I use the traditional cross cut. That way it opens up a bit and is easier to grab and peel from there. You can usually just give it a squeeze and it will crack the shell enough to open it easily. I just oven roast them. No turning. The problem is usually that 'these days', you often get quite a few nuts that are already either dried out in the shell or moldy. Other than that, if they're nice and fresh before roasting, they come out very nice. I love roasted chestnuts.

Oops, this batch of chestnuts has been sitting around way too long - most of them were moldy. We'll try again tomorrow with a fresh batch. But - the batch that was steamed had a lot of promise. The few that weren't ''expired'' were moist and sweet. To make matters weirder, my daughter wants to inject some with simple syrup.

In recent years I've gotten them right from the store moldy. Frustrating. Last year I did look up buying some from a grower online just to hopefully avoid that.

Inject with simple syrup. Heh..love this girl. You/she could always simmer some in simple syrup after they're out of the shells and candy them that way. I have a bad vision of hot syrup squirting out of the shells otherwise.. but hey, experimentation is great.

I enjoy chestnuts. If you don't poke a hole in them, chestnuts can explode like popping corn when you roast them.

It is a pain to peel the skin off after you shelled them. It has to be done while they are hot. Have a pot of boiling water, dip them in and then peel.

I mostly steam cook them in a pressure cooker, and then I cut them in halves and scoop out the meat with a tiny spoon. No peeling the thin skin.

Here is another great way � First cut them in halves, steam cook them. I don�t boil them because I think it imparts a slightly bitter taste from the shells. After the nuts are cooked, use a pair of pliers to squeeze out the meat. Very quick and no peeling.

You have to refrigerate fresh chestnuts or they will go moldy.

Microwave them is very quick.

You can buy peeled dried chestnuts for cooking in Chinese stores.

You can buy canned peeled chestnuts.

Chestnut flour is great for cooking.

dcarch

The best way to roast them, of course is on an open fire....
;-Q

Your daughter's idea has reminded me of one of my favorite treats....in Greece they candy chestnuts and they are to die for! If you have a Greek market near you, ask them. I'm sure your daughter will enjoy them.

I've heard that people can have a lot of trouble peeling them Dcarch, but I really don't have that problem. When you do the cross/X cut and roast in the oven, they sort of open up and like I said, with just a few squeezes, the shell and peel both pop off. Hmmm...

My MIL soaks them in water for about 20 mins before cutting an X in them and then she roasts them.

'' chauds les marrons, chauds les marrons !! '' When you are in Paris this time of the year, you can get wonderful hot roasted chestnuts around street corners. Such a nice feeling. Sweet chestnuts warming your hands as well as your stomach.

And if you are in China, hot roasted chestnuts are the best there. Also purveyed by street vendors. The chestnuts are the sweeter smaller variety. They roast them in a big wok of hot sand mixed with sugar. The burnt aroma of the sugar infused sand imparts a sweet smoky flavor to the chestnuts and permeate the air with irresistible fragrance to mercilessly torture hungry little kids.

dcarch

Haven't roasted any for a few years.
The last time roasting them, I put the point of a paring knife into each one and
Roasted them in a hot Cast Iron Skillet with a lid.
Everyone enjoyed them.
LOU

Plant a few in your garden. Not all will grow but some will. In a few years you will have your own supply. I have a tree which I started in a temporary location and haven't gotten around to moving. Now I have to decide if I want to cut it or let that become its permanent location.

Jim

I still have an old chestnut on the farm, the American Chestnut Foundation has samples of bark and leaves as it is apparently immune to the blight that killed most of the American Chestnut trees. Dad used to take every single nut he could find, sprout it, and if the tiny tree survived, plant it out in the middle of the National Forest. His theory was that if they were far enough apart they couldn't catch the disease from other trees. Of course, that means they produce nearly no nuts, because they are self pollinating but really require cross pollination for a good crop of nuts. In addition, we are really quite a long way north of the normal growing habitat of the American Chestnut, although they are not unheard of here. Hmmmm. Perhaps the cold is what is stopping the blight and not the immunity of the tree? Whichever, I really need to go on the back of my property and see if any of those we planted back there survived.

The nuts we get now in stores and at markets are a Chinese variety that is not susceptible to blight and nurseries are attempting to add that immunity to American chestnuts.

