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 still need chestnut pickers! The harvest season isn’t over yet. Come pick some buckets this weekend and enjoy the nearby Algonquin Mill Fall Festival!
P.S. Fit 17 buckets in the Nut Buggy last night. I think he can carry 20. 😉
This is Blossom End Rot (BER) in chestnuts, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Fungi of this same genus cause bitter rot in apples and anthracnose in strawberries, as well as other fruit and leaf rots. All of our farms here at Route 9 Cooperative have LOTS of BER this year, and it’s making it difficult for us to harvest, grade the nuts, and fill orders. Even though we’ve seen BER in the past, we’ve never had this much (at least 50%) of our crop affected. There is no known effective spray/control regime for this disease in large chestnut orchards. We’re doing our best to come up with a control program to provide our customers with high quality nuts. For now, don’t be afraid of the little black tips in your chestnuts. See photos for more details.
What a beautiful day in the orchard! Nuts everywhere. Come out and pick this weekend!
Attention customers: Be aware that we are behind in nut processing and shipping. You may receive your order later than anticipated. We’ve had lots of rain, so the harvest is going very slowly. We will keep you updated on our progress. Thanks for you patience! The weather cares for no one…