Previously, this delicacy could only be tasted abroad. It so happened that in our latitudes only horse chestnut grows, which, by the way, even horses do not eat. But the French, Spaniards and Italians were more fortunate - they have edible fruits falling from trees right on the streets, and in some places chestnut forests are still preserved, where whole families go during the season, just like our mushroom pickers. But if the latter needs to know, then even a 3-year-old child can easily fill a basket of chestnuts.

Fortunately, today there is no need to travel far and wide to get to know the taste of this delicacy. Do not be too lazy to look into the department with nuts in the supermarket, and we will teach you how to cook chestnuts at home.

You will need:

How to choose chestnuts

Distinguishing noble species from inedible is quite easy. They have a green skin, densely studded with small spikes, and there are several fruits in the box at once.

The nuts are shiny, smooth, dark brown in color with elongated tails, a bit like an onion. They may be similar in size to a walnut, chicken egg or mandarin, depending on the variety and country of origin.

At room temperature, fresh chestnuts are stored for no more than 4 days, in the refrigerator - about two weeks, so wrinkled or very dark fruits should be discarded - they will be bitter. The ideal choice is firm, round fruits, without damage and stains on the shell.

If you buy a frozen product, also pay attention to the expiration date - it should not exceed 5-6 months.

On sale you can also find pickled chestnuts. They do not need additional processing, but are immediately used for food.

Heat treatment

Fill fruits with water. Those that immediately pop up are not good for food, they need to be thrown away, then use only those that have settled to the bottom. Wash them well and dry them on a towel.

Before you boil, roast or bake chestnuts, you need to make holes in them for steam to escape, otherwise the nuts will simply explode. Using kitchen scissors or a thin knife, make a thin cut on the side or a cross on the top, slightly hooking the flesh. You can also poke a few shallow holes in the peel with a fork.

After cooking, rinse them with cold water and immediately remove the shell along with the film and black streaks. Cooled fruits are much more difficult to peel, so put on gloves or use a towel.

The following methods will help facilitate the cleaning process:

• cut the peel in a circle and boil the chestnuts for 3 minutes in boiling water with a tablespoon of vegetable oil;
• put the nuts in the freezer overnight, then throw them in boiling water and immediately put them under cold water.

Chestnuts can also be eaten raw, after removing the shell and film. However, their taste and aroma in this case will be much inferior to cooked fruits.

Serve as an independent dish or make them into salads, desserts, appetizers, purees, soups and other goodies. But first, we will learn how to cook chestnuts in the simplest ways.

How to fry in a pan

First off, here's a classic recipe. To roast chestnuts at home, all you need is a large, thick-walled skillet with a tight-fitting, heavy lid that makes it easy to cook popcorn. A grill pan is also suitable for this purpose, but in no case a Teflon container.

Take exactly the amount of fruit that you plan to eat, as they do not last long when cooked. After cooling, the taste is significantly reduced.

• Heat a frying pan over medium heat without adding oil.
• If a darkish core is visible in the incision made, add a tablespoon of water or place a damp towel under the lid. The steam will soften the chestnuts and make them more juicy.
• During cooking, do not add temperature. Moderate fire is more than enough.
• Don't forget to stir.
• After they begin to burst with a characteristic sound, from time to time just shake the pan without opening the lid.
• The dish is ready when the shell darkens, it will be easy to remove, and the split will expand. This will take approximately 15-25 minutes.

Roasted chestnuts pair perfectly with both salt and sugar. If you are preparing a snack for beer, just sprinkle them with sea salt. For dessert, top with chocolate or sweet sauce.

In the oven

A similar taste will be obtained if you cook chestnuts in the oven, and it will take much less effort.

• Lay the nuts cut side up on a dry baking sheet.
• Preheat the oven to 210-220 degrees and place the chestnuts for about 20 minutes.
• Again, check to see if the incision has opened. If so, it's time to take it out.
• Leave the peeled pulp on a towel for 5 minutes and serve hot.