Anyway, I don't like them very much. They mostly remind me of squash but a lot more work. The local orchard where I pick cherries, strawberries and peaches also has pick your own chestnuts every October. Wear gloves, they are still in their very spiny coverings! Here they are $4.99 a pound if they are picked for you, much less if you want to pick your own.

Elery says he sold a lot of chestnuts when he was working at the Italian grocery. We soaked them, cut an "x" in the bottom and then roasted them in a baking pan. We also made some "candied" chestnuts after peeling. Elery loved them, I was pretty "eh" about it all. I didn't keep the recipe but I remember it involved boiling the nuts in a syrup and the syrup contained sugar, water and cayenne pepper, along with some other things.

Annie

"I really need to go on the back of my property and see if any of those we planted back there survived."

Please do that, Annie. That is a fascinating story. I wonder if anyone other than your dad has one so much to reestablish the wild chestnuts.

Chestnut is a very nice wood for furniture making. You will find it occasionally in old pieces of furniture.

Jim

I buy mine from Trader Joes nice and vacuum packed darfc

Jim, I'll do that in the spring. Right now it's in snow about up to my neck, LOL, and the only way I can recognize a chestnut tree is by the leaves. Dad could tell what tree it was by the bark, even in the dead of winter. I haven't gotten that good at it.

Dad loved trees and he loved to grow things. He spent lots of happy hours coaxing those little trees to grow and would tell me that when he was long gone, maybe his children's children's children would touch that tree and he would have passed something on to generations that he would never live to meet. My sister would just shake her head when he said that but I rather like the idea that Dad is living on in those trees, and that I can touch a living thing that only lived because he spent the time to nurture it.

Plus, he was a farmer to the core, and just had to grow things. He loved it if he could grow things no one else could coax to grow, LOL.

Annie

Like someone mentioned above, they sell roasted chestnuts on the street in Greece and they smell wonderful. DH and I bought some and I put one in my month and had to find a place to spit it out quickly. It was nasty. I have always wondered if I got a bad one, or if they all tasted like that.

Annie, it is important that you search your back forty looking for Chestnut trees. I once owned property with a group of American chestnuts which now stand 50' tall and they used to produce bumper crops. But, word reaches me that the winter moth which is devastating New England finds the trees to be tasty and their activity has destroyed the crop in the past few years. Anyone who knows of American chestnut trees should be collecting the nuts and giving them to those willing to sprout and plant them. You have to watch carefully in the wild for the time the nuts begin to drop as deer adore them. The whole herd will appear pawing at the bristly covering until they free the chestnuts. Their feeding frenzy is quite a sight and they have no fear of humans. I have collected the nuts walking among them.

Store purchased chestnuts should be floated in a pan of water first. Those that do not drop to the bottom have spoiled.

Because I had so many chestnuts I would freeze them, first simmering them in boiling water for 30 minutes, then shelling, drying on a towel and packing in plastic bags in serving sizes for stuffing and soup, adding to salads and whatever other uses I could think of such as in meatloaf. But one of life's greatest indulgences is fresh Am. Chestnuts, roasted, coupled with a good white wine on a snowy winter's evening. Heaven!

nandina, it wouldn't take much searching, as soon as I find leaves. I was the "assistant" most often pressed into duty doing the digging, hauling of manure for the holes, wrapping to protect from rabbits. I ought to remember where the ones are on my property, but the ones in the National Forest, they are on their own, I'm afraid. Dad had a "map", which my sister thought was garbage and threw it away after he died. I about had a fit, but it would have done no good and she never did understand why I was so upset.

Annie

Here ya go Annie. Here's a picture of the leaves, for spring.. lol. That's great stories about your Dad. Thanks for sharing. And boy, I'd have about skinned my sister too. Darn shame. Love to have known your father. Reminds me of some of the farmers around here I grew up around. What a guy.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Posted by soonergrandmom "----------- DH and I bought some and I put one in my month and had to find a place to spit it out quickly. It was nasty. I have always wondered if I got a bad one, or if they all tasted like that."

Of course, Horse Chestnuts look almost identical to edible chestnuts. They are poisonous. Fortunately they also taste extremely horrible.

dcarch