Something tasty this way comes. It’s chestnut season, and the Asian Chestnut tree in my yard is giving up its bounty this week. It takes me back to the roasted chestnuts being sold on street corners in Philadelphia in my childhood.
Backyard Chestnut Tree
Close-up of Nuts, Showing Prickly Hulls
Nut About To Drop
Once a year, I get to try beating the squirrels to these abundant but annoyingly tedious nuts. They have spiky outer hulls (ouch!), papery inner hulls, and more than one competitor for their meat. Some will fall free before hitting the ground, but lots have to be removed from the hulls after they fall. Besides us and the squirrels, a beetle lays eggs in the flowers in the spring. If the nuts are not processed within a few days of falling, the eggs hatch and the nuts deteriorate from worm damage.
So you need to be on alert if you want to gather a few pounds of nut meat to keep for the rest of the year. We’ve been boiling them after cutting a slit in the shell, peeling them before they cool down (or else the inner hull won’t separate), and freezing the result for the last few days.
Beautiful Chestnuts
Boiling With Slits Cut
Out of Shell, and Inner Hull
The Mess and the Products
Last year, I pureed the nuts with chicken stock and froze them in 1 cup bags.
Puree Ready to Freeze
I’ve been using them as the basis for soup and stuffing. This year, we’ve been able to get more large pieces out of the shells, so I am freezing them separately. Several years ago, I tried making marrons glacés, but it took a lot of time and the results weren’t worth the work.
In the past, I tried freezing the nuts without shelling them, but didn’t have the gumption to process them afterwards, so they just took up room in the freezer. Now, I can just pull out a bag and it’s ready to use.
We also have a black walnut tree. Years ago we put a lot of work into shelling those nuts, as well. (One of these days, I will write an article titled “Things I’ve Done Once.”) Nowadays, we leave them to the squirrels. I wish I could make a deal with the little nut thieves to take all the black walnuts and leave the chestnuts to us!
Here’s a link to a recipe I intend to try: Apple and Chestnut-Stuffed Pork Loin with Cider Sauce
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