Try not to overcook the kernels, otherwise they will become dry and tough.

Roasted chestnuts are served hot with beer or young wine.

In the microwave

The main advantages of this method are that you do not need to spend a lot of time, and the process itself is extremely simple.

• Put the chopped nuts in a special container for use in the microwave.
• Lightly salt and add a few tablespoons of boiling water (water should not cover the fruit).
• Cover with cling film, put in the oven for 6-8 minutes at full power.
• Cook the chestnuts until tender, adding a few more minutes if necessary.

The result is steamed nuts, which can then be peeled and cooked in a skillet with or without hot oil.

In air grill

• Lay a layer of nuts on a tray. You can cover them top and bottom with foil.
• Below on the grate, place a suitable container with boiling water.
• Set the temperature to 200-205 degrees.
• Cooking time - 15-20 minutes until the kernels turn yellow.

Serve slightly salted and hot.

How to cook chestnuts

• Pre-prepare the fruits - wash, peel and sort.
• Drop them into boiling water.
• Cooking time depends on the size of the nuts - from 10 minutes to half an hour.
• Remove from heat and peel, removing one at a time from the water.

Most of us perceive chestnuts only as plants, but in fact they can also be an excellent delicacy. Lovers of unusual taste roast fresh chestnuts and eat them. It is worth noting that it is not only tasty, but also healthy, as they contain a lot of potassium, fiber, vitamins, ascorbic and folic acids.

Roasted chestnuts are sold right on the streets of many European cities, like, and if you want to try this non-standard dish, we will tell you how to cook roasted chestnuts yourself. It is only worth remembering that there are several types of chestnuts and not all of them are safe and suitable for eating. Therefore, if you yourself do not know how to choose the right harmless fruits, then it is better to buy them in a store.

In addition, before starting cooking, the quality of chestnuts is also worth checking. To do this, put them in a pot of water and see which ones float to the surface. These fruits are spoiled and should not be eaten.

Roasted chestnuts - recipe

There are several ways to cook this food, but in this recipe we want to take a closer look at how to roast chestnuts in a pan.

First of all, you need to choose fresh chestnuts and wash them. After that, make a cross cut on each chestnut so that they do not explode when they are roasted. Take a pan with holes in the base (or without them), put the chestnuts on it and cover them with napkins or paper towels, well moistened with water and folded several times.

Close the pan with a lid, put on a small fire and cook your dish, shaking it occasionally so that all the chestnuts are evenly roasted. During frying, the condition of the napkins should be monitored, if they begin to dry out, they must be moistened in water, poured from a bottle, for example.

On average, chestnuts are roasted for about 20 minutes, their readiness can be determined by the condition of the peel. When it is already pretty dark and charred, remove the napkins and cook the dish for a couple more minutes, shaking the pan. Pour the finished chestnuts onto a dish and try immediately, as they are the most delicious when warm.

How to roast chestnuts in the oven?

If you do not have a pan suitable for roasting chestnuts or you prefer to cook your dishes in the oven, we will share a method on how to roast chestnuts in it properly.

Take fresh chestnuts, wash them and dry them. Then make a cross cut on one side of each and place them cut side up on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees and send the chestnuts into it for 20-30 minutes. Then take them out, wrap them in a towel and squeeze a little so that the peel is behind the pulp. Leave the chestnuts in a towel for 5 minutes and then serve.

How to roast chestnuts in the microwave?

The main condition for the safe preparation of chestnuts in the microwave is to make cuts, on each of them with a knife or pierce with a fork, so that steam comes out of them.

When all the fruits are ready, put them in a wide, but shallow dish for the microwave oven. Pour a few tablespoons of hot water there and sprinkle with a little salt. Cover the dish with a lid (preferably not glass) or cling film and turn on the microwave at full power for 6-8 minutes.

