Conkers - Coffee?

[Toddy]

.....except that you'll smell like you've been on a bender if you use Scotch

 

[Toddy]

While I mind, there's a lay on Woodlands.co.uk's Youtube channels this week showing how she uses the chestnuts for washing in the machine.
My washing water looks nothing like that. Mine's almost like diluted milk, but then I don't use the brown shells
No mention either of any toxicity issues.
Personally I wouldn't be storing the stuff in anything food labelled, but each to their own.

M

 

[Woody girl]

I have been doing a bit more research on conkers.
Everything I have come across warns you not to ingest them as they have a poison in that will make you at best very ill and can kill .
Please do not experiment with eating them in any way. Soaking them in water and using instead of washing powder is a much better and safer use of them.
Seriously,
Would you eat something you wash your clothes with?
I am useless at posting links but I've just watched a video of a lady who grinds them she'll and all into a powder, then dries the crumbs in a dehydrator (oven works too) storing the dried nuts in a tin with a small muslin bag of rice and then adds some tea tree and lavander oils to make it smell nice. Then when she wants to wash clothes she soaks the dried nuts in water for a few hours to make a washing liquid after straining the mixture, and uses it in her washing machine.
I'm going to try this as it will save a fortune on washing liquid.
I've also watched a video on making hand soap with it.

Please don't eat conkers!

Sweet chestnuts on the other hand are delicious and can be safely eaten.
Don't get confused with these two nuts. It's easily done. They are very similar to look at, and all it takes is someone to miss identify and swear they are eating conkers when in fact they are eating sweet chestnuts. I've seen this myself not so long ago when out with someone we found conkers and my companion got very excited thinking we had found chestnuts.
Use conkers for soap... not putting in alcohol or making biscuits from them!

 

[Stew]

.....except that you'll smell like you've been on a bender if you use Scotch

I think for the amount used, it might not be too strong a smell.

 

[Toddy]

I think for the amount used, it might not be too strong a smell.

Ask your Missus about that....honestly it doesn't need a lot of Scotch for us to pick up on the smell

 

[Stew]

I may have to go shopping then!

 

[Silverclaws2]

Got me some Conkers because I believe I saw a post about turning them into Coffee Substitute.

Before I start poisoning myself - did I imagine this ? Can Conkers become ' Coffee '??

Conkers or acorns?

I have done acorn coffee before to also know the Germans in WW2 used acorns for coffee, to report it make a bitter brew but perhaps the bitterness can be bettered by various methods I have seen but not tried through having no enthusiasm to try again.

One could also make a coffee substitute out of dandelion roots for that one to not be as bad acorns.

 

[TeeDee]

Conkers or acorns?

I have done acorn coffee before to also know the Germans in WW2 used acorns for coffee, to report it make a bitter brew but perhaps the bitterness can be bettered by various methods I have seen but not tried through having no enthusiasm to try again.

One could also make a coffee substitute out of dandelion roots for that one to not be as bad acorns.

Conkers.

Aesculus hippocastanum Horse Chestnut, European Horsechestnut, Common Horsechestnut PFAF Plant Database

Aesculus hippocastanum is a deciduous Tree growing to 30 m (98ft) by 15 m (49ft) at a fast rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 3 and is not frost tender. It is in flower in May, and the seeds ripen in September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female...

pfaf.org

" The following notes apply to A. californica, but are probably also relevant here:- The seed needs to be leached of toxins before it becomes safe to eat - the Indians would do this by slow-roasting the nuts (which would have rendered the saponins harmless) and then cutting them into thin slices, putting them into a cloth bag and rinsing them in a stream for 2 - 5 days[213]. "

 

[TLM]

Couldn't get horse chestnuts to grow though.

Came across a mention that it likes low pH soil and absolutely not lime. So no problem here, finding any Calsium Carbonate containing soil is like winning a lottery.

 

[Billy-o]

I think give it a go, really. How bad can it be? Roast some up ... that'll likely get rid of any nasty in there. I nibbled on them as a kid. They are bitter, so maybe apply a bit of caramel to counter that. And, you know, tell us about it. I can imagine a busy exchange of recipes will flow from that.

 

[Toddy]

Came across a mention that it likes low pH soil and absolutely not lime. So no problem here, finding any Calsium Carbonate containing soil is like winning a lottery.

Honestly not a problem if you get the conditions right. They 'like' being buried in leaf litter to naturally get really cold, stay damp, and then warm up.
My compost heap worked beautifully. It was a cold compost heap, a worm worked one, not one that got hot and steamed. Makes beautiful soil but it's slower than the hot heaps and it doesn't kill off seeds.

M

 

[Broch]

" The following notes apply to A. californica, but are probably also relevant here:- The seed needs to be leached of toxins before it becomes safe to eat - the Indians would do this by slow-roasting the nuts (which would have rendered the saponins harmless) and then cutting them into thin slices, putting them into a cloth bag and rinsing them in a stream for 2 - 5 days[213]. "

Yes, that's just about word for word the process I found as well. It is interesting though that it was not a preferred food for Native Americans - I wonder if we should take note of that.

I think give it a go, really. How bad can it be? Roast some up ... that'll likely get rid of any nasty in there. I nibbled on them as a kid. They are bitter, so maybe apply a bit of caramel to counter that. And, you know, tell us about it. I can imagine a busy exchange of recipes will flow from that.

There are two main toxins in Horse Chestnuts neither of which are removed by roasting alone. The process that TeeDee quoted is detailed in various places with the leaching time quoted between 1 and many days. I don't think you can get away without that part of the process based on my experience of processing other 'toxic' foods TBH.

 

[TeeDee]

Just watched Richard Mawby of Forage Frolics experiment with Conkers as a food source after coming to the same point as myself.