Composition of the Dry Butternut.—
| Edible Portion. | As Purchased. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refuse, | .... | 86.4 | percent | |
| Water, | 4.4 | percent | .6 | „ |
| Protein, | 27.9 | „ | 3.8 | „ |
| Fat, | 61.2 | „ | 8.3 | „ |
| Sugar, etc., | 3.5 | „ | .5 | „ |
The Chestnut (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Bork).
—The chestnut tree grows in great abundance wild in the United States, especially in the eastern portion on the foothills of the Alleghanies. In some localities it originally formed vast forests. The value of the timber and the fact that the chestnut grows only on good soil were prominent factors in the destruction of many of the original forests, especially those covering the arable lands. The trees still grow in great abundance, especially in the hilly regions.
In France the chestnut is very widely grown, and the nut is used very extensively as food by the poor classes. The nuts are often dried and ground to a flour which is mixed with water and baked in thin sheets, forming a very heavy but a sweet and nutritious cake. The chestnut is used in the preparation of many dishes, prized even by those in easy circumstances. In Italy the chestnut is also widely cultivated, and the nut is ground to form a kind of porridge known as polenta which is very extensively used as food. In the Apennines a cake made of chestnut flour and baked on hot stones is used under the name of necci. In Corea the chestnut is said to be a very extensive article of food, taking the place of the potato. It is eaten raw, boiled, roasted, or cooked with meats. The chestnut differs from the oily nuts in the smaller proportion of fat and the very much larger proportion of sugar and starch,—in fact, starch is almost missing in some of the oily nuts, the carbohydrates present in the very oily being chiefly sugars. In the chestnut the starch is more abundant than the sugar, and for this reason the chestnut meal is more like the meal of the ordinary cereal than that of the oily seeds. The chestnut, also, as it is gathered fresh contains a great deal more water than the ordinary fresh seeds, the quantity ranging from 40 to 50 percent.
The average composition of the fresh chestnut, edible portion, is represented by the following data:
| Water, | 42.7 | percent |
| Protein, | 6.5 | „ |
| Fat, | 6.3 | „ |
| Starch and sugar, | 43.1 | „ |
| Ash, | 1.4 | „ |
The dried chestnuts, that is, those which have been kept for several months or which have been artificially dried, have a composition represented by the following data:
| Water, | 4.8 | percent |
| Protein, | 11.6 | „ |
| Fat, | 15.3 | „ |
| Sugar and starch, | 65.7 | „ |
| Ash, | 2.6 | „ |
The average weight of the hull of the chestnut is 15.9 percent of the total weight of the fresh nut, and 23.4 percent of the average weight of the dried nut. The above data are confirmatory of the statement that the meal of the chestnut in its composition is very much like that of the oily cereals, for instance, of Indian corn meal or oats. It, however, contains more oil and less protein than the cereals referred to. It is readily seen from the above data that chestnut meal may not properly take the place of Indian corn as human food. The nut of the chestnut tree ripens at the time of frost.