If you've never had roasted chestnuts before, and wonder why they're part of Christmas songs – it's because they used to be EVERYWHERE. Now it's hard to find fresh chestnuts in North America since the American Chestnut suffered from blight – but you can sometimes find imported fresh chestnuts at speciality stores around the holidays. These are large Italian chestnuts I got from my local Italian grocery store (they were special order and worth every penny.)
To roast chestnuts, you need to first score the skin and boil them. This gives them room to expand, and starts the expansion, so they don't explode in your oven. If you put them straight in the oven they will explode. It's really important to hold your knife safely while you're scoring these and do this on a dish cloth (for grip) because they are slippery. There are two layers of skin and they're easiest to peel if you cut through both.
Roast the chestnuts at 425°F for 20-25 minutes. They're easiest to peel while they are warm. The hard outer skin is not edible; the papery/hairy inner skin is edible but it can be bitter. If you see any mould under the chestnut skin, throw them out.
Eat them whole, use them in soups, make gnocchi, make a cake. I've done all of that. But mostly I just eat them whole because they are sweet, creamy, nutty, and amazingly delicious.
I really wish the American Chestnut was still around. There are teams trying to breed a blight resistant American Chestnut at the American Chestnut Foundation: [ Ссылка ]
Here are some podcasts if you want to learn more about how cool chestnuts are:
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