Each year the chestnut makes a brief but welcome appearance. Though the burnt shell of chestnuts bought from a street vendor gives the nut a special taste, home roasted chestnuts are also delicious. They are simple to prepare and fill the house with a delicious, almost woody, aroma.

Cooking Chestnuts

A word of caution, when roasting chestnuts it is extremely important to slit open the shell to allow the steam caused by the heating moisture to escape. Otherwise the chestnuts will burst in the oven with a dramatic, but messy, explosion.

For perfectly roasted chestnuts

1.      Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. (190 degrees Celsius/ gas mark 5)

2.      Make a slit through the chestnut, which will allow the pressure to escape. The easiest way to do this is to take a sharp knife, place the blade over the chestnut, hold the handle tightly and with the palm of the other hand press down firmly.

3.      Place the chestnuts slit side up in a shallow pan.

4.      Roast in the oven for approximately 15-25 minutes.

5.      Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.

6.      Peel off both the shell and the furry inner skin.

Though roasting is the most common method of cooking chestnuts, the nut can be prepared in a number of different ways, by candying, boiling and drying before grinding into flour.

Chestnut History

In an ironic seasonal twist, since chestnuts so often compose the stuffing for the Thanksgiving turkey, it was the Native Americans who taught the pilgrims how to cook them in stews or use their flour for bread.

In Colonial America it was said that chestnut trees were so numerous that a squirrel could jump from chestnut tree to chestnut tree from Georgia to New York without ever touching the ground. The wood of the chestnut tree was used for virtually every building need, from shingles and panelling to telegraph poles and musical instruments. The chestnut was also America’s major source of tannin, for tanning leather.

The use of chestnuts extends beyond cooking and eating. In the Mediterranean basin the whole economy was based on chestnuts.