The good and bad chestnuts

It's the time for conker hunting but there's a lot you should know. Conkers come from horse chestnut trees and they grow inside green shells covered in spikes. The shells are soft but the spikes can be very sharp so it's tricky to open them. Squirrels, deer and wild boar like eating them but conkers are poisonous to other animals including dogs and humans. Horse chestnuts contain a toxic chemical named aesculin. 

Although I discussed horse chestnuts mainly, there is an edible type called sweet chestnut. Sweet chestnuts are high in vitamin C. These come from spiky shells but they look different to horse chestnuts although they're the both a reddish brown colour. Conkers, or horse chestnuts are round. Edible sweet chestnuts are teardrop shaped and resembles chocolates. Horse chestnuts are from Aesculis trees or "buckeyes". Sweet chestnuts are from Castanea trees. 

The sweet chestnut trees can live for about 700 years and they mature after 25 years. These trees were introduced by the Romans into Britain and can be found in mainly the south of England. These trees are found all over Europe, Asia and the Americas. The pollen from the flowers growing on sweet chestnut trees are a rich source of food for wildlife. It must be mentioned that conker trees/horse chestnut trees come from the Balkans area and were introduced into the British Isles during the 17th century. Horse chestnuts grow flowers called "candles" that attract pollinating bees. While horse chestnuts are bad to eat, there's medicine properties within them. Horse chestnut is an astringent, this may help swollen wounds, and is used for inflammations. There's only good and bad chestnuts as far as what's good or bad to eat. Both types of chestnuts are valuable. 

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