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Family in the kitchen of the house of Isasi Barrenengua’s family. Author: Indalecio Ojanguren. Gure Gipuzkoa.
Chestnuts have always been the perfect solution to the cold of autumn and winter, and consequently chestnuts salesman-woman. When the days are cut off and the cold begins to shine, there is something that takes root in the chestnuts and in the chestnut stalls themselves. Is it the taste of chestnuts? The sweetness, the warmth, the texture, the different flavours of the food. The smell, maybe? It smells hot, so it seems to warm up the area. Gathering and feeding around the drum has something magical. The sound of the drum is unpleasant and attractive, and the fire of burning chestnuts seems to be calling us. How can we avoid approaching the embers under the drum in search of warmth? The context seems to induce us to listen to our senses. How can we avoid approaching the chestnut salesman’s post once a year?
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Author: Sergio González Ahedo.
Between the end of June and the beginning of July, white spots appear in the Basque mountains, because when the chestnut blossoms, it wears white. Given the importance of chestnut in our culture, this is a very important time of the year. All you have to do is ask those who work with bees. Proof of this is the testimony of Ignacio Abella collected in Galicia: it seems that when the chestnut blossoms, the ram breed the sheep. It is the last blossom before the intense heat of summer, which determines multiple labours of the rural world.
Photo credit: Akaitze Kamiruaga. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.
The following data have been collected in Busturialdea (Bizkaia); in any case, the described process would likewise be applicable to other regions.
Gaztainea names both chestnut trees and chestnuts, gaztainadia is Basque for chestnut grove, and lokotsa refers to the prickly husk which holds the fruit. Txirpia is the name given to nurseries where young chestnuts and other cultivars are grown.
Two local varieties of chestnut trees have been known: lirio-gaztainak and sanmigel-gaztainak. These chestnut trees grow well in ravines and on slopes. For a good crop of unblemished, shiny chestnuts, trees needed to be grafted (eztitu), otherwise their fruits would be inedible (txikola). The wood of the ungrafted (eztitzaga) chestnut tree would, by contrast, be greatly appreciated for carpentry work and furniture manufacturing. St Michael’s chestnuts bear fruit earlier than the so-called lirio ‘lily’ variety.
Chestnut enclosure of Lastrabe. Orozko (Bizkaia). Courtesy of Supelaur Kultur Elkartea.
The smell of roasted chestnuts shall soon fill the air as countless vendors take to the streets of villages, cities and towns. A cone of a dozen chestnuts for as much as three euros!
Now a favourite treat for cold, dark autumn and winter afternoons, chestnuts were a staple of the traditional Basque diet. And their consumption still prevailed among other nuts and dried fruits until half a century ago. (more…)
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