Do you know the Horse Chestnut ? But yes, it is this tree that produces chestnuts in autumn.
It comes from the Balkans and arrived in France in the 16th century. In autumn, children love to collect chestnuts to play with.
But did you know that chestnuts have many other utilities and benefits ?
Detergent, toothpaste, ointment against varicose veins...
They contain, among other things, saponins, aescin, flavonoids, coumarins, tannins and plenty of nutrients.
Saponins are soapy active ingredients that are also found in ivy leaves.
Aescin is an active ingredient used for venous problems, especially against varicose veins.
Here are 10 uses of horse chestnuts that you are bound to fall in love with . Watch:
For almost all the recipes that follow, chestnut powder is the base.
It is therefore wise to have a good supply of them all year round!
As chestnuts are only found in autumn and they mold very quickly, it is better to have some set aside.
Nothing could be simpler!
Carefully dry the chestnuts by placing them on a cloth in the sun without squeezing them.
Then grind them to make powder which dries much faster.
In addition, it takes up less space and is easier to use.
This is by far my favorite trick with chestnuts.
Instead of using an expensive and chemically commercial detergent...
Nature provides us with a 100% natural cleansing product .
Yes, just like the famous Indian soap tree which allows you to make soap nuts...
...the horse chestnut tree also belongs to the soap family.
The advantage of chestnut detergent is that it is 100% free unlike soap nuts.
Washing is therefore much more ecological with the chestnuts that can be picked up in the park next door.
Discover here the easy recipe to make your chestnut detergent.
As with laundry detergent, horse chestnut is also used to make a multi-purpose cleaner.
It allows you to clean the kitchen, the bathroom and even the garden.
You can even use it as a washing-up product . Amazing, isn't it?
Ingredients
- 10 chestnuts
- 1 liter of water
- 1 jar
How to
To do this, grind 10 chestnuts into a powder and put them in a glass jar.
Pour 1 liter of boiling water over it and leave to stand for at least 12 hours.
Also remember to stir from time to time to release the saponins.
There you go, your 100% natural homemade cleanser is ready! Discover the recipe here.
The chestnut mask cleanses and soothes tight skin or are fat .
To do this, take about 2 tablespoons of chestnut pieces and grind them into flour.
Mix the flour with a little water, apply the mask and leave on for about 10 minutes before rinsing off with lukewarm water.
Your skin is now very soft and well hydrated!
Do you use clay powder toothpaste to whiten your teeth? You will love this chestnut powder toothpaste.
Chestnuts clean, disinfect and have anti-inflammatory effects for the gums.
Here is the quick and easy recipe.
You need 3 tablespoons of horse chestnut powder.
Add 1 tbsp baking soda, 10-15 dried sage leaves, and xyliyol (optional).
Put all the ingredients in a blender.
And grind them carefully until you get a very fine powder with an almost floury consistency.
It is important that all the ingredients are finely chopped so as not to damage your gums.
To brush your teeth, just put a little powder on the moistened toothbrush.
Know that this DIY toothpaste has a slightly bitter taste and hardly foams.
But it is very effective in cleaning teeth.
An old belief says that you should carry 3 chestnuts in your trouser pockets to avoid rheumatism and gout.
That's not wrong.
Because with a more direct and regular application in a bath, chestnuts stimulate blood circulation.
For this, soak 500 g of ground horse chestnuts in 5 liters of water overnight.
Before use, boil the mixture again briefly and simmer for 30 minutes.
Then, pour the infusion through a strainer into the bath water.
All you have to do is relax in this bath that will improve your blood circulation.
You can also make a great autumnal shower gel with chestnuts and an apple.
A completely organic shower gel ready in minutes, anyone?
You will need:5 horse chestnuts, 300 ml of water, 1 apple (or 1 quince) and 1 heaped tablespoon of psyllium.
You can add 1 teaspoon of coconut milk in case of dry skin.
Simmer the chestnuts and the apple cut into small pieces in the water for 10 min.
Strain the mixture and let cool. Add the psyllium and let it swell.
Then, boil the mixture again gently to obtain the consistency of an egg white.
And here is a natural shower gel , all soft and completely free . Check out the trick here.
You can also use the apple shower gel recipe as a shampoo to wash your hair.
But if you have special requirements for your hair, here are some variations:
- Replace the apple with rosemary to fight against hair loss,
- Replace the apple with orange if you have oily hair,
- Replace psyllium with flax seeds which have a softening power, especially if you have a very dry scalp.
Check out the recipe details here.
The infusion of chestnuts is ideal for relieving varicose veins , swollen feet, eczema, venous diseases, joint pain and rheumatism.
To prepare this miracle remedy , you need a glass jar, vodka, chestnuts and juniper berries.
Fill half of the jar with peeled chestnuts and cut into small pieces.
Add a handful of juniper berries and fill the rest of the jar with vodka.
Everything must be well immersed.
Close the jar and leave it in a warm place for 3 weeks.
Then, strain the mixture to remove the lumps and store it in a colored glass bottle.
Dilute 10 drops of chestnut tincture in a glass of water 3 times a day for 14 days to act on blood circulation and soothe varicose veins.
Chestnut saponins also help gardeners to fight aphids naturally.
Prepare an anti-aphid spray by infusing 15 chestnuts cut in half or even better in powder in 1 liter of water.
Boil and simmer another 30 minutes.
Leave to cool and strain, then pour into the vaporizer.
Spray on plants infested with aphids to say goodbye to these insects.
To make this detergent, you must use horse chestnuts, which are NOT EDIBLE.
It is for this reason that you must wash the blender or your knife well after using them to cut the chestnuts.
Horse chestnut is the seed of the common horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).
Edible chestnuts are the fruits of the chestnut tree. The chestnut is a small, slightly flattened and triangular fruit.
The edible chestnut is a round and shiny fruit. Both are in a bug.
When opening the bug, if there is only one fruit, it is a chestnut. If there are several separated by brownish skin, they are chestnuts.
On a walk, to easily differentiate horse chestnuts from chestnuts, just observe the bug of these fruits. This is their spiky envelope.
That of the chestnuts looks like a sea urchin with spikes in the shape of needles that go in all directions.
The chestnut bug has coarser spikes and in fewer numbers.
