Thanks and you are welcome, now if I can't find out how to make these conkers safe to eat I guess I will just have to use them to wash the clothes with :-)

Yes as did I, probably banned now on grounds of ........

Many thanks, now what do I do with all these horse chestnuts (conkers). I am thinking it might be worth trying to detoxify them but have found that after the process the nutritional value is not a lot :-) Maybe I should just plant them instead ?

@@GrasshopperOutdoors not sure of the legality but the 1st nations people here made fishing toxins out of them

@@BushCraftBums Amazing how all these things were used hundreds of years ago, very interesting. We forget most these fancy chemicals are there in nature.

Everyone should experience the outdoors and gain a little independence, start small and it is not hard. Atb

Many thanks, I did over roast them a little but I put that down to movie making, makes things twice as interesting :-)

The sweet chestnuts are fairly easy to distinguish from the horse chestnut once you get your eye in, from both the outer "husk" and the seed itself. Split the skins a little and boil them for 10 minutes or so, they should be fairly sweet if you peel all the "skin" (including the dark membrane around the light colored seed), you might have to let them cool down a little. Do not eat too many at the first helping. Never rely on one you-tube video for your information though, always check a few out. All the best and enjoy your harvest.

Thankyou, your time taken to watch and comment is appreciated

I have been collecting them too this year, they are not always good enough this far North, it just depends on the weather. You would find Horse Chestnuts (conkers) very bitter. Sweet chestnust on the other hand can even be eaten raw, I have been munching on them in the woods the past few days. They are slightly bitter but I am now used to bitter so they taste OK to me now raw. I take some leather gloves with me as they are a bit spiky. All the best and thanks for the feed back

You don't think I did not try the conkers do you, I tried them and they tasted like soap. Anyway I found out how to process them to eat but at the end of it there is very little nutritional value left so it really is a last ditch famine food. As for the fungus I have been eating plenty of that as this is the time of year for fungus.

I do not think you would have eaten very many, unless you put them in something else, as the horse chestnuts taste pretty bad. The sweet chestnuts on the other hand are fairly sweet if you take care to get all the husk and skin off them. You did your research anyway so you can not be faulted. All the best

Yes it is, but as I say they used to eat them in the Netherlands during the second world war as a famine food so perhaps they can be made edible with some processing but I have yet to find out how. Thanks for watching and thanks for commenting. All The Best

@@GrasshopperOutdoors my dad actually used to boil and bake them so they can be eaten to some extend, I don't remember dying from them and I was just a little kid. Also I don't think my dad would feed me something I could die from. That's actually why I'm watching this video, because people are saying they are actually poisenous! I was pretty confused, but I am from the netherlands however where they grow a lot.

@@nem3sis.yt_ Thank you, I have read that conkers were used as a famine food in times of extreme hardship. The main chemical of concern (toxic) is aesculin. It may be water soluble so I have considered processing them to be edible in small amounts but have to do more research before I try this myself. Your comments are useful, again thank you for sharing your experience, it is good to know.

I love foraging for things you can eat, but be careful as some plants, and animals can make you very ill. All the best

Unfortunately we visit Bisley at the wrong time of year but I have been in October and got a fantastic haul of sweet chestnuts but I can't see us changing our schedule any time soon. I did try one of the conkers off camera, tasted a little bit like soap, but more research needed on that one, I have poisoned myself enough I think. All the Best and thanks for your valued contribution.

Yes you are right, the leaves are very different so that is also a good aid to the correct identification. The leaves here in the UK have now pretty much all fallen off the deciduous trees, everything is starting to look pretty dead, but if you look close you can see next springs buds have already formed. I think it will be a lot of years before a sweet chestnut tree starts to bear fruit, between 15-25 years old I would say. In the mean time you will have to search out some more mature ones to harvest in the autumn/fall. Best wishes.

