General Information: Chestnut is a common name for several species of trees in the genus Castanea, in the Beech family Fagaceae. Chestnuts are native to warm temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts produced by these trees. The nuts are an important food crop in southern Europe, southwestern and eastern Asia, and also in eastern North America before the chestnut blight. In southern Europe in the Middle Ages, whole forest-dwelling communities which had scarce access to wheat flour relied on chestnuts as their main source of carbohydrates.

The most famous depiction of chestnuts is probably their mention in the Mel Torme and Bob Wells' classic, The Christmas Song which begins with the phrase "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." Written in 1944, the song is most identified with Nat King Cole, although Tormé recorded his own version in 1965.

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