Taste the chestnuts and cook for a couple more minutes if needed. Please note that in the microwave you get not so much fried as steamed chestnuts. They taste very good in this form, but if you want, you can peel the fruits and fry the kernels for 4-5 minutes with or without oil. Well, if you want to try other dishes with these fruits, then it’s better to check.

More recently, this fruit, which in some places replaces potatoes and corn for local residents, was completely alien to us. Today we are looking more and more at chestnuts- not only on European trips, but also in the menu of restaurants, in shops and in their own kitchens.

What are chestnuts

In the courtyard of my childhood, as in many other old Moscow courtyards, a luxurious chestnut tree grew. It can be said that it was an exemplary chestnut tree: it reached the height of the sixth floor, regularly bloomed with elegant candles in May and dropped weighty cones on an inappropriately installed bench in sunny October. Hard greenish pebbles were used for a variety of children's games, but if someone told us that somewhere they are fried, boiled and made into cakes with chocolate, we would laugh in his face. By the way, they would have done the right thing, because that chestnut, obviously, was horse- its leaves looked like figured star-shaped paws (in a tree with edible fruits, they are oblong and are attached to the branch stalk one by one).

Edible chestnuts do not grow in our latitudes. The nearest place on the map is the Caucasus, Armenia and Azerbaijan, but even there they somehow turn out small, like walnuts, while in Europe they are the size of a good tangerine. However, especially large ones are valued almost like truffles and are not even exported. You can meet them in southern France, in Spain and, of course, in Italy, where, of course, solid delicacies will be born.

The most selective - in Sicily, just good - in the north of the country. In Piedmont, in Lombardy, on the streets you can see signs warning of the seasonal fall of nuts (chestnuts are nuts). During this very fall, passers-by, without hesitation, pick up the crop, lay it out, satisfied, in their cases and bags from Furla - of course, you don’t have to pay three euros per kilo, like in a supermarket!

In the north of Italy, extremely rare for Europe wild chestnut forests, where whole companies go with baskets in September-October. And mothers of families remember dozens of recipes for preparing this autumn gift of nature. You need to hurry: chestnuts are poorly stored - after a couple of days they begin to dry out and deteriorate. True, if you freeze them baked or boiled, then you can then use the whole season, and the taste will not suffer.

However, where nature does not throw chestnuts. One of the varieties - fragrant chestnuts tamba- grows on the Japanese island of Honshu. In the Land of the Rising Sun, chestnuts are highly respected - among the poetic Japanese people they are considered the same symbol of autumn, as cherry blossoms are a symbol of spring. Fresh Tamba chestnuts are so sweet that no sugar is even added to them when preparing kurimochi rice balls, an appetizer for amaguri beer, or filling for waffles sold at the bustling intersections of old cities.

How to eat chestnuts

We also gradually got acquainted with chestnuts. Sooner or later, each of us came to Europe for Christmas and was fascinated by its magic. Winter, perhaps, was warm and almost snowless - such that one wanted to walk and walk. In the old city, around the cathedral, a festive market bustled and offered all kinds of glittering and singing treasures. Fragrant corrugations were baked everywhere, punch and mulled wine were poured, warming up interest in life. And, of course, an integral part of this whole tale were the chestnut sellers, who theatrically ruled in the falling twilight with their antediluvian braziers. On the iron sheets, brown chestnuts bounced, crackled, and glowed to a noble golden hue. The bursting balls were poured into a paper bag - then they easily opened, showering the skin, and burned pleasantly. The taste was reminiscent of hazelnuts and at the same time boiled sweet potatoes, which are baked on the streets of Asian megacities. But it happened in Paris, or Rome, or Strasbourg, Cologne, Vienna ...

In general, our memories of the day when we first tasted chestnuts are not without sentimentality. However, leaving sentiment aside, cook exotic nuts obtained in an ordinary market or in an expensive gastroboutique, and in your own kitchen. The easiest recipe fry them in the same primitive way: make an incision (otherwise they will explode) on the flat side, put them in a frying pan (not on Teflon, of course), cover with a lid and listen to how they jump there, ready to burst and show the world a tender, crumbly inside. However, the most delicious chestnuts are not those that have already burst, but those that are about to burst, “on the verge” ... But defining this “just about” is almost an art. Only professionals own it. For example, the Japanese who roast their Tamba chestnuts in drums filled with hot river sand without leaving the temperature control unattended.