The only trouble we ever have lighting a fire is that we are impatient, rushed and have not prepared properly, and did not practice EVERY Friday 😂😂😂

Great fun and learning too, tasted them conkers and the tasted a bit like soap but they are poisonous so just eat the sweet chestnuts. All the best

Educating myself as well by learning from others and from my mistakes, most of them sweet chestnuts were quite OK but a few were a bit cremated. My excuse though is filming makes it harder :-)

It makes great content I don’t know everything but I now love learning again thank you

I know as we get older we get slower at learning (the computer gets full I guess) but we need to keep trying, if only to save ourselves a bit of money :-)

It is good that people still know what we can harvest, we are far too reliant on supermarkets, but then there are a lot of us now. I am just finishing on harvesting apples, mostly to bottle/can but we also freeze some. I may experiment next year at dehydrating them but really we rarely get the weather for it to be a viable preserving option but I will just try it to see. As for Sweet Chestnuts the trees here only bear usable nuts about once every three or four years probably dependent on the weather. In the south of England they are much better off as it is always up to four or five degrees warmer. Acorn from the Oak are always good and make flour but you have to mix it with some regular flour as it has little gluten in it. Well have a good weekend and thanks for your comments we are all just learning little by little 😀

I just bought some Italian chestnuts and for some reason it says not to eat raw, and I'm not understanding that. Can you tell me why. ? I've always eating chestnuts raw as they are my favorite that way.

You are welcome, Horse Chestnuts will make you ill but they do not taste nice so I doubt you would have eaten too many :-)

Me toO

I was once in an out of the tourist part of Morroco (Safi) in a real bazaar talking to my brother and someone piped up, I know that accent, you are from Stockton, well close, Southern Outskirts of Middlesbrough. So I know Redcar or at least the South Gare Very well.

You are quite right, in the second world war conkers were considered as a famine food after processing. I was going to try it out this year but left it a little late but I would not recommend processing and eating too much. When I can harvest conkers I can also harvest acorns which I have concentrated on this year. I make four with them but it is best to mix it about 40/60 with wheat flour as it does not bind too well. All the best

@@GrasshopperOutdoors thanks for your reply. I've heard that you'd have to blend it in a flour since there's no gluten. This is all great info to know just in case it's ever needed. Nature is amazing if you take the time to learn. Best wishes to you and yours

@@michellesovereign4564 This is true but like all things it is best to try it before you need it, there is always the unexpected :-) A bit like knowing how to start a fire using a bow drill set, it is not as easy as it can look and sometimes you have to know when you are flogging a dead horse :-) All the best

@@GrasshopperOutdoors fair point. Can't argue with your logic. I'm happy I found your channel and look forward to more of your videos :)

Sweet Chestnuts? collect them and store them dry and cool they will keep a long time.

Yes any type of grease or fat and still works for lubricating tools but does go rancid after time which is not quite so good.

Many thanks for stopping by. North Yorkshire. ATB

Excellent, it is great to be able to collect them to roast on the cold frosty nights. It has not been a good year for them up here this year, conkers and acorns yes, but beech nuts have not been so good either, I think they have a strategy of a bumper crop ever 3 - 5 years just to thwart the squirrels :-)

Don't eat the horse chestnuts, they need an awful lot of processing before you could eat them and even then they are still very risky. It is a shame as there are so many of them at this time of year.

The horse chestnut has 5 to 7 lobes like a palm while the sweet chestnut has single elongated and serated leaves, this is a good way to tell them appart. All the best

Thankyou, I watched it again and I have to agree 😀 Have a great weekend

I'm encouraged to roast sweet chestnuts on the fire. Did them in the microwave one Christmas. Bang! Needed a new microwave anyway.

@@celiamonks5496 There is not a lot to loose by giving it a go, get a decent bed of hard wood coals and a baking tray with a little oil or butter on a decent evening and just give it a go. Remember to split the skins and just enjoy being outdoors.

@@GrasshopperOutdoors will do🔥💥

You could be right, but we all use our brain power in different ways, influenced by our surroundings and experiences.

I suppose it depends on how far north you live, but there is another reason I am visiting these sweet chestnuts at this time of year. They did not disappoint this year either though my more local ones rarely produce sweet chestnuts worth collecting. Shame we can't eat Conkers like Deer can, but perhaps the toxin (aesculin), is water soluble? 😀 Atb