About Us
Our Culinary Chestnuts
What's New
Route 9 Cooperative was formed in 2010 by the owners of five chestnut orchards in eastern Ohio, located on land once occupied by native American chestnut trees. Our member chestnut orchards cover over 100 acres and have been supplying their customers with fresh culinary chestnuts for many years. The need for a larger packing facility and unified marketing led to creation of the co-op. Prior to the co-op, Greg Miller had produced and sold chestnuts and chestnut trees under his farm, Empire Chestnut Company. The co-op now markets the chestnuts and trees grown by Empire Chestnut Company. Greg Miller serves as president of Route 9 Cooperative and remains an active chestnut farmer. See our more detailed story under history.
Over the years, we have grown several species of chestnuts and their interspecific hybrids. We found that the Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) is the best in terms of its sweet flavor, ease of peeling, and adaptation to our growing conditions. We continually plant new trees and remove inferior trees. In the process, we evaluate new germplasm and constantly improve the genetic quality of the chestnuts and nursery stock that we sell.
We sell three sizes of chestnuts: small (60-75 per lb; good for snacking), medium (48-53 per lb; good for roasting) and large (34-39 per lb; good for cooking). All sizes have the same quality and flavor. They are carefully cleaned and graded to ensure more than 95% sound chestnuts at shipping time. Fresh chestnuts are available only during October and November.
When you receive your chestnuts be sure to refrigerate them right away. Otherwise, they can become moldy. Be sure to read our pages on storage and preparation of chestnuts.
We are all waiting impatiently for chestnut harvest to begin. But in the meantime, we've been enjoying an explosion of mushrooms on the orchard floor!
UPDATE: The cool weather is delaying the harvest even more. We will be open for picking starting October 1.
Attention chestnut pickers: We are not open for harvest yet. The harvest is late this year. Please check here for updates and/or contact us before coming to the farm. Thanks!
The chestnuts are still snug in their burs:
Attention Customers: We do NOT have fresh chestnuts available yet. We will open the online store on September 28 and begin shipping chestnuts on October 5. As usual, shipping times depend on how quickly we can harvest and package the nuts (depending on crop load, weather, etc.). We look forward to bringing you fresh chestnuts soon!
Thank you to all of our tree customers this spring/summer! As we've navigated weird social times and weird weather we're always grateful for your business.
We are NOT shipping any more trees at this time. Container trees can still be purchased if you come pick them up, but with high temperatures and fragile new growth, we are not shipping.
Chestnut flour and dried kernels can still be purchased at our online store.
We will begin taking orders for culinary chestnuts, seed nuts, and seedling trees starting in September.