Chestnuts are delicious exceptionally hot, just from a brazier or pan. If you are aiming not for a fleeting connection (student dinner: chestnuts and new wine), but for a serious relationship, this stage of roasting can be the beginning of what is called a beautiful friendship. With a spoon, carefully remove the warm pulp from the cracked skin and cook in one of dozens of ways.

How to cook chestnuts

Let's say chestnuts can be served as garnish for roast- instead of the usual potatoes. Or add to pilaf. Or, as in the Caucasus, put them with a lot of onions in a bowl, where cooking meat, and leave for ten to fifteen minutes: the chestnuts will have a completely different flavor. And they will need to be served separately, generously sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

Good for a suburban lunch combination with apples and: first, by pouring water, bring the chestnuts to a pleasant softness, then, draining the water, add chopped apples and butter and simmer until the fruits become soft. Prunes and nuts will add piquancy to the dish.

Chestnuts are baked, fried, boiled, they are also stuffed with poultry: in America - for Thanksgiving Day, in Europe - for Christmas. We are not bound by age-old traditions and can stuff a rooster or a turkey right now. By the way, capon stuffed with chestnuts and armagnac is sold in gastronomic boutiques for incredible sums.

Chestnut is generally a favorite of haute cuisine masters. And those who like to create unusual flavor combinations. By the way, in such combinations, it is perfect as a souvenir: they just brought me jam from Paris, it's called "chestnuts and Chinese smoked tea." It is almost unsweetened, you can't eat it with cookies or pancakes - just an artifact.

Friends who are interested in gastronomy will appreciate the beauty of the game if you cook for them chestnut soup. It does not require special knowledge or effort: to meat broth seasoned with onions, garlic, celery and parsley, after chestnuts, you need to add a spoonful of butter, a glass of cream and a little alcohol like brandy.

When there is no time to mess around with roasting and peeling nuts, you can use canned chestnut puree. It forms the basis for dozens of interesting and easy-to-make dishes. Mostly, of course, sweet. The simplest cake that does not even need to be baked: mix well a couple of glasses of puree with 175 grams of butter, 300 grams of dark chocolate and a few tablespoons of rum, put it in a mold and keep it overnight in the refrigerator. Or just whip the puree with the cream.

From chestnut flour fragrant cookies(m-m, with pine nuts and raisins), but probably most of us, especially children, love whole chestnuts: nibbling a nut large like an egg, besides with such an unusual taste - who doesn’t like it? Our weakness is indulged primarily by manufacturers marron glaces- glazed chestnuts, which can be found in any French, Spanish or Italian supermarket.

Chestnuts aged in sugar syrup and hidden in a thick chocolate or white icing shell are easy to prepare on your own. Even easier - "drunk" chestnuts: pour one hundred grams of sugar into a glass of red wine, put boiled chestnuts and simmer for a while over medium heat until a syrup is formed. Then, while still hot, put whipped cream on the featherbed, sprinkle with vanilla and garnish with mint and candied fruits.

We sell edible chestnuts in three types: fresh unpeeled, fresh-frozen peeled and pickled. The latter are a ready-made product, without additional processing they can be added to a salad, for example, in combination with an orange or smoked duck breast fillet. Freshly frozen chestnuts must first be roasted and then used, say, in soup with porcini mushrooms. And fresh, unpeeled nuts should be cut, covered with foil and baked in the oven for about 20 minutes, then salted and eaten just like seeds or corn are eaten.
Another unusual “chestnut” product, directly related to nuts, however, has nothing to do with it, is honey. Pleasantly liquid (does not crystallize until spring, and maybe longer, it just didn’t stay with us longer), dark brown - exactly chestnut! - colors with a light aroma and an amazing bitter taste. It is useful in kidney and stomach diseases, kills microbes. One hundred percent chestnut honey does not exist - it would be too bitter, bees collect pollen from other plants. And the more clearly bitterness is felt in honey, the more chestnut itself is in it.

