Wapello, Iowa

Transcription

But first let's find out more about growing this unique and flavorful Iowa ingredient. Roast them, boil them, puree them or even microwave them. Chestnuts are a power food that can grow right in your backyard. And don't be fooled by that intimidating exterior. Inside that shell lies a delectable treat. Kathy Dice: Chestnuts are like almost the perfect food. It has a very high quality protein in it. It's low in fat. Halfway between Muscatine and Burlington, near Wapello, husband and wife team Tom Wahl and Kathy Dice own and operate Red Fern Farm. Spend one afternoon with them and you can learn everything there is to know about growing, harvesting and eating chestnuts. This isn't your ordinary farm, however. Tom and Kathy specialize in promoting sustainable agriculture with tree crops. In addition to chestnuts, Tom researches and experiments with other tree crops and forest farming systems that may be sustainable in Iowa. Dice: It's always great when you have food growing close at hand because then you're going to have access to really fresh food and the fresher it is the more you can be assured that you're getting all the vitamins that are available. However you use chestnuts you can be sure that this ancient food is going to be a nutritious and delicious choice. Tom Wahl: The hard part is getting the trees established in the first place and they do require certain soil conditions, they require well-drained soil so that's where the real labor is, getting the trees established. American chestnuts were once common all over the eastern United States. However, in 1904 a deadly fungus nearly drove this native species to extinction. Fortunately, the American chestnut's Chinese cousin grows quite well in Iowa's climate. Wahl: That's really the only kind of chestnut that is commercially viable in this part of the world. The Japanese and European chestnuts just aren't suited to a continental climate, they're suited to a Mediterranean climate. They don't do well here. Chestnuts are called the un-nut because nutritionally they hardly resemble other nuts. Unlike pecans or walnuts, chestnuts contain just trace amounts of fat while delivering a potent amount of vitamin C. Dice: It's more like a grain like corn than it is a nut. As the Christmas song suggests, roasted chestnuts make the perfect holiday treat. But they're also great on less festive occasions. In Europe, Asia and Africa chestnuts are an extremely popular food and are often used as an everyday substitute for potatoes. Dice: Well, amazingly our biggest demand is for people who are recent immigrants to this country. People who were born in America and don't have a cultural experience with chestnuts only know it from the song and they're like, oh I've heard of those, what do you do with them? And they might buy 5, 10 pounds at the most whereas if you get people from western Bosnia or Laos or Vietnam they will buy 50 to 400 pounds at a time. Wahl: The peak of the season they can be so thick on the ground they were like cobblestones. Harvesting chestnuts is quite easy. The first rule is that you never pull them off the tree. Let them fall to the ground. Then it's just a matter of picking them up. Wahl: Worldwide most chestnuts are picked up by hand but we use a machine called a nut wizard, a wire basket that rolls over the nuts and the nuts pop inside the basket and it's about ten times faster than handpicking and works better than motorized machines that cost many thousands of dollars. And once you figure out how to penetrate their hard, mahogany exterior you'll be well on your