To truly understand and appreciate the delight of roasting chestnuts and our one-of-a-kind chestnut roaster is to become one with the chestnut’s vast and interesting history. The story goes like this…

Long before the arrival of the Pilgrims on the east coast, the American chestnut tree stood proud and tall, often well over 100 feet, with their trunks measuring as many as twenty feet around! It may be interesting to know chestnuts were a major part of the Native Americans’ diet. They were known to have taught the Pilgrims how to cook them in stews or grind them into flour for bread. Oral history shows that the Iroquois tribe enjoyed a hot drink made of roasting chestnuts using their own rustic version of a chestnut roaster.

The Cherokee nation handed down a legend, through word of mouth, called, “The Bear Man”, taken from James Mooney’s “History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees” that tells of a bear that spiritually knew where to find a large bundle of fresh chestnuts when they were considered scarce. In rubbing his stomach, bundles of chestnuts appeared out of no where! Native Americans, including the Cherokees, taught many settlers how to treat their illnesses using natural plants. For instance, they showed the Pennsylvania Germans how to treat whooping cough with the water left after roasting chestnuts and their leaves, a liquid from which the Cherokees and other tribes also used as a tonic and sedative. The chestnut bark became their treatment for worms. Further known is the Cherokee treated heart disease with a tea made of old chestnut leaves while a cold tea made of tree bark and buckeye was given to women to stop their bleeding following childbirth. Also, this tribe is known for having invented a cough syrup of chestnut leaves, brown sugar, and mullein, the result of chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Why, The Cherokee even discovered that applying chestnut leaves dipped into hot water would treat sores.

The wide-spread chestnut tree proudly grew on the hillside slopes throughout the Appalachian Mountains. Henry David Thoreau, a famous writer and speaker of his time, called these vast forests “boundless chestnut woods”. These trees were discovered hundreds of years ago throughout the Ohio River Valley, Michigan, and Tennessee. Why, there is an old wives’ tale that the chestnut forests were so thick that a squirrel could jump tree to tree from Georgia all the way to New York without ever touching the ground! Henry Ward Beecher, American poet and former slave, wrote in the September 22, 1870 Massachusetts newspaper, Pittsfield, the following. “Nature was in a good mood when the chestnut tree came forth”. Another famous writer, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, respected the chestnut tree to such a degree that he was encouraged to write a poem, “The Village Blacksmith” way back in 1842. His poem starts with, “Under the spreading chestnut, the village smithy stands”, referring to how the roasting chestnuts became a favorite food in the family diet of those who lived in the ‘back country’ of our great nation.

Each year, June through July, the top of the Appalachian Mountain Range is covered in a bone-white color, suggestive of fresh, fallen snow. Those who were and continue to be familiar with chestnuts knew that white blooms meant a bountiful harvest ahead. During the fall harvest season, beginning in September and ending several months thereafter, local families stored sacks full of chestnuts in their cellars as provisions for the long Winter months. These residents couldn’t wait to have their chestnuts roasting given how sweet and filling they surprisingly were.

Several types of European chestnut trees were imported into North America during the eighteenth century. Some of the first arrivals were by Thomas Jefferson, a serious gardener and plant collector in addition to a famous politician of the late 1700’s. He brought some samples of a European variety to Monticello, his homestead, and grafted them onto American trees. As the old saying goes, ‘the rest is history’…

Our very special Signature Chestnut Roaster was created by Jacob Bromwell based on our history written just for you. The reason for showcasing such an extensive past of the healing and culinary power of roasting chestnuts is to offer a further sense of appreciation for our chestnut roaster. While you watch our chestnuts roasting, just imagine the history, as described above, that went into Mr. Bromwell’s invention. We know you’ll agree, as would Mr. Bromwell and his family, that anyone who tastes these delicious bite-sized chestnuts, whether by itself or part of a recipe, will have a similar experience as the Native Americans and Jacob Bromwell had before us.