{"id":2946,"date":"2015-12-11T18:08:08","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T18:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=2946"},"modified":"2015-12-11T18:08:08","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T18:08:08","slug":"advent-botany-2015-day-11-chestnuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2015\/12\/11\/advent-botany-2015-day-11-chestnuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent Botany 2015 – Day 11: Sweet Chestnuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mary Williams<\/a><\/h2>\n
\"A<\/a>
A specimen of Castanea sativa (RNG)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My December buzzes along to the tune of \u201cChestnuts roasting on an open fire\u2026,\u201d otherwise known as The Christmas Song; Nat King Cole<\/a>\u2019s beautiful rendition will get you in the chestnut mood.<\/p>\n

Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, freshly roasted chestnuts are the ultimate winter street food<\/a>. Not only are they delicious but they warm your fingers as well as your belly. Chestnuts have a long association with Christmas and are commonly served in winter feasts (recipes here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

There are several species of chestnut found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, all\u00a0 producing edible nuts of differing sizes and qualities. [Note that the abundant horse chestnut trees (conkers) found throughout the UK are in the genus Aesculus<\/em> and are unrelated to edible chestnuts, and that water chestnuts, Eleocharis dulcis<\/em>, also are unrelated and not nuts at all.] Historical records show that European sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa<\/em>) have been cultivated in the Mediterranean region for more than 3000 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more about Sweet Chestnuts and their Christmas traditions in the full blog by Mary Williams at Plant Science Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Advent Botany 2015 Day 10<\/a>, Day 12<\/a><\/p>\n

Index to Advent Botany 2015<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mary Williams My December buzzes along to the tune of \u201cChestnuts roasting on an open fire\u2026,\u201d otherwise known as The Christmas Song; Nat King Cole\u2019s beautiful rendition will get…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[52,53,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-herbarium-rng","category-public-engagement-with-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdvent Botany 2015 - Day 11: Sweet Chestnuts - Herbarium RNG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2015\/12\/11\/advent-botany-2015-day-11-chestnuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent Botany 2015 - Day 11: Sweet Chestnuts - Herbarium RNG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Mary Williams My December buzzes along to the tune of \u201cChestnuts roasting on an open fire\u2026,\u201d otherwise known as The Christmas Song; 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