Erdkastanie

See the plants native habitat for ideas on its cultivation needs. The pig nut has at times been cultivated for its edible root. Although quite small in the wild, there is a potential to improve the size of this root through selective breeding and cultivation. For polyculture design as well as the above-ground architecture (form - tree, shrub etc. and size shown above) information on the habit and root pattern is also useful and given here if available. The plant growth habit is a clumper with limited spread [1-2]. The root pattern is tuberous with swollen potato-like roots [1-2].

Edible Parts: Leaves Root Edible Uses: Condiment Root - raw or cooked. A delicious taste very much like sweet chestnuts when cooked[2, K], but the tubers are very small and fiddly to harvest. Seed and flowers. Used as a flavouring, they are a cumin substitute. Leaves - raw or cooked. They are used as a garnish and a flavouring in much the same way as parsley.

None known

Heimisch: Baleares, Belgium, DK, England (C-England); Denmark [I]; Netherlands; Belgium; Luxembourg; Germany (Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Hessen, Hessen [I], Mecklenburg-Vorpommern [I], Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Schleswig-Holstein [I], Saarland, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen); Switzerland; Austria [I]; Spain; Baleares; France; ?Corsica; Sardinia; Italy; Sicily; San Marino; Slovenia; Croatia; Japan [I]; St. Pierre et Miquelon [I], FI, France, Germany, Global, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, NO, NW. Balkan Pen., Netherlands, Portugal Continental, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Sardegna, Sicilia, Switzerland, Walloon Region Eingeführt: AT, Austria, CZ, Czech Republic, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, JP, Japan, NO, Norway, PL, SE, Slovakia, Sweden