Chestnicks is a new project developed by two graduated students from the University of Thessaly – Greece, and aims to support our local forestal communities by using chestnuts to produce innovative and delicious food products. We chose chestnuts because we wanted to introduce a new ingredient at the gluten free industry, the chestnut flour. This is logical, since Greece produces a great amount of chestnuts but they are not being processed so we found a business opportunity.
To begin with, we developed delicious gluten – free biscuits, having as a basic ingredient the organic chestnut flour produced by us, orange flavor and chocolate chips. This product was golden – awarded at the 2018 Greek Ecotrophelia Contest.
They are addressed to both gluten intolerant customers and the wider confectionery consumers’ group.
It is a healthy biscuit, with functional properties, thanks to the added prebiotic inulin, which contributes to normal bowel function. It is, also, a nutrition – rich, high in fibre food, a source of five vitamins (A, B2, B6, B9, C) and a source of minerals such as magnesium, potassium, manganese.
Chestnicks’ innovation is defined by the local production and usage of organic chestnut flour, where even the non – commercial seeds are utilized in an overall waste – free process. The above innovative characteristics along with the added native chicory inulin, make Chestnicks the first ever specialized gluten – free biscuits in the Greek market.
Chestnut flour has significantly lower energy & water footprint compared to the competing flours (gluten – free or not), and using it in the Food Industry can give an added value to chestnuts and provide healthy benefits beyond basic nutrition. Lastly, packaging is made of recyclable craft paper and we use only biodegradable materials.
