That old chestnut

For the unimaginative Briton, chestnuts roasting on an open fire is the only way to go. Yet these sharp little nuts can elevate your baking game, assures John Wright

- John Wright

CONSIDERING how extraordinarily well the chestnut tree grows in Britain, it is a disappointment to learn how irregularly it fruits and how small are the nuts it produces. The nearest presumed native population is in south-eastern France, 350 miles south of Kent, and that is the problem-it is too cold here. Nevertheless, grow here they do, in good years approaching the size of those we buy, sometimes in great quantities. What you are unlikely to find is anything like the large, single-fruited marron.

This is a cultivar and unlikely to grow wild in Britain. Sweet chestnut trees can grow to an enormous size and age.

The Cowdray Colossus in West Sussex has a trunk 41ft in circumference and the Tortworth Chestnut in Gloucestershire is believed to be 1,200 years old.

The latter record is doubtful, however. The long-held belief that Castanea sativa was a Roman introduction is considered unproven, with the 12th century being more likely.

Either way, it is what Oliver Rackham described as an 'honorary native'.