Roasting Chestnuts at Home to Rival any Street Vendor… · Faith Middleton's Food Schmooze (2024)

FAQs

What is the tradition of roasting chestnuts? ›

Even today, Italian-Americans carry on the tradition of ending holiday meals with “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” and a glass of wine. The smell of roasted chestnuts on a cold late Autumn-Winter day is enough to fill your soul with pleasure.

Fresh Roasted Chestnuts

This is a little stand at the corner of Mott and Grand in front of a Chinese apothecary. The small chestnuts are slowly roasted in a pebbly pile of coals. A quarter-pound costs $3. He's hard to catch at times because the stand closes at 5pm most days.

Antioxidants and minerals like magnesium and potassium help reduce your risk of cardiovascular issues, such as heart disease or stroke. Chestnuts are a good source of these nutrients and can help boost your heart health. Chestnuts can also help improve your digestion.

Soak them in water for 15 minutes up to an hour before roasting. This helps the nut separate from the shell and makes peeling even easier after roasting.

Cooking them before you eat them, though not required, is strongly recommended, says Applegate. “It makes the starch more digestible.” The best cooking method depends on how you plan to use them, Kamp says. For snacks and salads, you want to keep the chestnuts dry, so roasting is her pick.

The blight spread, and within 40 years, nearly every American chestnut was dead. Other varieties of chestnut are still eaten all over the world, just as they have been for centuries.

Medium Chestnuts ($5.50 per lb)

Approximately 50-60 per lb. Get notified by email when this product is in stock.

Fresh Chestnuts are best if consumed within three weeks of purchase. Cooked Chestnuts can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Cooked and Peeled Chestnuts store perfectly in the freezer for year-round goodness.

Chestnuts are a good source of protective antioxidants, even after cooking, they also contribute useful amounts of fibre. For these reasons, they may help improve heart health and support blood sugar and weight management.

The potassium content in chestnuts can help manage blood pressure by: Controlling the movement of water in the body. Alleviating the effects of sodium by increasing blood flow and releasing the pressure on constricted blood vessels and arteries.

How many chestnuts should you eat a day? ›

Compared to most nuts, chestnuts are lower in protein, fat and calories. Yet, one serving (about ten nuts) contains 36% DV (Daily Value, based on 2,000 calories per day) of antioxidant vitamin C, 17% DV of satiating dietary fiber, and a full 50% DV of manganese for healthy bones.

If you over-cook OR under-cook them, they will get hard and the inner skin will be very difficult to remove. Now comes the hard part: peeling them! You need to peel them while they are still warm. Let them cool just enough so that you can touch them, then start peeling.

Oven-roasting chestnuts is the best way to bring out the fullest flavour (if you want to eat them straight away or chop them into your stuffing mix). Boiling them will give a smooth texture for cooking in soups or purées.

Bake at 350°F until the edges of the chestnut shells really curl up, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and working one parcel at a time, peel off the shell and the skin at the X. (A paring knife sometimes makes this job easier).

Sweet, toasted chestnuts are such a seasonal delight, but they don't have to be eaten just at Christmas. In October you can pick them fresh from the tree and cook them there and then in a pan on the campfire or at home in your oven. Another tradition is to substitute the pan for roasting the nuts on a garden spade.