What to do with horse chestnuts??
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Help! We have a tree that produces about 5 gallons of these beautiful dark shiny nuts each year - as far as I can tell they are ”horse chestnuts” which you can’t eat - but have no idea how to use them other than in glass tube with a candle. Any ideas or where to sell them for medicinal use?
I think you can eat these. Our neighbors had such a tree and I also collected them, but did not use them except maybe in a bowl or such.
Sell them to Ohio State Buckeye fans.
Where I live people often carry one in their pocket for good luck! But they are not edible!! They could make a pretty wreath for fall if attached to a foundation to hang.
They keep away spiders! I put them in bowls in my basement and they are pretty just in a bowl on your table!!
Plant them and you can have beautiful Buckeye Trees! Someone oiled them and made a beautiful table display. As kids we used to see how far we could throw them, or try to get a needle thru them to string them together.
"Let buckeye nuts dry in single layor or heat them in the oven at 200 degrees for a couple hours. Do not store them in a plastic bag or they may mold. Drill a hole in them (1/16 inch bit ) then string them into a buckeye necklace or garland for decorating. Try putting glass beads inbetween each buckeye nut for a more festive look. You can spray them with a clear acrylic after they are dry to help keep the buckeye nut shiny. A home made buckeye necklace will make a great gift because are said to bring good luck"
If they grow in a green spiky cover you can eat them but you have to boil and then peel the nut open. Do a little more research on that before trying it. However we had these growing up and my grandmother made a garland out of them. Was really pretty.
These are conkers, in the u.k. we thread a boot lace through them after curing and play conkers, the idea is to break your opponents conker before yours breaks, when I was young I had a 89er, which is a conker that defeated 89 conkers
I have seen these bunched together. I do not recall how they were tied together -- it seems like with a long piece of lightweight twine, not sure, but longer than the shoelace in the "Conker's" comment, which is a cool idea if you don't swing into someone's head! Haha! -- but it was very tight to the nut and each nut loosely touching another. There were about 25 of them in a bunch. Turn the whole "blossom" upside down. Bring the twines together, and wrap them all together with another soft twine and shape into a loop large enough to put most of your fingers through. When kids shake them up and down, it sounds exactly like Clydesdale horses coming around the corner! They love to do it (outside, haha).
I wish I could recall if a hole was drilled in each nut to thread the twine or exactly how they were attached to the twine very sturdy and did NOT come apart. Maybe soaked first and poked with an ice pick and threaded. I gave them away as a gift and kicked myself ever since. The loop could also be wrapped in colorful tape.
I hope I have described this well enough that someone who may have seen them can improve on my description. But I will never forget that exciting sound. I wish I still had them.