Chestnut, belonging to FAGACEAE, has a long history in Donglan.
Donglan chestnut tree has a long life and high yield, and its fruiting period is more than 50 years, even 100 years. Known as a "cash cow" with a bumper harvest for a hundred years a year and more income for one generation. At present, there are about 1 000 chestnut trees in the county that have been dead for more than a hundred years, and they are still full of fruits. Since 199 1 year, through the efforts of scientific and technological personnel, Donglan has introduced nine famous chestnuts from China and grafted them with local chestnuts, and cultivated hybrid chestnuts with the advantages of dwarfing, early maturity, high yield, large fruit size and quick fruiting. At present, donglan chestnut covers an area of 200,000 mu with 60,000 mu of fruit, with an annual output of more than 7 million kilograms. In August of 200 1 year, it was awarded the title of "Hometown of Chestnut in China" by the State Forestry Administration.
Donglan chestnut is mainly fragrant chestnut, which is famous for its thin skin, bright color, beautiful appearance, tender meat, sweet and delicious. Single fruit weight 15- 19g, rich in protein, sugar, fat, vitamins and minerals. Compared with chestnuts in other places, it has the characteristics of high sugar, high starch, low fat and moderate protein. Protein content is 9.98%, fat content is 2.88-3.75%, sugar content is 19%, starch content is 72.5%, which is 7% higher than ordinary rice and 5.6% higher than wheat, and it is rich in various amino acids, vitamin B 1, B2, C, calcium, phosphorus and iron.
Donglan chestnut can be cooked or eaten raw. Cooked food is sweet and pleasant, and raw food is sweet and crisp. Known as a treasure in fruits, its nutritional value can be comparable to that of rice, so it is also called "hardcore crops".
Chestnut also has good medicinal value. In Qian Jin Fang, written by Sun Simiao, a drug king in the Tang Dynasty, it is recorded that chestnut kernel is "taken by people with kidney disease". Take a few capsules every morning, noon and evening, which is quite effective for senile kidney deficiency, frequent urination and weakness of waist and legs. Su Shi, an essayist in the Northern Song Dynasty, suffered from soft foot disease and could not be cured for a long time. Later, I met a Shan Weng and told him to cook soup with 10 pieces of fresh chestnuts every morning. After eating for a few days, it was really good. So he happily wrote: "The old man has been suffering from waist and foot diseases, and Shan Weng served Laos; The guest came to say the poem "Get up from morning till night, swallow white jade pulp three times". Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty also liked to eat chestnuts. She asked the chef to finely grind the good chestnuts, add rock sugar and steam them into chestnuts for her to eat at every meal.
In recent years, medical research at home and abroad has found that chestnut also has many functions, such as promoting qi circulation and enriching blood, moistening intestine and tonifying kidney, relieving cough and moistening lung, invigorating spleen and replenishing essence, so it is also called "medicinal fruit". Products are exported to all parts of China and abroad.