We have a chestnut tree on the farm, so this December I thought I'd try roasting them over an open fire. The result is...surprising. . Created by Ryan Nethery & Alexis deBoschnek Edited by Matt Ciampa
I live in England when I was young we had a coal fire we roasted chestnuts on the fire grill they were done when they fell off the grill still doing them now 56 years later but in the oven now
They're delicious roasted in the oven, but you have to leave them in long enough so that they're soft and sweet. Don't give up on them yet - if you try them out in your oven, you may love them!
This is so cool! I always bought chestnuts in Korean grocery stores. They are always packaged with no shells so it’s super soft and delicately sweet - almost like a Japanese sweet potato. Was the chestnut soft enough? Cuz if jt was, it’s not you. It’s the chestnut 🤣
Hey Alexis, probably a dumb question, but do you save the exterior of the pods? You know, for adding to the fire? Also, do you process the extra chestnuts into chestnut butter? Lastly, I've seen other people actually *_soak_* their chestnuts (after they've scored them with an 'x' mark, using a box cutter) in lightly-salted water.... just enough liquid to come up to about a half inch above the chestnuts, in the bowl. They soaked them for about 45 minutes. Once soaked, that's when they drain them and proceed to roast them. I think that *_should_* help with the chalky flavor you mentioned....
Not a dumb question! We just tossed the pods into the fire. I didn't end up using these chestnuts for anything because I really didn't like the flavor, but you could totally add them to butter or make a paste with them. That's a great tip about soaking in water...I'll have to try that next year.
They sell them all over the place in winter here in Paris, so some people must like them. They smell amazing, but they smell better than they taste. I’ll see if I can find how they do it here, though. There must be some trick to it if they’re popular enough to be a business….
Ok, it says you need to soak them first and remove any that float because they won’t be good. It also said they’re supposed to open up on their own basically, so maybe they need to cook longer and should be a little further away from direct flames? They all say it takes about twenty minutes, so it sounds like your initial instincts were right.
That’s interesting 🤔, actually yesterday I was with my family roasting chestnut 🌰 and oh god I was so much excited 😊 for it , it’s really my favorite tradition of winter ❄️ , we all gather up on the fire 🔥 and usually my mother or my father is the handler … I just love the atmosphere and the taste 👅
Yeah, so I had the same problem with the chalkiness. I have a humongous Chinese chestnut tree in my back yard so I've tried the past two years to make them taste good and both times they ended like yours. It sucks cause I have soooo many of them.
