How to Roast Chestnuts Without an Open Fire
If you’ve lived somewhere where vendors roasting chestnuts on street corners were among the holiday traditions, then you already know their soothing aroma. But if your roasted chestnuts experience is limited to aNat King Cole song , a treat awaits you. (And no, the slimy you can buy in sachets at the grocery store doesn’t count, and neither does water chestnuts.) Luckily, you don’t need access to an open fire to roast chestnuts. Here’s how to do it at home, in your own oven.
How to bake chestnuts in the oven
Chestnuts are seasonal and are more commonly found in grocery stores from October to December, so now is the time to buy. If you’ve never hunted chestnuts before and don’t know what to look for, Lena Abraham from Delish has some tips:
Good chestnuts should have a tight, shiny skin and very hard to the touch. If the skin is wrinkled, and the nut is soft to the touch or wrinkled in the shell (you can understand this by shaking it), then this is useless.
Abraham’s recipe includes one pound of chestnuts, which are stored in the refrigerator for two to three days after roasting. Here’s what to do:
- Preheat oven to 425 °. Place the chestnuts flat side down on a cutting board and use a serrated knife to cut an “x” about 1/3 the length of the chestnut. Repeat until all the chestnuts are popped.
- Place the chestnuts, flat side down, on a small baking sheet. Pour 2 cups of cold water onto another rimmed baking sheet. Place the chestnuts on the top rack of the oven and the baking sheet of water on the bottom rack, just below the chestnuts.
- Bake until the chestnut skin begins to flake off, 20-25 minutes. Remove the chestnuts from the oven and cover with a clean tea towel. Let cool 5 minutes before exfoliation.
Then it’s up to you to decide what to do with the nuts. Some people like to use them in other foods like soup, stews, and toppings. But others (I) prefer to enjoy roasted chestnuts straight out of the oven, peeled and then sprinkled with oil and salt. Abraham recommends trying other flavor combinations such as rosemary and salt or nutmeg and sugar.
A brief history of chestnuts in the United States
Chestnuts used to be much more common in the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries than they are today. The chestnuts grew from Maine to Alabama and in the west, all the way to Ohio and Kentucky, and were over 100 feet high and about 10 feet wide.
At one point, according to USA Today, there were about four billion trees that supported butchery . But tragedy struck in 1904, when a mysterious disease struck the chestnuts and spread for 40 years until very little remained in the United States. Scientists are currently working to create a genetically modified chestnut, but until that happens, about $ 20 million worth of chestnuts are imported here every year.