The chestnuts and the culture of the protagonist chestnut
- As in other localities in Navarre, four or five years ago, works on chestnuts began in Basaburua. “The Government of Navarra started an investigation related to native chestnut varieties, and that was when it started to revive the history of chestnut in the villages here,” explained Xabier Azpiroz, member of the Development Commission of Basaburua Latasa and organizer of the Gaztaina Fair. On 2 and 3 November the weekend linked to chestnut was held.
Discussions were initiated with the older people of the region to ask about the varieties of chestnut trees and their locations. “We’ve arrived quite late, the knowledge of chestnuts had almost been lost,” says the forest guard. However, during these years, samples of some trees have been identified and sent for analysis. “Over 500 samples have been analysed from which eighteen varieties of chestnuts have been extracted, all from Navarra, which have not appeared elsewhere,” he added. Five varieties have been found in Basaburua.
When the collection of native chestnut varieties began, it was discovered that the topic aroused the interest of citizenship. “A lot of people started to move around, trying to recover the chestnuts, worried about keeping them.” The wave was used to organize talks, formations and workshops in collaboration with the rural development association Cederna Garalur, the public society INTIA and the Plazaola Consortium.
Some of nostalgia, others of production
Basaburuarra has explained that some neighbors have approached the project from nostalgia or from the attempt to keep the old chestnuts of always, but that there are others who see a production option. “This aspect also seems very important to us, because we see the possibility of opening the door to production and, for the future, it can be key to maintaining the culture of chestnuts.” In fact, that's been I Basaburuko I. One of the main objectives of the organization of the Feria de Castañas: To provide models for the production of chestnuts in and outside the Basque Country.
On 2 November, various experiences related to the production of chestnuts were brought to the table. Gilles Texier talked about the work being done with chestnut in Ipar Euskal Herria, and Isidro Álvarez introduced the chestnut production they have in El Bierzo (León). The chestnut market was held in Jauntsarats on Sunday. There were stalls of products made with chestnuts.
“In Navarre we do not yet have production related to chestnut, but with external experiences we wanted to show that it is possible.” The response to the initiative was unbeatable and, as the organizers stress, it was only the beginning of the initiative. “The idea is to continue the elaboration and the fair to value the chestnut,” he concluded.
