Bouche de Betizac

Bouche de Bétizac Chestnut Tree is a famous French hybrid chestnut variety created by INRA in Corrèze in 1962. It results from a cross between ‘Bouche Rouge’ and CA04, a Castanea crenata selection.

This variety produces very large, matte brown nuts with good keeping qualities. Bouche de Bétizac is considered one of the best-flavoured hybrid chestnuts, combining large fruit size, good eating quality and strong productivity.

Like other Castanea sativa × Castanea crenata hybrids, Bouche de Bétizac is appreciated for its resistance to ink disease, a serious soil-borne disease that has affected European chestnut orchards since the 19th century.

The harvest takes place in October and the nuts store well after picking. Budbreak is early, but the variety is considered relatively tolerant of spring frost compared with many classic fruit trees.

Our Bouche de Bétizac chestnut trees are available in several forms, grafted either onto seedling chestnut rootstock or onto Marsol layering rootstock, the latter offering stronger resistance to soil-borne diseases.