The difference between Horse Chestnut and Sweet Chestnut- And which one is edible?

Hi,

Over the years when teaching tree identification for bushcraft a few questions frequently pop up.

One common question is " Is sweet Chestnut the same as Horse Chestnut and are both edible"?

The simple answer is .....no.

Sweet chestnut is a relation of Oak and Beech trees and resides within the Fagaceae family. This is the edible one. The nuts come in a spiny husk and when roasted are quite delicious, a Christmas treat at many christmas markets.

Here are the descriptive images from my favorite tree identification book Collins Tree Guide by Owen Johnson and David More.

My well used copy

If you want to learn more about Bushcraft I would highly recommend learning as many trees and their uses as possible. Good bushcraft books frequently list trees and their uses but the actual indentifaction info is often missing. Get a good ID book to go in your bag and learn a new tree a week. Before long you will know hundreds of trees and soon enough recognise them by shape from miles away.

Here is a link to amazon for the book above.