Cirone
BRIEF:
Very large nuts with a firm kernel, easy peeling, and a pellicle that isn't bitter. Pronounced sir-OH-nee, like macaroni.
DETAILED:
Cirone is a European-Chinese hybrid that Greg Miller named and grew out in a test planting in eastern Ohio. It is pronounced sir-OH-nee, rhyming with macaroni, and we mention that because almost everyone gets it wrong the first time, ourselves included.
The nuts are very large — large enough that growers who are normally dismissive of size-chasing stop and comment on them. But the qualities we care about more are the ones you notice while eating. The kernel is firm, it peels well, and the pellicle, that papery skin against the nut, is not bitter. A bitter pellicle is the single most common reason people decide they do not much care for chestnuts, and it is worth more than an extra few grams of size.
Being part European rather than pure Chinese puts Cirone in a different category from most of our trees. European chestnut is less resistant to blight than Chinese, and Connecticut carries some of the most aggressive strains in the country, so we are watching these trees closely and will say more when we know more.
One practical note for anyone growing them: a grower in Michigan found that none of his Cirone seedlings produced pollen. Ours may do the same. If you plant Cirone, plan on having other pollen-producing trees nearby, ideally upwind.
