Castañes

From Eating Asturias, the Encyclopedia of Asturian Gastronomy
Castañes

Castañes (singular Castaña) is the Asturian word for the nuts of the European Chestnut tree (Castanea sativa). The tree itself is la castañal. It has been a staple food in Asturias for as long as people have lived here. Due to the elevation and climate, most cereal crops do not grow well in the Asturian climate, and nuts have been the alternative in that situation around the world.[1]

After a period of falling out of favor as poor food for poor people[2] and being supplanted in much Asturian cooking by the potato and later imported grains, the castaña is once again found in both home cooking and traditional restaurants. And the popularity of roasted chestnuts as a sure sign of winter festivities to come has never waned in popularity.

The Tree

European chestnut is a one of the largest species of chestnut trees with a trunk topping out around 7 feet in diameter and rising to about 95 feet high at maturity. It has a pyramidal-rounded to broad-columnar form, is a native of southern Europe, and is often found in nature in mountainous woods. The fruit of the European chestnut is edible, but it is not commercially grown in the United State due to its susceptibility to chestnut blight. The genus name comes from the Latin for the town of Castania in Thessaly where the trees reportedly grew in abundance. The species name comes from the Latin word sativa meaning sown or cultivated by humans (as opposed to wild).

Chestnuts have been cultivated from this tree for human consumption since ancient times. Today this species is grown throughout much of Europe, northern Africa and southwestern Asia. Growth is widespread in Great Britain where this tree was first introduced during the Roman occupation. Chestnut blight appears to be much less aggressive in the cool and wet summer conditions in many parts of Europe than it is in the eastern United States; thus, the vast majority of chestnuts consumed as food in the United States are imported from European chestnut cultivars/hybrids commercially grown in Europe (most from Italy).[3]

European chestnut grows well in most soils (sandy, loamy, and clay) including nutritionally poor soil, but prefers well-drained, mildly acid and neutral soils. It prefers full sun, dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought and maritime exposure.

The Asturian peasant of the middle ages was familiar with some fifty-odd localized varieties of the Chestnut and have a rich vocabulary for describing their size, growth, nut production, and wood qualities.[4][5]

So important to the peasant economy and diet were the chestnuts, that multiple times during the centuries, the government has become concerned about a growing mono-culture of chestnut trees in the mountains of Asturias. In the 16th century, the Junta General complained that peasants were planting too many chestnuts on common land:

But for the future, you will be with great care and caution, because in this regard, it is known that there are many excesses from which many damages and accidents are caused, and many peasants are very intent on planting, especially chestnut trees, staying as they do with them in particular; and to do so they cut down and destroy many groves of oak and other trees in the mountains which used to be used and enjoyed in general...

— Junta General del Principado de Asturias, ACTAS HISTÓRICAS (1594-1700)., Tomo I (1594-1636). pp 42. 1st ed., vol. 1

The Nut

The importance of the chestnut fruit itself in Asturias cannot be overstated. Historically, it provided the bulk of the nutrition during winter months to a vast swath of the Asturian peasantry. Indeed, before the potato arrived from the Americas, it was the winter foodstuff throughout Asturias.[6] The nuts were used in every conceivable way. They were, of course, roasted in the skin. It that case they were designated castañes amagüestos, and the modern celebration of Amagüestu is an echo of this older practice.

They were also cooked in soups, as in the Pote de Castañes that precedes the current Pote Asturiano - potato replacing chestnut in the second. More were dried (Called mayuques) and used throughout the cold months as one would dried beans now.[7]

Recipes

The following recipes are available using Castañes:

  1. Charles Estienne and Jean Liébault. L'agriculture et maison rustique. Paris.1583. Cited in The Cambridge World History of Food – Chestnuts, edited by Kenneth F. Kipple and Kriemhild Connee Ornelas.
  2. Traitement des maladies par les légumes, les fruits et les céréales. By Dr Jean Valnet. Ed. Maloine s.a., 1977, pp. 213 to 216. First published in 1964. ISBN 2-224-00399-4. Translated in English as Organic garden medicine – The medical uses of vegetables, fruits and grains, Ed. Erbonia Books Inc., New York.
  3. See this Maya Kapoor article in Grist for an excellent overview of the rise, fall, and potential resurrection of the American Chestnut: https://grist.org/indigenous/transgenic-american-chestnut-indigenous-rights/
  4. Martínez, Jesús Neira. Diccionario de los bables de Asturias. Principado de Asturias, Instituto de Estudios Asturianos (I.D.E.A.), 1989. - See entries for castaña and óriciu, as well as individual cultivar names such as crespa, marniega, and others
  5. Arias, Xosé Lluis García. Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana: Castellano - asturiano. Editorial Prensa Asturiana, 2002.
  6. López, Pascual Pastor y. Memoria geoagrícola de Asturias. Auseva, 1989.
  7. Méndez Riestra, Eduardo. Diccionario de cocina y gastronomía de Asturias. pp 154. 1st ed., Trea, 2017.