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.
I was honored to speak at the virtual Pennsylvania Farm Show this year as a part of "Chestnut Week" hosted by the PA-NJ chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation. The interview covers some of the history of my family farm and Rt 9 Cooperative and offers advice based on our experiences for potential chestnut growers in the east-central US. ![]()
(Note: it's best just to listen to the audio since my slow rural internet caused a lot of video lag.) ![]()
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youtu.be/hRXAT7EbNCI
Chestnut Farming—A Growth Opportunity: A Conversation with Amy Miller
youtu.be
Jim Searing, President of the PA/NJ Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation interviews Amy Miller, Ph.D., Candidate in Plant Pathology at Ohio State and ...
Taking advantage of some unusually nice January weather to finish cleaning up from a chestnut coppicing experiment started last year. Now we get to explore any way we can think of to use Chinese chestnut wood! Starting with a pleasant evening bonfire.
ATTENTION CUSTOMERS: We thank you for your patience as we have faced many challenges this year. We have higher demand than ever for all of our products, and we are a small business with a very small staff, so please know that we are working on filling your orders and answering your inquiries as fast as possible. Below are updates for specific products:![]()
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Culinary Nut Customers: We are finally at the end of a long and slow harvest and shipping season. If you have not received your chestnuts yet, or if you have not yet received a refund because we ran out of chestnuts, we will be in touch shortly. ![]()
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Seed Nut Customers: Seed nuts will ship in the next 2 weeks. Greg will be in touch about any substitutions or changes to your order. ![]()
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Dried Chestnut Customers: We are currently drying and peeling chestnuts to fill orders for dried kernels and flour. Because of the small fresh chestnut crop we have higher demand than normal for dried products, so we are struggling to keep up with demand. We will be in touch if we have to cancel your order. If you don't hear from us, that means we're working on it.
ATTENTION CUSTOMERS: We have had many questions about shipping times and the status of orders. Our chestnuts are harvested fresh from the field, and harvest is very late this year. We ship your orders in the order they were received if we have the chestnuts available. If your order has not yet been shipped, it is because we don't have the inventory ready to ship your order. You will get a notification when your order ships! We have a very small crop this year and will not be able to fill all of the orders. We will let you know by the end of October whether or not we can fill your order. Thanks for your patience!
We had a great time last weekend hosting the Southern Ohio Chestnut Company and friends for a harvest extravaganza! We wish them the best as they grow their new chestnut orchard, and we look forward to working with them in the future.