Sweet chestnuts

Outside Crystal Palace station, near our house in London, are some sweet chestnut trees. In past years I have always intended getting round to picking the chestnuts but never managed to find the time. Having given up my job, it is now easier to fit in these tasks. Under one of the trees today the ground was covered with the spikey shells in which the chestnuts grow. I turned up with a hessian bag and a pair of gardening gloves but found that what was inside them was little more than a tough skin and no flesh. This was rather disappointing until I noticed that the other trees were not carpeting the ground with chestnuts. They were still growing though I recovered a handful.

It will be another week at least before the other trees are ready for picking. I will be back for them! We need sweet chestnuts for winter cooking and to turn into flour. I'll blog on doing this at a later date.
---
Sent via BlackBerry