Today is Roast Chestnuts Day

The practice of roasting chestnuts has been around for many years. Although it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when they started to become so popular, historians pencil the 16th century in as being a turning point, when the nuts would be sold by street vendors to anyone wanting a quick and warming snack. It has also long been a tradition in Portugal to eat them roasted on Saint Martin’s Day, and in Tuscany on Saint Simon’s Day.

When chestnuts are carefully roasted, the natural sweetness of the nut is revealed. This makes them an ideal snack if you want something to stave off a sweet tooth that also happens to be quite nutritious, chestnuts being comparatively low in calories and being a good source of fibre. They are also very rich in vitamin C, which may come as a surprise to you. Although they are technically nuts, they taste very unlike other nuts – the sweet, earthy taste is certainly worth a try if you’ve never had one before – and Roast Chestnuts Day is the perfect time to try that first one.

Chestnuts are often roasted on a grill, which helps to remove their bitter, shiny skins, but you can make them at home using your conventional kitchen oven. All you need to do is cut a cross into each nut, put them on a roasting tin and bake them until the skins open. They are eaten after peeling away that tough, shiny skin.

I haven't had any for quite a few years - I remember my Mum roasting some every Christmas.

 

I wish they were more readily available here.

 

I wonder how they got their name...

 

I got my bed warming pan out the other day .Do you think it’s ok to use that to roastum in ?

 

Roast chestnuts alus remind me of Istanbul ...
Drove the van there many years ago and virually lived off `em !
Cooked over a charcoal griddle they were pennies for a huge bag full and available on every street corner ...
Nom nom nommmm ....

 

Chestnuts are easily availiable here...autumn there are chestnut fairs in the low valley.
Chestnut pans are like frying pans with 1/2" holes in them all over the bottom to use over an open flame.

 

I sold mine cos I wasn’t using it after the accident we had after picking chestnuts 10 years ago , I do like um thou both raw and cooked and chestnut stuffing so I might get back at it this yar .