Chestnuts

We picked up about a gallon of beautiful chestnuts in N.C. this week. Can someone tell me what to do in order to roast. I have them in a shallow basket and have noticed about 6 little white worms have crawed out on the counter. Does this mean they are ALL infested?

Sjbshipp, those worms are trying to tell you to send them to me so I can figure out what to do with them ;). I think they are all infested,but you really need to send them this way so I can check 'em out..ya' know, just to make sure.

olololol hey can so one tell me if i need to let pecans dry out.some are great and some are aaaaalittle bitter...hey
wanta trade some chestnuts for some pecans and walnuts lol
[[[[nana]]]]]]

Thanks for your post, Lisa, but I don't understand---are you joking about sending them or what?
Someone suggested that I boil them, but I want to roast them and think pre boiling may ruin that.Any more suggestions?

sjb, i was joking with you :0) I am the silly one here, very seldom anything serious comes from these fingers of mine.

HEY I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE WORMS GAVE THEM A LITTLE EXTRA
FLAVOR.......RIGHT LISA.....LOL

HEY U GOT TO GET TO KNOW OUR LISA, SHE LOVES TO KID....,,,LOL WHAT SHE MEANT WAS SHE LOVES CHESNUT AND SHE WOULD EATEN UP FOR YOU.. ....LOLOL
[[[[[NANA]]]]]

I like chestnuts too!!! As a kid growing up in Philly one of my favorite winter things was buying roasted chestnuts from the street vendors. YUMMY

Hi, it looks like you are not familiar with chestnuts at all, yes ??

You take a sharp knife, and make two cuts through the skin, one on each side. THe cuts are necessary to avoid bursting the chestnut when the moisture inside has boiled. You light a BBQ type fire (charcoal tastes best, but a gas BBQ will do, even the electric stove on a 2.5 / 3 temperature will do. You put the chestnuts on the grill / rack / stove (whatever hot surface) and when they start to burn their skin you turn them over. They should be ready in 4 - 5 minutes. You take them off the heat and peel them. When roasted, the outer skin breaks off easily. The inner skin, in some varieties goes off easily, in some others it can prove almost impossible. Taste them, they are nice well done, nice undercooked, I even like them raw !! You have to do them several times to get the "knack".

In Greek, we say (metaphorically) "who will get the chestnuts off the heat ?"
and we mean that the occasion asks for someone determined to "burn his fingertips" in order to achieve whatever is being described.

There is a big story about the role of chestnuts in the winter diet of Central Italy, in late 18th century, and they are a wonderful cooking and pastry ingredient in France.

Wishes from Crete,

Dimitri

Dimitri's instructions are very good. Here are a few websites if you want to see some other cooking methods:
http://www.delmarvelouschestnuts.com/prep.htm and http://caca.essortment.com/chestnutsroasti_ranw.htm

Send those chestnuts to ME!!! You can't eat them with worms! o.k send lisa half and me half!

Ginger H, Philly?? I grew up in south jersey right outside of Phila. and I remember going to lit brothers to see the enchanted christmas village and getting hot roasted chestnuts (and pretzels) from the vendors. What memories!!!!!!! sue

Goodness I haven't seen chestnuts for awhile. They are quite good.

Chestnuts are making a comeback. In fact, there is a gov't sponsored program here for the farmers in NC to re-introduce chestnuts, which were once a BIG cash crop here. I'd expect to see chestnuts in volume (nuts, not the trees) on the market again here in 6-7 years.

Good Luck! I LOVE roasted chestnuts!

Hey dpmichael; We have a similar metaphor in the States "who's going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire?" meaning to rescue one from difficulty.

oh so cool to hear you have chestnuts. I have planted 25 trees this year. I think I am probably planting them for my Grandchildren as they will take years to grow.. I planted them quite a ways from the house so won't be able to check them out until Spring..
Aren't there a couple of kinds of chestnuts? wondering if the ones you have are from native american trees?

Heres a link for chestnut facts http://www.ashs.org/whowho/workinggroups/nuts/chestnuts.htm

Thank to all of you---all over the world--for your interest and comments. It did evoke lots of wonderful memories. I too think of Christmas when I think of chestnuts, which leads me to comment that Christmas is exactly 2 months from today!!Anyway, the county agent told me to discard any of the nuts with holes and refrigerate the others in order to keep any larvae from hatching. He said that most of the older trees in the area were naturally not sprayed.