Cracking chestnuts

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Posted at 12:15PM, 18 October 2010 by Dulcima Mansell - Food writer

We have the Romans to thank for Britain's abundance of Sweet Chestnut trees. They highly rated chestnuts as a cookery ingredient and rightly so: these beautiful, shiny nuts are wonderfully versatile and, in spite of what the name may suggest, they are equally at home in sweet or savoury dishes.

For those who enjoy gathering their food from the wild, you can find them throughout autumn

For those who enjoy gathering their food from the wild, you can find them throughout autumn. A good technique for freeing the nuts from their sharp-needled shells is to use your foot (with shoe!) to 'press and roll' over the nuts and they should pop out easily. If you're lacking a nearby tree, you should be able to find them in supermarkets, pre-cooked in cans or vacuum packs.

If cooking them fresh, you need to remove the chestnuts from their skins by either boiling or roasting them. For both options, first make a small incision in the skin or you'll have a house full of chestnut shrapnel as they will explode. If cooking over an open fire, keep one whole as when this explodes you know the others are done (not a method for the overly house proud!). Once cooked, peel off the tough shell and the papery thin skin underneath.

The texture of the cooked nuts means that they can be a very useful alternative to flour in desserts as they can be blitzed in a food processor into a fine crumb. Chocolate and chestnuts are a heavenly combination; the French celebrate this with Bûche de Noël, a chocolate log filled with a chestnut purée served at Christmas, or try Mary Cadogan's Chestnut truffle cake. The Italians use chestnuts in Montebianco, where thick chestnut purée is topped with cream to replicate the mountain after which it is named. But for me the ultimate celebration of the chestnut is marrons glacés, in which the chestnuts are cooked in sugar syrup of increasing concentration, saturating the nut with sugar through a process similar to osmosis.

In savoury dishes chestnuts are the epitome of earthy rustic cooking. Use whole in stews and casseroles or as a purée instead of mashed potato. They are also a very welcome accompaniment to a roast dinner: there is the traditional chestnut stuffing, but you can also cook them whole alongside your meat, and they're a very good friend to your Christmas sprouts.

How do you cook chestnuts?

Comments

Cassandra Amy Rose

19 October 2010, 9:07AM
Cassandra Amy Rose

We managed to get about handful of chestnuts off 3 trees last year, as the squirrels also seem to be fond of them! I love collecting food from the wild though, so I will definitely be collecting some this year.

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Sam

19 October 2010, 11:34AM
Sam

My dad has just collected a vast amount of these and doesn't know what to do with them - will definitely try out the chestnut truffle cake, thanks for the ideas!

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Emily

19 October 2010, 3:39PM
Emily

I've never cooked fresh chestnuts apart from roasting them over the fire at Christmas. I've used vac packed ones a few times and love them, especially as you can keep them in the cupboard on standby for months. Most recently I used them in this really simple olive recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8487/butternut-squash-with-sausages-and-chestnuts and a version of this salad, but with pears http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8017/autumn-chestnut-salad

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Charlotte

23 October 2010, 11:54AM
Charlotte

At Christmas time we cut the tops and then pop them in the microwave for a few minutes under kitchen roll. Although they are very hot the skins peel straight off them. Hope that helps!

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