First year crop from my Chinquapin

Here is the nut hanging out of the husk.

Here are the nuts I harvested today - they are small.

Here are the nuts in their protective husks on the shrub.

Cool!! What type of nut tree is a Chinquapin? They look a little bit like hazelnuts.

I beleive it is a chestnut relative.

I believe it is a member of the Oak family - no?

Here's our answer:

Columbia Encyclopedia: chinquapin
Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopediachinquapin (chĭng'kəpĭn) [Algonquian], name for certain American species of the chestnut genus of the family Fagaceae (beech family) and for a related species, the golden chinquapin (Castanopsis chrysophylla), an evergreen of the Pacific states. The common chinquapin is Castanea pumila, native to the E United States. Its wood and fruit are used like those of the chestnut. The bush chinquapin (C. alnifolia) has a more southern range. Chinquapin is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Fagales, family Fagaceae.

I have always wanted a nut bearing Chinquapin. Where did you get this tree and how old is it?
Thanks, Doug

You have to have two for polination and mine are the shrub type. I got one of them from Edible Landscaping and I don't remember where the other one came from.

Whooee, how wonderful!

Mine may bear fruit too, if it ever gets a mate!

I tried putting a rock on a low hanging branch holding it on the ground - but it didn't root. I can send you a cutting and you can try to root it. I stuck a couple of cuttings in the ground last weekend just to see what would happen. If anyting roots -it is yours - but I'm not very good at making new plants. :(

Nah, I'm lousy at cuttings. Plus, I'm a little hesitant about planting any more fruit/nut bushes in that area since I lost 3 red & 2 black currants and 2 gooseberries this year, at least until I figure out what's going on. My chinquapin is doing well there, though, as is the beach plum.

However, I think I'll stop by Edible Landscaping when I go to Charlottesvile the first of November and see if he has any ideas, and perhaps a small one I can risk.

AYankeeCat, Probably will need to wait until next spring for any cuttings to root. Unless you have a greenhouse where you can fool them into thinking it is warm weather again! But I would be interested in maybe getting some cuttings next spring if you don't mind. Thanks... Doug

Doug - no problem - just dmail me in the spring!

What do the nuts taste like? Are they easy to shell? How do you use them? I planted a black walnut tree about 25 years ago and they are a mess to clean and then shell.

Taste is similar to the American chestnut. Good raw better roasted. They grow wild throughout the hill country of Virginia and North Carolina, probably lots of other states but those are ones that I am familiar with. They get wormy quickly after harvest tho, so roasting soon after harvest is desirable. As for messiness, the burrs are smaller than a chestnut, but can be considered a nuisance. Otherwise a well behaved plant. They come true from seed so that is a good way to propogate them.
Darius, I have been away for almost 20 years, But when I left there were still vendors selling the nuts in Gate City. Must be a lot of chinquapin bushes in Scott county. Had quite a few in Fluvanna county when I was a kid. When we cleaned up a newground for cow pasture, always left the chinquapin bushes and Serviceberry Sarvis). They bore like crazy when they did not have to compete with larger trees.

Thanks, Farmerdill... I'll check it out. I got a few chinese chestnuts from a neighbor and have them in the fridge in damp sphagnum, hoping they will root next spring. I have LOTS in the freezer, whole (without the burr)... they freeze well and can be roasted as needed.

I also have some wild damson plum seeds in the fridge, to plant in spring. IF they do sprout, I may have seedlings to trade.

I found a huge wild colony close to my house but the squirrels beat me to the nuts. Also they do get chestnut blight but they sucker freely so if the main stem dies others should sprout quickly.

I have an older in-law that says it's too bad that young boys don't shoot squirrels anymore. Besides young boys about 30 years ago, what predators do squirrels have? It just seems like they're everywhere in mass populations!!

We eat squirrels here. They tast good.

Some of the nuts I brought in the house are sprouting! (I put them in potting soil.) How do I roast them so I can at least try to eat some of them.

Probably just like chestnuts...

I think they are a little sweeter than chestnuts. Mine lived 5 years and the blight got it. Only got 1 fair crop from it.

lablarry - What did you do with the nuts? I still have all of mine - maybe a pint - waiting for something. One of them sprouted and I am nursing a tiny plant for Darius! Shh - don't tell her - it is a surprise.

LOL, looks like our electric power and internet service was restored just in time! (We've been out 3+ days from ice storms)

Well over the weekend I went to get my nuts out of the mason jar I had them in and when I cracked them they were hard as a rock. :(

You have to eat them relatively soon after picking, they dry up and get hard.

I bet you can freeze them like chestnuts: whole, raw, in the shell.