six spring wild herbs and how you can use them for culinary purposes.

Wild garlic: The classic spring wild herb

Wild garlic is one of the absolute classics among the wild herbs in spring. You will find the plant preferably in shady (meadow) forests. What is special about wild garlic is its unique aroma of onion and garlic. You can eat both the young leaves and pickle the wild garlic buds. Wild garlic is also good for your health: it is said to have a cleansing and detoxifying effect. Once picked, you can use wild garlic in a variety of ways: either as a spread or homemade wild garlic pesto, as a wild garlic soup or as a salad accompaniment. If you want to be a little more creative, you can also try more unusual recipes: Read our article to find out which wild garlic recipes are available.

Caution: wild garlic looks similar to many a poisonous double, for example the lily of the valley. If in doubt, you can recognize the wild garlic when you rub the leaves between your fingers. If you smell garlic then, there is a high probability that it is wild garlic. More on this here: Recognizing wild garlic – and not confusing it with the poisonous lily of the valley.

Dandelions with bright yellow flowers in spring

The dandelion is widespread with its bright yellow flowers. With their sweet taste, the flowers are ideal as a spice or in a salad. You can eat raw or cook the yellow flowers found in green meadows. However, please make sure to only use the flowers in moderation, as the oxalic acid they contain should not be eaten in large quantities.

If you want spring to come to your house, you can try your hand at a homemade dandelion salad or use the special aroma to make dandelion honey yourself.

Ribwort plantain as an ingredient for quark or scrambled eggs

You can get the buckhorn at the edges of paths or in meadows. People have always used its crushed leaves as a medicinal herb, but you can also eat buckhorn. Although it does not have a distinctive taste of its own, it goes well with other herbs.

Use the tender leaves, for example, in salads, as an ingredient in quark and scrambled eggs or for buckhorn tea. You can also use the spring wild herb in case of illness: It helps you as a home remedy for coughs in the form of plantain cough syrup.

Giersch: Edible weeds instead of weeds

For gardeners, ground elder is often nothing more than weeds, as the herb spreads across the board. So you have a good chance of finding it in shady meadows in spring. The taste of Giersch is reminiscent of spinach, so you can use it in many ways. You can make many delicious recipes from the vitamin C bomb, for example a wild herb salad or potato soup. You can read more goutweed recipes in the linked article.

Collect aromatic garlic mustard in spring

The completely edible garlic mustard can be found in masses as a weed on forest paths in spring. Its aroma is sharp and with a light touch of garlic. Younger leaves have a finer flavor and are less pungent than older ones. In the kitchen, you can use the garlic mustard to make wild herb pesto, for example, or to refine salads. In the linked article, we tell you what else you should know about the application and mode of action of garlic mustard.

Meadowfoam herb as a pepper substitute

Meadowfoam grows in abundance in meadows in spring. You can recognize it from afar by the lush, white flower clusters. Did you know that weeds are an important food source for bees and insects? You can also harvest the leaves and flowers, which taste like cress and use them in your home kitchen. For example, you can use the hot seeds as an alternative to black pepper for seasoning. In small quantities, the meadowfoam herb also tastes great in herb quark or as a spread.

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