It is curious that in Turkey glazed chestnuts are considered their own national invention and are called Kestane Sekeri. Oriental delicacy is no different from its European counterpart: neither in taste, nor in the way of preparation, nor in the price - quite high, because we are talking about a delicacy product. Roasted fruits of Castanea sativa are also not uncommon in Turkish cities.

In Russia, edible chestnuts are not widely used, since heat-loving trees that bring these tasty nuts grow only in the south of the country - in the Krasnodar Territory. So if you want to try a very healthy fruit, it is better to go in late autumn, or for the winter holidays to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, or, for example, China and Thailand.

How chestnuts are eaten in different countries

Wherever we go, street food vendors will cook fragrant nuts in about the same way. On small carts, braziers are installed - stoves on wood, and sometimes on crystalline salt, which burns longer and is consumed less. This method is very common in Spain.

Chestnuts are thrown into large pans with holes and, stirring occasionally with a spatula, are cooked until the shell begins to crack with a characteristic sound. They sell treats in 10-15 pieces (it is difficult to eat more at a time) in kraft paper bags. In many Western cities, one more empty package is necessarily added - for the peeled shells.

Europeans do not flavor chestnuts with anything, believing that the taste of the product is good in its pure form, without such enhancers as salt or sugar. According to tradition, fried fruits are washed down with mulled wine or just good young red wine. If you do not want alcohol, you can replace it with natural grape juice.


And in China or Thailand, chestnuts are thrown into the wok along with small pebbles and constantly shaken so that the fruits are evenly baked. Unlike their European counterparts, Asian traders sprinkle nuts with sugar syrup to add shine and special sweetness.

Note

Let's upset the gourmets - they will not try the most delicious chestnuts, called marron among the hawkers. Prices for nuts that once served as food for the poor are growing year by year, so only expensive restaurants can afford elite varieties. On the streets, we will be offered simpler options, and we need to be prepared for this.

And immediately advice

It is best to buy chestnuts not on the main streets, which are actively visited by tourists, but in remote areas or small towns, where they are mainly prepared for the local population. Visiting guests come and go, but if the product is not liked by regular customers living in the trading area, the seller will be left without revenue.

Chestnuts are recognized as one of the most valuable products of the autumn-winter period. With regular use, they are quite capable of replacing vitamin complexes, which are often prescribed to us at this time of the year. Saturating the body with carbohydrates and proteins, unique nuts energize us, improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system, normalize blood composition, and also help fight the blues caused by lack of sun and cold weather.

If we do not plan to travel during the chestnut season to where they are a familiar food, it is worth going to the market or supermarket and cook the delicacy ourselves. Fry or bake fruits on the shoulder, even for novice housewives. Of course, if they know what to do with chestnuts and can figure out some of the intricacies of the process.


About culinary secrets - well-known and not so, later in the article.

Cooking methods

Fundamental rules:

1. Raw nuts are hard to digest and hard to peel. Therefore, they are recommended culinary processing. The most delicious fried and baked fruits - they can be eaten as a separate dish or served as a side dish, but boiled ones are best used for making soups and mashed potatoes.
2. First, nuts brought from the store are sorted, removing spoiled specimens. The easiest way is to send your purchase to a large bowl of water, and then throw away everything that floats to the surface as unusable.
3. Immediately before the heat treatment, the chestnuts are washed and dried with a paper towel. The shell is cut or pierced, otherwise, when heated, it will break the resulting steam. Some culinary specialists recommend that after that soak the nuts for 2-3 hours in water, which will make their taste more tender and richer.
4. You need to peel the fruits warm as soon as they stop burning your hands.
5. Hot, freshly cooked chestnuts are much more aromatic and tastier than cold ones. For this reason, it is undesirable to cook "in reserve". You need to take a portion that you can eat right away.
6. It is very important to “do not overexpose” the fruits in a pan or in the oven so that they do not lose moisture.

