Chemical composition of chestnut cultivars from Spain

Chestnut cultivation and production in Spain has employed grafted seedlings from selected local cultivars. Previously, we have characterised the Spanish cultivars by morphological and molecular markers. We are presenting in this paper the proximate analysis and mineral content for the main Spanish cultivars. A total of 131 samples were collected from 47 cultivars in six important Spanish chestnut production regions; located in the North such as Asturias, Castilla-Leon (El Bierzo) and Galicia; in the Central such as Extremadura and in the South such as Andalucia; as well as the Canary Islands, the southermost part of Spain near to North Africa. High variability in chemical composition between cultivars and regions corresponded to the high genetic variability between cultivars. Correlations with environmental parameters were low, indicating that differences found between regions were probably reflecting the differences between cultivars. In Central and Southern Spain, some cultivars presented lowest moisture content due to the low summer rainfall in these regions. Differences in starch and total sugar contents were high and were negatively correlated with each other. There was no negative correlation between nut size and total sugar content. Lowest values of fibre content and ease of digestibility were found in cultivars from Galicia and Extremadura. No significant differences in Fe, Zn and Cu were found although Zn content is twice the value reported for European chestnuts. This work would be a valuable reference to chestnut quality for the food processing industry, nutritionists, breeders and growers alike. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.