Chestnuts

Pinky123

Hiya,

Collected a load of chestnuts yesterday but am now at a loss as to how to store them and what to do with. Any advice greatly appreciated

Minder

Blanche in hot water for 30 minutes to loosen the skins, peel and freeze. Or if a recipe that takes days to complete isn't off putting, try making marron glace.

The Hill Billy

Chestnuts are best stored in the 'salad crisper' drawer in your fridge to prevent them from becoming mouldy.

For chestnut recipes & how to prepare them for cooking - Google is your friend. I prefer them simply roasted.

Pinky123

If I want to keep them till Christmas am i better off freezing them ??
Can I still roast them if they are frozen?

alex73

Pinky123 wrote: »

Hiya,

Collected a load of chestnuts yesterday but am now at a loss as to how to store them and what to do with. Any advice greatly appreciated

Hi, I presume you bought the chestnuts, I am not sure but in Ireland there are not many continental chestnut trees..

FYI, and maybe you already know this but most of the chestnuts in Ireland are poisonous, Horse Chestnuts / Conkers can't be eaten.

If you bought then in a shop then they are safe enough. Just look for the point at the top of the nut.

If I stated the obvious apologies.

Minder

Yes, freezing them is best if you want to keep them for stuffings. The need to be cooked, but boiling will toughen them. Score the skins with a sharp knife. Place in a pan and cover with boiled water. Then put the pot in the oven at 90c for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and peel before they get cold - they are easier to peel if still warm.

bonkey

Minder wrote: »

Score the skins with a sharp knife.

Just on this...

If you google for "chestnut knife", you'll find a load of images of what is usually used for this....its a very, very short knife, hooked.

I tried using a regular kitchen knife...and swore never again. It can be done...but if you're not careful, you'll take your fingers off.

Be very, very careful, if you don't have the right tool for this job.

alex73

Lived in North of Italy for years, spent many Autumn weekends collecting Chestnuts. Locals used to make an type of Chestnut Jam. The Local town would have a Chestnut Roasting day, Thousand of Chestnuts where prepared (pierced) and placed in a drum, more like a cage drum and were roasted over an open fire as it was turned.

However the the best recipe for a Chestnut is the Mount Blanc Cake. Total indulgence and will set any diet back a month, but one of the best cakes ever, uses the Chestnut "Jam" Paste and Glaced chestnuts. However not an easy thing to make, Italians do a great Job.

The only way I have cooked chestnuts is pierced/Wrapped in Tin Foil and stuck in a fire while hiking.

Darkginger

I tend to roast mine on an open fire No, really, I do - I put them on an old iron shovel we have and rest them on top of the flames. They're also a good addition to Brussels sprouts, with perhaps some bacon lardons in there too.

And yeah, the edible chestnuts come from the Sweet Chestnut tree, not the Horse chestnut tree - although conkers look the same, they ain't.

daigo75

alex73 wrote: »

Lived in North of Italy for years, spent many Autumn weekends collecting Chestnuts. Locals used to make an type of Chestnut Jam. The Local town would have a Chestnut Roasting day, Thousand of Chestnuts where prepared (pierced) and placed in a drum, more like a cage drum and were roasted over an open fire as it was turned.

However the the best recipe for a Chestnut is the Mount Blanc Cake.

The only way I have cooked chestnuts is pierced/Wrapped in Tin Foil and stuck in a fire while hiking.

+1 for all the suggestions. I come from Northern Italy and we usually roast the small and "young" ones, after carefully cutting them to prevent them from "exploding".

Best result can be obtained with a wood fire (some houses have large fireplaces), but you can also do it on the gas. Ideally you should use a pan with holes (like this one) to allow the flames to toast the chestnuts. In case you have none of the above, simply use an old, clean pan and make it very hot. Shake it so that the chestnuts cook uniformly, and, once they are toasted (like these ones), wrap them with an old towel (they are very hot!) and let them cool down a little. Then roll them in the towel to crack the skins, it makes peeling easier. We call them "caldarroste", which literally means "hot roasted". Delicious!

Now that I think about it, I didn't answer your question about how to preserve them... Issue is, we never had to preserve any!

Pablo007

Tesco used to stock them around this time of year and although quite expensive, I haven't yet seen them for sale this year.

dh0661

Saw some prepared / vacumed packed in my veg. shop (Tralee) at the weekend.

Corsendonk

Pablo007 wrote: »

Tesco used to stock them around this time of year and although quite expensive, I haven't yet seen them for sale this year.

They don't stock them this early, the English only really use them in Xmas stuffing so they only really add them to the range 2-3 weeks out. Sometimes you can find an odd weevil in them when preparing them but hey free protein.

Mylow

Corsendonk wrote: »

They don't stock them this early, the English only really use them in Xmas stuffing so they only really add them to the range 2-3 weeks out. Sometimes you can find an odd weevil in them when preparing them but hey free protein.

I got a 250g pack of them in Aldi 2 weeks ago, they were €2.99.

You obviously haven't spent much time in England. Oxford St will be full of guys selling roast chestnuts. And lots of people in England add them to the same pot as Brussel sprouts.