A Horse Chestnut is NOT related to the Chestnut tree, YOU SHOULD NOT EAT Horse Chestnuts, they have a bitter taste, They are POISIONOUS! I think you might have a Horse Chestnut tree. The nuts from Chestnut trees should be sweet. ( I have read that some people think they have a slightly bitter taste though )
This site will help you to identify what kind of Chestnut tree you have. ( there are more sites listed that will help you identify your tree at the
ChestnutTree.net site.
http://www.mindspring.com/~psisco/www/overview.html---------------------------------------
This site will tell you how to cook a Chestnut.
http://www.nutsforlife.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=103----------------------------------------
Now if you have a bitter tasting Chestnut my guess is that you have a horse Chestnut.
http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/trees/aeship01.htmquote from above site.
The Horse Chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, which has also been known as Hippocastanum vulgare (Gaertn.), is an entirely different tree from the Sweet Chestnut, to which it is not even distantly related, and is of much more recent importation to English soil. It is a native of northern and central parts of Asia, from which it was introduced into England about the middle of the sixteenth century.
The name Aesculus (from esca, food) was applied originally to a species of oak, which according to Pliny, was highly prized for its acorns, but how it came to be transferred to the Horse Chestnut is very uncertain; perhaps, as Loudon suggests, it was given ironically, because its nuts bear a great resemblance, externally, to those of the Sweet Chestnut, but are unfit for food. Hippocastanum (the specific name of the common sort) is a translation of the common name, which was given - Evelyn tells us - 'from its curing horses brokenwinded and other cattle of coughs.' Some writers think that the prefix 'horse' is a corruption of the Welsh gwres, meaning hot, fierce, or pungent, e.g. 'Horse-chestnut' = the bitter chestnut, in opposition to the mild, sweet one.
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Field guide to nuts.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1988-09-01/A-Fall-Field-Guide-to-Nuts.aspx?page=3----------------------------------------------------------------------
Horse Chestnuts are used in part for medicianal purposes.BUT they are poisonous.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-horse-chestnut.htmQuote from above site
Despite the benefits of horse chestnut, it is extremely important that you do not make your own herb preparations from available trees. Just about every part of the horse chestnut is poisonous and needs to be soaked in lime water prior to being used as an herbal remedy. In fact, there have been numerous cases of both children and animals either sickening or dying after eating these bitter chestnut seeds, and the use of the herb is contraindicated in people under 18.
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http://mikeblyth.blogspot.com/2009/10/chestnuts.htmlStory about a lady who ate horse chestnuts thinking they were chestnuts. Her daughter ate 4 of them and she called an emergency hotline, She found out that you would have to eat a lot of them to get really sick.
Quote from above link
The information was mostly that the seeds are indeed toxic, but “rarely result in death in humans.” Rather, “symptoms associated with horse chestnut poisoning may include vomiting, diarrhea, headache, confusion, weakness, muscle twitching, poor coordination, coma, or paralysis.”
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Horse Chestnut
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/aesculus-hipp.htmlQuote from above link
THE NUT, when dry, is subglobular, compressed, from 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, with a shining, chestnut-brown testa, marked by a reddish or yellowish-gray hilum, nearly an inch in diameter. In the middle of the hilum is a smaller spot, in the center of which is a slightly roughened elevation. Passing from the hilum around to the opposite surface may be observed an elevated ridge terminating in a bulbous extremity, and resting in a horseshoe-shaped depression. The surface of the nut is slightly corrugated. The internal portion is starchy, yellowish-white in color, and has an unpleasant, bitter taste. The nut has a slight, peculiar odor.
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Ohio Buckeye Nut.
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/aesculus.htmlQuote from above site
Description.—THE NUT (dry) of Aesculus glabra does not differ essentially from that of the horse-chestnut, except that it is darker in color, a little smaller in size, is perhaps somewhat more globular, and has a much smaller hilum, the latter being not more than one-third or less than one-half as large as that on the horse-chestnut. It ranges from 1/3 to 1/2 inch in diameter.
