mint Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 We are townies and the chestnuts that are lying all around us in our garden is giving us food for thought, literally. What is the best thing to do with them?I have roasted some but they are really quite difficult to get out of their shells. I have also boiled some and they are nice. But, when you have baskets of the damned things, what do you do with them?Help! I'd hate them to go to waste as I have lived in parts of the world where people dig around in dustbins for food and the pain of watching them has stayed with me.Can I freeze or preserve them in some way. All suggestions gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panda Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Good question wish I knew, we have about 15 acres of them, that's a lot of nuts, so what can be done with them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Stuffing! Yum.[:P]You can make it then freeze it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted October 17, 2007 Author Share Posted October 17, 2007 CoopsGive us your recipe, do. Is it mix them with breadcrumbs and herbs, seasoning and then freeze? Actually, that sounds OK as OH does not eat meat and I can turn that into a nut roast.Do us a favour, just say what you do with them, eh, Coops? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Oops, cos Delia's stuffing isn't for veggies!http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/eighteenth-century-chestnut-stuffing,914,RC.htmlEdit : here's a veggie one!http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/10769 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 My old neighbours in France told me that when times were hard chestnuts would be made into flour to help supplement the bread supply. Maybe there's a recipe somewhere. Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted October 17, 2007 Author Share Posted October 17, 2007 CoopsBoth sound yummy and will definitely make a batch of each. Thank you, dear Coops, you do always come up trumps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 [quote user="Hoddy"]My old neighbours in France told me that when times were hard chestnuts would be made into flour to help supplement the bread supply. Maybe there's a recipe somewhere.Hoddy[/quote]There's a lot of chestnut flour on the shelves in my area of the Lot and it's used for bread, cakes, pancakes...See here for a few recipes: http://www.gietaravu.com/producteurs/Antoine/recettes.htmhttp://www.chataigneduperigord.fr/Sweet-chestnuts/receipt-flour-sweet-chestnuts.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I have had a sweet puree on pancakes made from chestnuts.......Light brown in colour I suspect the puree was sweetened with sugar ..honey or treacle perhaps ? .....You can also use them puree to add to soups and sauces ......I should think you could boil them up skin them and puree them down in a blender and store in jars ...That should get a lot used up ....and you can if you get a good sweet one.... and made up with perhaps a little brandy added ?...or other flavours ? ....If it works then little gift to pass on to your friends ......If I had the crop you had I would give Chestnut Puree a try ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Arent they full of worms?How about feeding them to a pig then devouring the pig? Seems a much, much better option. Chuck a few apples and other vegetables intoo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I think there are several different kinds of chestnuts and not all are suitable for eating. So you need to do some research Sweet 17 to find out if your trees are the right ones. I buy jars of peeled cooked chestnuts and make stuffing with breadcrumbs onions herbs lemon rind and an egg. To be honest I don't like it much but husband does. ps just looked up on Google and it's sweet chestnuts you want not horse chestnuts (conkers) which are poisonous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Instead of almond marzipan, subsitude almonds for chestnut paste its loverly and a great change for your xmas cake [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini_man Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Some suggestions:1) Simply roast in the oven, peel then sprinkle with salt and eat while still hot [:P]2) Peel, cook until soft then add to boiled potatoes and mash together3) as above then fry in a little oil until browned4) Stuffing - but you already know that [:D]Just make sure they are actually marrons [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 Thanks. I think I like No 3 best. Imagine, with those fab chipolatas with herbs and an onion gravy! Yum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini_man Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 [quote user="sweet 17"]Thanks. I think I like No 3 best. Imagine, with those fab chipolatas with herbs and an onion gravy! Yum![/quote]It's a sort of Bubble and Sqeek without the bubble I suppose - or would it be without the squeek [8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londoneye Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 How do you know if they are sweet chestnuts. I ate some of ours the other day, and they didn't taste very nice, so I did wonder ...... but I wasn't ill ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 Yes, they taste lovely. Just got too many of them, that's all. Also too many walnuts. Have been using the walnuts in all sorts of ways. Had them for lunch with some roast pumpkin today.The chestnuts are quite hard to peel, so haven't actually done anything with them yet but will have a chestnut peeling session this evening or tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Horse chestnuts (conkers) have a green spiny outer husk. The spines don't hurt when you try to prise out the conker. The leaves are in a kind of star-shaped cluster of five.Sweet chestnuts have a more brownish husk, with smaller hairier spines that really prick. There are often two or three nuts inside each husk. The leaves are single.EDIT: thwarted by the forum anti naughty word filter, the offending, starred out word is P r i c k [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londoneye Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 I had the right ones; just didnt like them much I guess. I did query with my neighbour if they were the right ones to eat, whereby he smirked and informed me that it wasn't like mushrooms, you could eat any of them. Thereby once again proving that neighbours can't always be trusted !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Horse chestnuts are known as marrons d'Inde and here are some pictures to enable you to see the differences described by Cat in an earlier post:Marron d'Inde (inedible)Châtaignes (Mmmm!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 I wouldnt eat them ..............[+o(]http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/chestnut.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocccie Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 [quote user="sweet 17"]We are townies and the chestnuts that are lying all around us in our garden is giving us food for thought, literally. What is the best thing to do with them?I have roasted some but they are really quite difficult to get out of their shells. I have also boiled some and they are nice. But, when you have baskets of the damned things, what do you do with them?Help! I'd hate them to go to waste as I have lived in parts of the world where people dig around in dustbins for food and the pain of watching them has stayed with me.Can I freeze or preserve them in some way. All suggestions gratefully received.[/quote] They are horrible and have no nutritional benefit. They go mouldy quickly, ruin many a good recipe and what's more can cause acne and extreme flatulence.The best way forward it to get rid of them pronto (just looking at them can cause minld retina damage) .... gather them all up and put them in boxes and I will be happy to come and take them off your hands! [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panda Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 [quote user="Pads"]I wouldnt eat them ..............[+o(]http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/chestnut.htm [/quote]But these are horse chesnuts as Clair says these are inedible so no one would eat them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 [quote user="chocccie"]The best way forward it to get rid of them pronto (just looking at them can cause mild retina damage) .... gather them all up and put them in boxes and I will be happy to come and take them off your hands! [Www][/quote]Choccie, I couldn't possibly let you take that risk and I feel bound to take responsibility for these dangerous seeds being carelessly scattered over Sweet17's land... Let me take care of them... [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocccie Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 [quote user="Clair"][quote user="chocccie"]The best way forward it to get rid of them pronto (just looking at them can cause mild retina damage) .... gather them all up and put them in boxes and I will be happy to come and take them off your hands! [Www][/quote]Choccie, I couldn't possibly let you take that risk and I feel bound to take responsibility for these dangerous seeds being carelessly scattered over Sweet17's land... Let me take care of them... [Www][/quote] *Choccie superglues Claire's doorlocks so she can't get out and collect the goodies* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now