If you’re a chestnut grower wondering whether your five-acre block can ever feel like a real business, this is the conversation worth having. Value-added chestnut products are quietly rewriting the math of small chestnut orchards. Underneath the question of “what can I make from my nuts?” though, is a quieter one. How do I turn a three-week harvest into a year-round relationship — with my land, my customers, and my community?
A small story before we get into the numbers. After Jon Nash and I finished recording, a care package arrived from Treeborne — oven-roasted chestnut chips and chestnut flour, grown and crafted in Michigan. The episode was already in the can. There was nothing to gain.
That’s the part that stayed with me. This is what the chestnut community actually is.
Value-Added Chestnut Products, in Plain Terms
Value-added chestnut products turn a five-to-ten-acre orchard into a year-round business. Roasted chestnut chips, chestnut flour, chestnut crumbs, and brewery partnerships extend the harvest window from weeks into a full retail calendar. Per the 2024 CGA Market Survey, demand still outstrips supply for most categories — and the FDA’s 2025 reclassification only widens the door.
Which Value-Added Chestnut Products Make Sense for Your Farm?
When growers ask me where to start, I don’t hand them a product list. Instead, I hand them three doors. Each one has a year-0 first step and a year-50 deepening move. Pick the one that matches who you are, not who you wish you were.
- Brewery Partnerships. Year 0: walk into one local brewery with a sample bag of roasted chestnut chips. Year 50: a multi-state collaboration with a recurring seasonal release.
- Flour, Crumbs & Retail. Year 0: mill one small batch of flour in your own kitchen and bake from it. Year 50: a co-packed line carried by regional grocers.
- Agritourism & Community. Year 0: invite ten neighbors to a roast on the porch. Year 50: a destination farm with a seasonal calendar that reads like a small festival.
However, you don’t have to choose only one. Still, choosing one to start — honestly, with eyes open — is the difference between motion and momentum.
How Treeborn Started on a Beer Napkin
On Branching Out: Growing Together, Jon Nash told me how Treeborn actually began. He and Roger Blackwell were toasting the late Dr. Dennis Fulbright when a brewery partner ran low on chestnut chips for a seasonal brown ale. A conversation turned into a plan.
“It really was kind of on a beer napkin where Treeborn came together.” — Jon Nash (~23:00)
Today, Treeborn sells chestnut flour, chestnut crumbs, and roasted chestnut chips through MSU’s processing kitchen at Roger’s Reserve in Michigan. Furthermore, brewery partnerships followed quickly: Tennessee Brew Works (King Chestnut), Fullsteam in Pittsboro NC (Chestnut Brown), and Jolly Pumpkin in Michigan. Yet the lesson isn’t the brand. Instead, the lesson is the napkin. After all, value-added begins as a relationship, not a business plan.
What Two Co-Ops Learned About Chestnut Flour
Last year, Route 9 Cooperative and Yellowbud Farm ran an NNGA-funded study comparing chestnut flour from eleven different cultivars. Their finding surprised me. Drying temperature matters more than cultivar choice.
“At 20°C, drying took on average 28 days. The shortest drying time was Marigoule at 19 days, and the longest was Luvall’s Monster at 35 days.” — Baum, Miller, Marksohn & Cornell (NNGA grant report, Summer 2025)
First, Qing scored sweetest. Then cultivar 65-11 came in most neutral. Meanwhile, Hansen brought a ‘cornbread’ flavor. Above all, the team learned that chestnut flour has a real role in gluten-free and plant-based markets — but only if growers nail the drying protocol. Likewise, that’s the reframe to carry: process discipline is the part of value-added that actually scales.
The Numbers Most Growers Haven’t Seen Yet
The 2024 CGA Market Survey paints a clear picture. Sixty-eight percent of U.S. chestnut growers reported rising demand for fresh chestnuts. Furthermore, online direct-to-consumer prices now run $6.00–$12.00 per pound, up from $5.00–$8.18 in 2021. However, only 8 percent of growers are currently producing value-added products — even though 73 percent admit they don’t know what value-added demand actually looks like.
Meanwhile, the FDA reclassified chestnuts in January 2025, removing them from the federal tree-nut allergen labeling category. Consequently, food manufacturers can use chestnuts more easily in mainstream products. The door just opened. The 73 percent gap is the opportunity.
If Even One of These Doors Looks Like Yours
However, you don’t have to launch a brand. Instead, you can start with one brewery, one farmers market, or one bag of flour you milled in your own kitchen. After all, we don’t always know our full direction at the start. That’s okay. So pick one of the three doors. Take one step. Then let the people who taste your chestnuts tell you which way to walk next.
Above all, value-added isn’t really about products. It’s about extending the conversation between your orchard and the people who eat from it. The fall harvest is the starting line — not the finish.
If even one of these three doors looks like yours, the Nash Nurseries / Treeborn episode or our past talk with Amy Miller are waiting. Come walk it with us at unitedchestnuts.com.