We’ve probably all heard the song. But have you ever tried them? Chestnuts. Roasting on an open fire.
I was sort of humming that to myself the other day as I walked through the grocery store and spotted a big basket of chestnuts for sale. I didn’t pick any up, largely because I don’t have an open fire handy. But do I really need an open fire? So I looked them up when I got home.
Turns out an oven will work just fine. Although many people seem to indicate the open fire thing does add a bit of flavour to your chestnuts.
The first thing is the chestnuts themselves. You can’t just go out and pick them up off the ground. Unless you live in southern Europe. But even then, if they’re laying on the ground too long they could get a bit buggy. The chestnuts we usually see around here are horse chestnuts. Not only do they taste bad, they are mildly poisonous. So don’t roast up a big bunch of those. In fact, they may look similar, but they’re not even in the same family as the edible ones.
The edible chestnuts are known as sweet chestnuts. Although according to what I have seen, even they are not overly tasty until they are roasted. Then they are a nice treat.
But they started as more than just a treat. edible chestnuts were a dietary staple in some parts of the world, particularly before the potato was introduced. Potatoes are a new world thing that the Spanish took back with them many years ago. Before that, a lot of people ate chestnuts. In fact, some people survived off chestnuts in tough times. In some areas, chestnuts trees can be referred to as bread trees.
Since then, they have become more of a treat. There is even a glazed version that is produced in southern France and northern Italy. But for some reason, although I have tried them a couple times, I have never bought them because of a lack of an open fire.
Although my great grandfather’s stuffing recipe, that I have used for many years, calls for chestnuts. I’ve just ignored that part. I might have to put a few in this year.
But I have found instructions. It doesn’t look that hard. Cut an X into the round side of the shell, pop them in the oven for a few minutes and you have a snack. Sounds simple. Open fire not required.
