Introduction to the Characteristics and Cultivation Techniques of Donglan Oil Chestnut Varieties

Chestnut, a plant of the Fagaceae family, has a long history of cultivation in Donglan.

Donglan chestnut has a long lifespan and high yield, with a fruiting period of over 50 years, even 100 years. It is called the "money tree" that is planted once and harvested for a hundred years, planted by one generation and harvested by many generations. At present, the county has about 1,000 "longevity star" chestnut trees over a hundred years old, which are still full of fruit. Since 1991, through the efforts of scientific and technical personnel, Donglan County has introduced the nationally famous "Jiujiazhong" chestnut and grafted it with local chestnuts, cultivating hybrid chestnuts with advantages such as dwarfing, early maturity, high yield, large fruit, and fast fruiting. At present, the county's Donglan oil chestnut area has reached 200,000 mu, with 60,000 mu bearing fruit and an annual output of over 7 million kg. In August 2001, it was awarded the title of "Hometown of Chinese Chestnut" by the State Forestry Administration.

Donglan chestnut is mainly fragrant chestnut, famous for its thin skin, bright color, beautiful appearance, delicate flesh, and sweet taste. The single fruit weighs 15-19 g and is rich in protein, sugar, fat, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Compared with chestnuts from other places, it has the characteristics of high sugar, high starch, low fat, and moderate protein. Its protein content accounts for 9.98%, fat content accounts for 2.88-3.75%, sugar content accounts for 19%, and starch content accounts for 72.5%, which is 7% higher than ordinary rice and 5.6% higher than @#@245@#@, and is rich in various amino acids, vitamins B1, B2, C, and trace elements such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc needed by the human body.

Donglan chestnut can be eaten cooked or raw. When cooked, it is mealy and sweet; when raw, it is refreshingly sweet and crisp. It is praised as a treasure among fruits, and its nutritional value is comparable to rice, so it also has the reputation of "iron rod crop".

Chestnut also has good medicinal value. In the Tang Dynasty, the "Qianjin Fang" by Sun Simiao, the king of medicine, records: chestnut kernels, "those with kidney disease should take them." Eating several kernels each morning, noon, and evening is quite effective for elderly kidney deficiency, frequent urination, and weakness of the waist and legs. Su Shi, a prose writer of the Northern Song Dynasty, once suffered from soft-foot disease and could not be cured for a long time. Later, he met an old man in the mountains who told him to mash 10 fresh chestnuts and cook them into soup every morning. After taking it for several days, he was indeed cured. So he happily wrote: "This old man has added waist and foot disease, the mountain elder's old prescription of eating chestnuts; guests come and I tell them to rise early and late, swallow slowly three times to collect white jade syrup." Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty also liked eating chestnuts very much. She had the imperial kitchen finely process and grind top-grade chestnuts, add rock sugar, and steam them into chestnut wowotou for her to eat at every meal.

In recent years, medical researchers at home and abroad have found that chestnut also has various functions such as regulating qi and nourishing blood, moistening the intestines and tonifying the kidneys, stopping coughing and moistening the lungs, and strengthening the spleen and benefiting essence, so it is also called "medicinal fruit." The products are exported to places at home and abroad.