Golden Fields Chestnut Flour
is made from spray free sweet chestnuts. New Zealand is one of the few countries free of the crippling chestnut diseases and pests, chestnut blight and gall wasp. As a result, it is not necessary to use insecticides.The drying, shelling and removal of the inner skins have been done thoroughly in order to obtain this very fine, very white flour.
Chestnuts are low in fat and contain no cholesterol, while other nuts have more than 50% fat content. They are much more like a grain than a nut, comparing favourably with brown rice, but containing almost no sodium. The Glycemic Index (GI) of the chestnut flour is the lowest of the gluten free flours.
The chestnut is high in carbohydrate, has no gluten and contains the right amount of proteins for a balanced diet, including all nine essential amino-acids. Its protein is comparable to that of an egg.
Use this chestnut flour, alone or as a replacement for some of the wheat flour, to make cakes, pancakes, pastry, porridge, or to thicken soups. Many ideas can be found on the internet.
Dear valued Customer:
Sadly I have to bring the news that the Chestnut Flour has now run out of. And there won’t be any in the near future. I don't know if or when I will be able to make some more.
I used to buy the dehydrated and shelled chestnuts from an association of three chestnut growers of the Rolleston / West Melton area, southwest of Christchurch. All the three of them have sold their property last winter. One of the new owners bought also all the equipment for grading, dehydrating and shelling but he hasn’t yet done anything with it.
The process was in fact quite involved. After grading the fresh chestnuts, good looking nuts were sold as fresh produce and the ones which were too large or too small were then slowly dehydrated. The chestnuts will then loose around 2 third of their weight. When sufficiently dry, the shelling takes place when the outer brown shell, which is now brittle, is removed in the shelling-machine.
My contribution started at this stage. The shelled nuts still have a pellicle around the embryo. The pellicle is bitter, it contains tannins and must be removed. To do so further drying is necessary. This makes the pellicle brittle. When atmospheric conditions are dry, a crushing operation will then shatter the pellicle off. The broken pieces of pellicle, which are very light, are removed by ventilation. Follows then two stages of grinding.
I am very sorry not be able to supply this fine product any longer. Thank you all for your support all these years.
Kind regards
Philippe
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