The Australian chestnut season has finished, and Fumina Farms owner and grower Chris Dikkenberg says volumes were similar to last year. “We probably did, as an industry, around 1,100 to 1,200 tonnes, and three weeks ago we sent our last commercial lot to market,” he said. “We didn’t have a spectacular year for weather, with a wet spring and winter, but that was a double edged sword because the size of the good quality nuts meant they were really in demand from consumers.” Market prices also held steady at around $5 per kilo, on average.
As the winter chill persists in Victoria and NSW, chestnuts have been getting more and more ‘air time’ in Australia, according to Mr Dikkenberg. “This year we saw chestnuts on My Kitchen Rules, about a month ago they were on Better Homes and Gardens,” he said. Chestnuts also appeared on the menu on Restaurant Revolution, aired on Channel 7 yesterday evening. “Australian chestnuts really are better quality than anything you’ll get in Europe,” added Mr Dikkenberg.
A small group of growers sent a light shipment of nuts to Europe this year, and Mr Dikkenberg said they were very well received, but the logistics of shipping so far were a problem. “Around 10 years ago some growers were exporting into Japan, but the biggest problem is volume,” he added. “China is the biggest producer of chestnuts, at about a million tonnes per year, In Australia we only do just over 1,000 tonnes.”
Australian chestnuts are also shipped to China for peeling and packaging, before being sent back for sale domestically. “We should have the first lot of packaged chestnuts back from China pretty soon,” said Mr Dikkenberg.
Next year’s harvest is expected to be slightly up in volume, and Mr Dikkenberg said the industry body, Chestnuts Australia, was doing a ‘really good’ job of marketing and promoting the quality of Australian grown chestnuts. The Australian season runs from March until late June, with flowering over Christmas time.
