This is an excellent year for sweet chestnuts - there are lots around and they are big and plump and luscious. Even trees that don't normally produce any are dropping a few of these fabulous nuts. There are so many in our wood that we could only eat them roasted if we set the brazier up every night from now until Christmas, and of course by then, some will have sprouted, some will have gone off, some will have been eaten by mice, so what to do with the surplus?
There are lovely recipes for stuffings and soups, but they all start with "first peel a pound (or other quantity) of chestnuts". Then they tell you how to do that more easily - slit the top of the nut and boil variously for 5 to 10 minutes, then pop them out of their shells and inner casings. THIS DOES NOT WORK.
The way to do it is to take off the hard outer shell while the nut is in its raw state, but leave the tannic inner membrane on. When you have enough, pop them in a saucepan and cover with water and boil for 5 minutes. At this point the membrane does come off quite easily and you can even get nice whole nuts to do marron glace with. Chestnut soup is very nice but very very rich!!
A quick update on this after we processed 5 pounds of chestnuts. Only boil the water for 5 minutes if you are doing a small quantity - say enough for a crumble topping. Otherwise bring the water to the boil and turn off the heat. Only take out up to three nuts at a time as the membrane dries out very quickly and then they are just as difficult to peel!
Chestnut recipies to follow as I perfect them (including the savory crumble topping which is totally fab!).
Posted by: Jane Holland | 03 October 2007 at 03:25 PM