List of new products includes coffee, beer and gluten-free flour

By MATTHEW WEAVER

Capital Press

MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- The only things Lee Williams has left over from his chestnut operation are the shells. And even those don't go to waste.

"I throw the shells out into the driveway to control dust," he said.

The rest of his crop goes into products ranging from coffee to beer.

As part of his Moses Lake, Wash., business, Trails End Chestnuts, Williams produces a coffee made entirely of chestnuts called Castagno Caffe.

First, he chips the chestnuts into a fine powder similar to cornmeal that he roasts, in a process similar to roasting coffee beans.

The resulting drink is gluten-free, caffeine-free and additive-free and is good for people who are allergic to caffeine, Williams said.

A retired veterinarian, Williams began Trails End more than 22 years ago because he found he missed growing things.

"I had 5 acres of land and I didn't want soft fruit," he recalled. "I looked around and started reading about chestnuts."

Chestnut trees cannot be imported into Washington state without phytosanitary certification, and Williams did not want to pay the cost. He contacted a friend in Washington's Tri-Cities area who had been working with Chinese and European chestnuts.

"I'd go down and take him a sack of potatoes and he'd give me all the nuts he had on him," Williams said.

It takes two years for a chestnut tree to get established, and the oldest of Williams' 500 trees are 20 years old.

Technically, he said, he has a grove, as chestnuts are a fruit.

"That's why they're perishable and have to be kept refrigerated," he said. "I dry them on the drying racks for a year."

They probably don't need to be there that long, Williams said, but around the end of August, he puts them in food-grade barrels and stores them until he needs them.

He's produced as much as 7,500 pounds of chestnuts a year.

He began producing a chestnut beer several years ago.

Williams said his purpose was not so much to produce beer, but to get rid of the less attractive chestnuts that aren't gourmet quality.

In March, Williams sold 650 pounds of roasted chestnut beer meal to Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City, Mich., which now offers the gluten-free beer.

He also sells dried chestnut flour for people who are allergic to gluten.

Sales have dropped because of the economy, but Williams said he doesn't ever really expect the business to be profitable.

"My hopes and goals are to be able to sell every bit of the chestnuts and not let any go to waste," he said.

It's an attitude he shares with others in the chestnut industry.

The holistic approach isn't necessarily common in chestnut production, said Ray Young, secretary-treasurer with the Chestnut Growers of America, but people use them in different ways when dried.

Williams' efforts may have a lasting effect for the industry, Young said, pointing to his generosity, to the degree that he doesn't want to patent or copyright any of his procedures.

"He would show anyone who comes to his place how he does it and tell them exactly what he does," Young said. "You couldn't pick a better person to be an emissary for chestnuts, because he's just so open and willing to share his ideas."

Lee Williams

Age: 70

Occupation: Retired veterinarian; owner, Trails End Chestnuts

Hometown: Richland, Wash.

Current location: Moses Lake, Wash.

Family: Wife Lynda, two children, three grandchildren

Education: Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.

Website: www.chestnuttrails.com