Oriental-style chestnuts. Karrikondoa farm

Dominique Indart is a member of the Gaztaina association, created in 2018, which aims to rehabilitate, enhance and promote chestnuts from the northern Basque Country.

It seeks to develop and structure their production and promotion. Its primary objective is to structure a chestnut industry in this region and, among other things, to protect and restore existing chestnut groves, but also to help establish new ones.

The Basque Country chestnut is an emblematic fruit of the region, deeply rooted in its rural history and gastronomy. Once a staple food, it was grown extensively in the valleys and on the slopes of the Basque mountains. The ancient chestnut groves, known as ‘gaztaindegiak’, were used to feed families and also for pig farming. The best-known variety is the ‘Garralda’, highly prized for its sweet, melt-in-the-mouth flesh. There is also the “Pikotxa”, small but very tasty, and the ‘Etxeto’, which ripens later.