Chestnuts gathered under an open briar

The chestnut tree

The spiny shell or fruit around the actual nut
looks like a hedgehog.

It turns out that there are two chestnut trees on the grounds where I work.  Recently I collected over 3 pounds of chestnuts in a matter of 15-20 minutes.  It was a nice day and I went for an after lunch walk as I sometimes do.  This gets me away from my cubicle and allows me to have a little fresh air.  I normally scrounge the grounds for potential forage from the numerous fruit and nut trees as well as mushrooms etc.  Normally I leave empty handed, but today I checked out the chestnut trees that I have been keeping an eye on.  There was a little older lady collecting fallen chestnuts when I arrived.  I talked with her a bit asked her name and where she was from.  It happens she is of Chinese descent but was born in Vietnam.  She was struggling to knock some of the prickly fruit from the lower branches.  It turns out we quickly developed a mutually beneficial relationship.  I was able to reach a few of the taller branches, grab a hold, and then shake many of the nut casing down to the ground, and she was able to explain to me the best way to prepare, store and collect them.  For those of you who have never seen the fruit on the outside of a chestnut I will describe it as looking like a green hedgehog or sea urchin.  There are an extremely large number of good sized sharp spikes conformed into a ball.  It is nearly impossible to pick it up with your bare hand unless you are willing to accept quite a large amount of pain.  The actual chestnuts are inside of this fruit.  The easiest way to extract them is to break the fruit apart with the sole of your boot exposing the inside.  The inside is smooth and once the outside is broken open the nuts are easily extracted.  This work provided me with an opportunity to talk with my new foraging partner who works in the neighboring building.  She told me that boiling them for 15 minutes will cook them and make them edible.  If I store them, keep them dry, but there will be more "skin" when I do cook them.  I assume this means that the husks or shells will get harder but am unsure.  I am not sure about what to exactly do with them yet, except maybe roast them.....on on open fire?  I can not wait to try them.

WARNING the chestnuts in the pictures are chinkapin or chinquapin chestnuts and should not be confused with the horse chestnut or buckeye, both of which are toxic.  This Asian chestnut is edible as is the American Chestnut that was once found in the Eastern US before the turn of the century.  The buckeye and the horse chestnut look different in regards to the fruit surrounding the nut as well as the leaf structure of the trees.  As with all wild food do not consume it unless you are 100% sure of what you are eating.