NEW FRANKLIN, Mo. (AP) – A group of researchers have a message for those who want to confine the chestnut to a holiday open fire: They aren’t just for Christmas anymore.

Agricultural researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Center for Agroforestry are experimenting with more than 50 varieties of chestnuts at a research farm. The goal is to create a new nut industry and bring back the American chestnut.

“I don’t think there’s an image problem or a misperception,” said Mike Gold, associate director of the center. “I think there’s just a flat-out unfamiliarity.”

A century ago – before an Asian blight devastated most of the country’s millions of chestnut trees – marketing the chestnut wasn’t necessary. Chestnuts were a staple of American diets, particularly for recent immigrants. The trees’ rot-resistant timber was used to build barns and beams, its bark providing tannin for leather.

While the chestnut remains a oddity for most Americans, commercial production of a heartier, disease-resistant Chinese variety is increasing as growers struggle to keep up with demand.

“Usually, by the end of October all the chestnut growers start calling each other looking for chestnuts because we’re all sold out,” said Greg Miller, a commercial grower in Carrollton, Ohio.

Still, domestic production is just a fraction of the global market, said Gold, who estimates that American chestnut growers produced 1.5 million pounds last year, compared to 200 million pounds worldwide.

A university-sponsored market survey earlier this year of 90 growers in 50 states showed that most producers generate less than $5,000 annually – with 35 percent yet to realize their first sale from trees that take up to 10 years to produce commercial amounts.

“There’s room to greatly expand the market,” Miller said. “But first we have to prime the pump.”

To do that requires a public relations campaign of sorts for the chestnut. It can be a hard sell, with a starchy taste that is decidedly acquired, and a shell that’s tough to crack.

As a food source, the chestnut is high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamin C and unsaturated fatty acids, more akin to a grain, such as brown rice, than other nuts. Some call it the “un-nut.”

As a crop, it is more profitable than walnuts and pecans, its closest rivals, with wholesale prices of $3 to $3.50 per pound. The other nuts fetch 80 cents to $1.40 per pound on average.

The nut also deserves a place on the cultural mantle as a symbol of fall harvest alongside pumpkins and maple syrup, said Gold. It’s also lovingly crooned by Nat King Cole and Perry Como’s versions of “The Christmas Song.”

“It tends to have an Old World sensibility,” he said. “The song, linked to the holiday, creates an image. It means family.”

While the notion of chestnut bisque, chestnut-stuffed quail and other such dishes might make finicky eaters recoil, Gold said it wasn’t long ago that Americans made similar observations about “exotic” avocados and kiwis.

In addition to an annual fall harvest festival, researchers also plan to offer seminars for prospective chestnut growers, said Gold, who is also an associate professor of forestry at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“Our focus is really on creating a new nut industry,” he said.

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On the Net: www.centerforagroforestry.org

AP-ES-12-23-05 0539EST

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