The Joy of Chestnuts, the Pleasure of the Roast

About this time of year, it’s Perry Como who takes me back to the happier days of my childhood. Specifically, Como crooning about the long tradition of chestnuts roasting over an open fire. Little did I know that by the time I heard that song (in the mid-60s) it was a nearly forgotten tradition among American families.

My dad told me once that when he was a kid, everyone had their own way of preparing chestnuts. His dad (my granddad) had his own recipe for roasted chestnuts that involved soaking them overnight hot rum and sugar. I ate my first roasted chestnut while living in Japan as a child (I’m an AF brat) called Kachiguri (搗栗 [カチグリ]), a delicacy for the New Year, akin to caramel popcorn. There’s even a children’s song about a young ‘kuri’ rolling down a hill.

The sad story is that the American chestnut was – next to hemp and cotton – a most prolific agricultural product. According to the American Chestnut Foundation, there was “one chestnut for every four oaks, birches, maples and other hardwoods.” However, over logging and the introduction of a lethal fungus felled the American chestnut forests – en masse. The variety practically disappeared from the continent by the 1920s (a whole 40 years before I ever saw one).

I had hoped to rekindle my interest in that noble nut by adding it to my stuffing recipe for this year’s family Christmas dinner. The stuffing, I am happy to say, was a real hit. Even my 9-year-old nephew savored the soft and not-to-sweet texture of the chestnuts my wife and I baked and peeled the day before – which wasn’t fun, I’ll tell you now.

Did you know that there’s practically no such thing as pre-peeled chestnuts (no, not water chestnuts, REAL chestnuts). The alternative was to do it the old fashioned way which left both our hands badly cut and blistered (we peeled damn near two pounds of chestnuts!).

Wouldn’t you know that there are alternatives; ones that I still can’t believe that I missed because I was remiss in checking the net for recipes. So, allow me to save you the effort:

First, buy fresh chestnuts (very important) – sort them out in the store and discard those with small holes or mold on the shell. Store fresh chestnuts in a plastic bag with a few ventilation holes punched in it. Place the bag in the lower ‘veggie’ tray of your refrigerator. When you’re ready to cook them, puncture each nut once or twice with an ice pick or a knife. I cut an ‘x’ in each husk – which seemed to make peeling a bit easier. Alternately, you can just make one cut the husk, from side to side and around the bottom, or once laterally. Note that if you fail to make any cut, pressure from the steam that may build up inside the shells will cause them to explode – and being hit by a sizzling shard of chestnut husk is something to be avoided at all costs. My cat will never be the same.

Now, all you have to do is pick the way you want to cook them.

Roast: over an open fire, use a long handled popcorn popper or chestnut roaster; in an oven, try a temperature of 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes.

Boil: place them in a shallow pan with water that just covers them. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and boil gently for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and partially cool, then remove the kernels using a sharp tine of a table fork. The longer the nuts cook, the mealier the kernels become and tend to crumble when removed from the shells. For especially dry chestnuts, soak them overnight in water before boiling in fresh water.

Steam: carefully cut fresh, moist chestnuts in half and cook them in a vegetable steamer over boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Most kernels should fall out of the shells during cooking. Steamed or boiled nuts can be dipped in melted butter and salted, if desired, or used in other recipes.

You can store cooked chestnuts in the refrigerator for a month or two or in the freezer for up to a year.

Some useful sites:

The American Chestnut Foundation

Order Chestnuts Online – from Earthly Delights

And, for more info on roasting, a video:

About: Ray Wyman, Jr is a content creator, communications professional, and author with more than 30 years of experience. Visit LinkedIN or Raywyman.com for more information.