Last year although we had below average Winter and Spring rainfall the season looked promising after good rains in late November and early December, however with the hot dry summer and the worst bushfire season on record we had a smaller than expected chestnut crop in 2009. The size and quality however were excellent and as most of our customers are aware we were sold out by early June. This year we have had good winter rains and as I am sitting here looking out the window it is raining again. We have had over 100mm of rain here at Eurobin in the last 10 days and the Ovens River at the bottom of our home orchard is close to minor flood levels. There has also been a late dump of heavy snow on the nearby Alps which will soon melt and help keep the rivers running well. This all bodes well for a very good crop and the orchard is looking better this October than it has for the last five years or so. The grass is thick, lush and growing madly and the soil is well and truly saturated where as this time last year things were definitely beginning to dry out. It is still early days but not withstanding a sustained period of extremely hot dry weather the harvest next year should be a good one and we will have plenty of sweet easy peeling chestnuts next year.

 

The chestnut industry association, Chestnuts Australia Inc, has commenced a 3 year project aimed at developing sustainable chestnut orchard management practices. The project has received funding support from the Federal Governments “Caring for Our Country” program. Brian was involved with the funding application and is now the Chairman of the project Committee of Management. The main aim of the project is to establish trial sites on existing chestnut orchards and conduct research into soil health, irrigation water availability and use, canopy management and optimum nutrient requirements for sustainable chestnut production levels.

Our property on the Great Alpine Rd at Eurobin has been selected as one of the trial sites and we have now fully adopted biological farming practices as well as installing soil moisture monitors to ensure the most efficient use of available water for irrigation purposes. We now understand the invaluable role of soil micro-organisms in developing a well structured, fertile and productive soil and grow our trees without the use of chemical fertilizers. Last season we received positive feedback from our customers saying that our chestnuts tasted better than ever and we are now convinced that growing food naturally without the addition of artificially produced nutritional inputs results in producing far better quality chestnuts that are naturally nutritious as well.

 

In around 4 days we leave Australia to attend the first European Chestnut Congress to be held in Cuneo, Italy. The congress runs for 3 days and coincides with the annual chestnut festival held in Cuneo. Brian and I attended this festival in 2002 with our children and it was a wonderful experience. This year we will be going to Europe not with our children but with a group of fellow chestnut growers and enthusiasts. There will be 13 of us in total and as well as the festival in Cuneo we will be visiting the Marradi chestnut festival the weekend before. The Marradi festival is going to be a unique experience as we have booked to travel there from Florence on a vintage steam train that is used only a few times a year to travel to Marradi for the festival. It a three hour trip up into the mountains and I’m sure it will be one of the highlights of the trip.

More on that when we get back.....

 

 

 

We were very fortunate to secure an order for chestnuts from QANTAS this year. Business and First Class passengers on all international flights leaving Australia in April and May were treated to chestnut soup and duck with chestnuts on the menu. It was an honour to be selected to supply QANTAS and I understand the feedback from passengers was very positive so I hope it will become a regular autumn menu item. Our Japanese customer approached ANA and they have also selected Australian chestnuts for their autumn menu too. Who knows who might be next??

 

The technician is currently upgrading our website to include a more user friendly order page with Paypal payment options. At the moment some of the pages have disappeared but once the upgrade is finished they should reappear along with a number of new pages and updated information.

 

During our travels we have the opportunity to taste many delicious chestnut dishes. We want to share these with you so each newsletter I’m going to include a new recipe. To kick this section off I’m going to start with a classic chestnut soup called Cousina which Brian and I had last year when we were in the Ardeche region of France. Madame Brioche of the Hotel Vivaris (now Hotel Helvi) in Vals les Bains made this soup famous in this region and although she has now retired they still make it to the original recipe. It’s so simple yet so incredibly delicious and proves recipes don’t have to be complicated when you have great base ingredients.

 

 

800g frozen peeled chestnuts

1 litre chicken stock

600 ml cream

¼ tsp nutmeg

6 celery leaves

salt

pepper

 

Boil the chestnuts in the chicken stock, celery leaves and nutmeg until tender and stock has reduced by half. Puree in a food processor or vitamizer.

 

Add the cream to the puree and warm. Do not boil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Soup can be processed with a barmix to aerate before serving if desired