y out too fast.
We found that cold storage above 32 degrees keeps chestnuts in good
condition with little dry-out. One dealer in Oregon we know of wraps his
cold storage nuts in waterproof paper, keeps them that way clear on into
January. A very little mold will develop on chestnuts kept in storage
from 32 to 35 degrees, but not enough so we take any precaution. We have
had a few batches that people have stood in sacks on damp nights, and
they started to mold, especially on the open end, and we find we can
kill the mold with Clorox. We have just used a little Clorox in water.
We think this would prevent mold from developing on all nuts if they
were put through a chlorine bath. We haven't taken the trouble to do
that. I might say our walnuts, and filberts have been put through a
chlorine solution, and, of course, after a chlorine solution is used you
have to put the nuts through water again and wash that off.
We have on our place a nice washer. We have graded the European
varieties, which we handle mostly, into three grades: standard, fancy,
and extra fancy, by size. All our grading has been done by hand, except
we expect to have a simple grader this year.
[Footnote 7: Mr. Bush informed the secretary by letter, early in 1949,
that he did not then have any nursery stock ready for sale at his Eagle
Creek, Oregon, nursery. From that location about 10 years ago he
introduced, under numbers, three selections of Chinese chestnuts grown
from seed imported in the early 30's. Two of these, in 1941, were named
Abundance and Honan. The Abundance is now considered one of the most
desirable varieties from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania, while Honan is
slightly less desirable.--Ed.]
+"Sweet" Nuts Sell Faster+
We have a few "sweets." All of those on our farms are Riehl varieties,
hybrids, I think. All of our European chestnuts have an astringent
pellicle, heavy with tannic acid. We classify as sweets any of those
that have a pellicle that is sweet enough to be eaten. We label these
the sweets and mark them as they go into the market. And while, I say,
we don't seem to get a better price for the sweets than for the
European, they do sell faster. There are some people in the eastern
cities that are grabbing these in preference to the large ones. While
the large nuts sell very well, I suppose they go to the Italians and
Europeans who are used to cooking them, and out on the West Coast
nothing but the large nut goes; the larger the b
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