In Issue 20, we have a story on sweet chestnuts and here is some exciting news.
Chestnut Brae, a family business, near Nannup is WA’s largest sweet chestnut grower with 1000 sweet chestnut trees, 16 pecan trees and a couple of walnuts.
The owner of Chestnut Brae, John Stanley, travelled Corsica, Italy and France looking at chestnut products and has collected over 300 recipes for sweet chestnut products.
This year Chestnut Brae is featured in the book “Beyond the Farm Gate” which covers 50 farms in the southwest.
Chestnut Brae produces 9 ton of sweet chestnuts each harvest. They are selling their peeled nuts as well as experimenting with their sweet chestnuts to make various products like chestnut flour, ice cream, puree, sauce, jam and soap.
Small nuts are used to feed heritage pigs and produce chestnut fed pork, which is sold to top WA restaurants. The chefs are excited and have said they are amazing and “the best pork they had ever tasted”.
Chestnut Brae is planning on producing chestnut fed Wiltshire lamb in the coming year. It also has an aquaculture license now to sell the marron raised in its dams.
Chestnut Brae aims to build soil quality on the farm using Holistic Management and Regenerative Agriculture to become self-sufficient and sell top quality sustainable and unique products to high-end restaurants, gourmet shops, health food shops and farmers markets.
For more information, visit www.chestnutbrae.com.au/
