Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

It brings back memories every time I see a bunch of prickly balls laying around the yard. As a little girl I went over to my neighbors yard, and I was forever barefoot, to visit. I would have to go to the front yard to avoid stepping on all the terrible prickly balls that littered the back of his yard. I knew from experience they really hurt! I often wondered why he didn't just cut that tree down but he was sort of an odd neighbor to find in the city.

He had asked the industrial company behind us to farm their empty quarter acre lot that lay between our property and his. On it he grew corn, tomatoes, sunflowers, and had a prolific peach and sour cherry tree planted there. He would be out early in the morning working that piece of soil with his trusty dog rusty, a rat terrier, who I just loved. I would open my window and shout, "Hey Harry what'cha doing?" He liked to go to auctions and get boxes of junk and he would let me pick through them and take some of the odds and ends that I liked. When it was really hot out he had a snow maker in his basement and he would dig it out and make snow cones. He sang weird songs to me like, "There's a ant on a log, on a hole, in the middle of the sea..." when he sat in his back yard or tell me stories about a cursed Indian that would get me if I went in the shed where he kept his bow and arrows he used for hunting groundhogs. Harry made my childhood full of fun memories, including those prickly balls, the fruit of a sweet chestnut tree.

Chestnut History

Those chestnuts also had an interesting history. Originally from the orient, these sweet chestnuts were brought to Europe by the Romans. Before wheat was readily available and inexpensive this nut was used to sustain the poor of Europe. It was ground into flour and used to make "down bread" because it didn't rise like yeast bread does. Typical gluten-free flour. It was probably rather nutritious as it is the only cultivated nut containing vitamin C, about 40 mg for 3 oz. It has a similar protein content as beans and is close to a potato in carbohydrate content. Sweet chestnuts also have the lowest fat content of any nut, only 2%. Chestnuts are also native to America but were nearly wiped out by blight in the 30's. The native Americans used them for many different medicinal purposes; for headaches, chills, baby powder, colds, sores, cough syrup and stomach ache. The tree was also a main source of tannin used in the leather industry and the original telegraph poles were made of chestnut.

How to Harvest Chestnuts?

There are poisonous and edible chestnuts that are grown in the US. How you tell the difference is by the outer husk. The edible has many needle like spikes and can be brown or green with one or more nuts inside. The toxic chestnut has a green husk with few spikes and only one nut per husk. The edible also has a little tuft at the tip of the nut where the toxic is just round and smooth.

You collect these nuts and can store them inside for a week or so in one layer to cure and become sweeter. Or you can put the husk-less nuts in the freezer, after scoring, as some people say the shells come off very easy after they are defrosted. I am planning on trying this method next year. Do not bring in the ones that have little holes in them as they have chestnut weevil inside and worms will come out!

After curing you make a score X cut in the shell and then you are ready to bake/roast or boil the nuts to get those shells off. I would strongly recommend the boiling as the shells came off so much easier and the flavor and texture were no different in my opinion.

Boiling

Put the scored nuts in small batches in boiling water for a few 3 min. Take out with a slotted spoon and the shells peel off wonderfully. If you do not do this quickly the inner skin may re-adhere and you will have to boil again to loosen it.

Baking/Roasting

The more traditional method. Place scored nuts in small batches on a cookie sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 10 min. then peel off the shells. Again this must be done quickly to keep skin from re-adhering.

I am going to be making a majority of mine into flour and freezing it this year, by putting it though the food processor, using it in place of almond flour in recipes. As it strikes me that it would be similar in texture and flavor. Oh and less expensive as well! You can can them in a light syrup to preserve long term as well. You can make soup, stuffing and of course we like to just eat them as is too.
 Turns out after I was married that we have one of those "pricker ball trees" in our front yard. I have my own little girl who likes to go in the front yard and collect the nuts up. Now I know why Harry kept that tree, the nuts are yummy! Phoebe loves them so much that when I was encouraging her to be entrepreneurial and sell them on a road side stand she looked astonished and said, "Not my nuts! We would not have enough!" They still remind me of Harry and his prickly yard but now we are making new memories with a new sweet chestnut tree.
                                                                The Farmer in the Dell