United Chestnuts

Chestnuts Are Coming Back. And We’re Building the System to Support Them.

Whether you’re planting your first trees or tasting your first chestnut—we’re here to help the future take root.

United Chestnuts helps chestnut farmers, hunters, landowners, agroforestry systems, and food leaders bring chestnuts back to American farms, kitchens, and markets—by creating the tools, visibility, and support structure this crop has never had, but always deserved.

What’s Broken. What We’re Fixing.

Chestnuts used to be everywhere—feeding families, enriching soil, anchoring communities. Then, slowly, they vanished. Blight decimated the trees. Supply chains forgot them. Generations grew up without ever tasting one. What’s left is a crop with deep roots and almost no infrastructure. A few committed growers kept planting, but without support, without visibility, and without a story the public could connect to.

The result?

A food system where chestnuts don’t stand a chance—not because they’re not valuable, but because the system never made space for them to thrive.

What's Broken

  • Sad Chester (Color)

    Chestnuts vanished from the American table.

  • Sad Chester (Color)

    New growers are starting from scratch — no mentors, no shared knowledge, no map to follow

  • Sad Chester (Color)

    Consumers don't know chestnuts. Buyers can't find growers. Kitchens don't know what to do with them

What We’re Fixing

  • Happy Chester (color)

    We’re putting chestnuts back into the cultural conversation—through chefs, content, and community.

  • Happy Chester (color)

    We're training new growers through UC Academy — real lessons from our own trees, not theory.

  • Happy Chester (color)

    We're connecting growers to new markets, buyers, and kitchens — building the tools this industry never had.

 We believe there’s still space for chestnuts—and for the people growing them— to thrive again.

New to chestnut farming? A landowner exploring agroforestry? Developing hunting land? Or just curious where this industry is headed? Whatever brought you here, we'd love to hear from you — chances are, we can help.

Who We Work With

Chestnut Farmers, Landowners, Hunters...

Chestnuts are perennial, low-input, and in demand. Whether you just planted your first tree or you're mapping your farm's next ten years, we're here to help you get there — with real experience, not theory

Want to know more?

For Curious Eaters

Chestnuts are rich, sweet, and unlike anything else—somewhere between a roasted sweet potato and a toasted hazelnut. They’re naturally gluten-free, easy on the gut, and deeply satisfying.

Chefster

We’re on a mission to bring them back into kitchens everywhere.

For Buyers & Collaborators

 Through the UC Academy, the Branching Out: Growing Together podcast, and our blog, we're sharing the real stories of chestnut farming, lesson by lesson and episode by episode. If you're an innovator, chef,  food org, buyer, broker or researcher, we'd love to explore what's possible together

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Want to Be Part of the Chestnut Comeback?

We're building something bigger than a product—a growing home for real lessons, real stories, and real conversations: the Academy, the podcast, the blog. Rooted in real soil and real flavor."

Interested in learning more? Reach out

we’d love to hear what you’re working on.