Pressure Drop Blog

"Chestnuts roasting over an open fire..."

Everyone knows the song that firmly planted the visions of roasted chestnuts into our collective Christmas imagery repertoire. But how many of you have actually eaten a roasted chestnut? And while we're at it, what exactly do you know about this cherished chestnut you've been singing about for most of your life? If you're like most Americans -- probably not much -- but all that's about to change.

7 Things You Never Knew About Chestnuts

1. The perennial holiday hit, "The Christmas Song" which begins with the line "Chestnuts roasting over an open fire..." was actually written in less than 45 minutes on a scorching hot day in mid-July by Mel Torme and his song-writing partner Bob Wells.
2. Chestnuts were one of the primary foods of the Native Americans who taught the pilgrims how to cook them in stews or grind them into flour for bread.
3. In Italy, Chestnuts were once known as a poor man's food because they were an easily grown food staple which was often used to feed the less fortunate. Chestnuts are given to the poor as a symbol of sustenance on the Feast of Saint Martin and are also traditionally eaten on Saint Simon's Day in Tuscany.
4. Early Christians recognized chestnuts as a symbol of chastity. Legend has it that chastity belts were inspired by the difficult to open chestnut.
5. Chestnuts contain twice as much starch as potatoes. They have been used for centuries as a good source of carbohydrate and vitamin C.
6. Chestnuts date back to prehistoric times and were probably one of the first foods eaten by man
7. The American Chestnut was once the dominant tree of the Appalachian Mountain range. In 1904, diseased Asian Chestnut trees were imported and planted on Long Island in New York. They carried a fungus to which the American Chestnut Trees had no resistance. As a result the "chestnut blight" occurred which nearly devastated the American Chestnut population. Now only a few groves of American Chestnut remain in isolated locations.

How to Roast Chestnuts

If you'd like to try your hand roasting chestnuts at home in your conventional oven this season, we are pleased to offer the following fool-proof recipe:

In America, fresh chestnuts are available in the produce section of most supermarkets between October and Christmas. There are almost always a few spoiled nuts in the batch. Throw out any with cracks or holes. Use the ones which feel heavy for their size and show no mold on their shells. Remember, like popcorn, a chestnut is a closed shell with moisture trapped inside, when heated it can, and will, explode unless you score the shell first to allow the steam pressure to escape.

1. On a towel-covered cutting board, use a small vegetable or paring knife to carefully score the top of the chestnuts. One X-shaped score on the top of each chestnut is all you need. Be careful, they can slip out of your hand easily and you don't want a trip to the doctor for stitches to ruin the holiday memory you are trying to create.
2. Place scored chestnuts in a saucepan full of cold water. If you'd like, you can add some salt to the water to counteract some of the sweetness of the chestnuts. Bring them to a rolling boil, and then remove the pan from the heat. Allow scored chestnuts to rest in the hot water for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
4. Drain, but do not dry, the chestnuts and arrange them in a single layer on a general purpose baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
5. Place the baking sheet with the chestnuts into the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, allow 5-8 minutes to cool, remove shells, and enjoy!

"All the goods nature and art lavish on the table of the rich do not offer him anything which leaves him as content as our villagers, when they find their helping of chestnuts after attending their rustic occupations. As soon as they set eyes on them, joy breaks out in their cottages. Only mindful of the pleasure they then taste, they are forgetful of the fatigues they endured: they are no more envious of those of the towns, of their abundance and sumptuousness" -- Calendriers du Limousin 1763

-- writing and photography by Eric Taubert