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The cultivation of chestnut trees in Corsica dates back to antiquity, and it experienced its greatest boom from the 15th century onwards, when the Genoese required each household to plant at least four per year on its land. It is said that one chestnut tree could support a family for a month. Chestnut groves are real orchards made up of grafted trees, pruned and irrigated to ensure good productivity. The terraces at the foot of the trees retain the water that irrigates them. The barriers made of branches, aresti, installed under each tree, make it possible to retain the fruit that falls from it and prevent it from rolling under the neighbouring tree. The chestnut groves of Olmo and Salasca are perfectly located on the northern slopes, above 400m above sea level, on cool soil, thus creating the most favourable conditions. A large part of the chestnut grove is located on communal land but the trees belong to different families in the village. Harvested between mid-October and the end of November, the fruit is dried in a chestnut dryer, a small stone building usually located near the chestnut grove. A wood fire burns for at least 21 days on the ground in this drying room. Above this fire, on a slatted floor, the chestnuts are placed in a thick layer and regularly stirred. Then, they are stripped of their first skin and put in a bag to be knocked on a wooden block so that the shell comes off. The second skin is removed and the chestnuts are taken to the mill to be ground into flour.

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