Cut the shell correctly

If we do not violate the integrity of the shell before cooking, we are unlikely to be able to eat chestnuts. The steam formed during heating will turn the fruit into small crumbs, which will scatter in different directions no worse than an artillery shell. And we will not only be left without a delicacy, but we can also suffer if we fry on an open fire and do not use a lid.

There are several ways to avoid this kind of trouble:

• pierce the nuts deeply with a fork (about 1/3 deep)
• make a cross cut with a knife
• remove the sharp "nose" of the fruit, while capturing some pulp

The last option is the easiest and fastest, it will save our fingers if the rounded chestnut slips out from under the knife. In addition, the cross-shaped incision opens during frying and the nut dries out more. And with a fork it is not always possible to completely pierce a hard shell and the risk of explosions increases during the cooking process.

In addition to the hard upper shell, the fruits must also be freed from the thin elastic peel underneath. Only in this form are they suitable for use.

How to fry in a pan: culinary subtleties

If we cook on the stove, it will take us no more than a quarter of an hour for the delicate product to reach its condition and not dry out.

The classic roasting algorithm found on the Internet and tested by me for training purposes:

1. We put the prepared fruits in a thick-walled deep frying pan, preheated. It is better that the nuts fit in one layer, but you can do two. Important: in no case should you take a pan with a Teflon coating, otherwise it will be hopelessly damaged. Ideally, the cookware should be cast iron.
2. Fry over low heat (so that the chestnuts do not crack), stirring constantly for 12-15 minutes. As it cooks, the fruit shell will acquire a light shade, and some places will char to black - this is a normal phenomenon that should not be feared.
3. The readiness of the product is indicated by a characteristic crackle, a very appetizing potato-nut smell spreading throughout the house and the appearance of small cracks on the shell.

Option number 2, with oil:

1. Pour vegetable oil into the pan, warm it up, and then spread the prepared nuts in one layer. We cover them with moistened paper towels to protect them from drying out, and simmer under a lid over low heat for 20 minutes. In some recipes, it is suggested to do without oil, using a dry frying pan.
2. From time to time, the fruits need to be shaken without opening the lid. We moisten the wipes as they dry.
3. On ready-made nuts, the shell is deeply cracked and easily removed.
4. If the fruits still seem harsh, you can peel them and additionally boil them in milk. The liquid should cover the main ingredient by about 2 cm. Honey (2 tablespoons) and cinnamon (1 stick) are used as natural flavors.

Wash and dry the sorted chestnuts. We cut off the "spouts" or make cross-shaped incisions.

I liked the method with cutting off the spouts more. Less hassle, faster, and the result is the same.

Place in a thick skillet. Our alternative to wet wipes is a thin, about 2mm layer of water on the bottom of your cooking utensils. It will create a moist environment that will keep the nuts from drying out.


We cover the future culinary masterpiece with a lid and put on a small fire.


The chestnuts are first steamed and only then roasted. At the end, the lid can be removed, and the fruits must be stirred so as not to burn.


We clean the finished nuts from the shell - it is removed very easily and immediately proceed to the feast.


Chestnuts are very tender and pleasant in taste. I recommend to try!

On the grill

In imitation of street vendors, exotic nuts can also be baked on the grill.

1. Place the washed and sorted chestnuts in warm water for 10-15 minutes.
2. Cross-cut the shell on the convex side of the fruit.
3. If there is no special frying pan with holes for roasting chestnuts, you can limit yourself to ordinary cast-iron dishes with thick walls, placing it on the wire rack. In any case, the fruits should be laid out cut down and placed in a brazier on a high layer of coals.
4. After frying the product for 6 - 7 minutes, with occasional shaking, turn it over to the other side and bring it to readiness.
5. When the fruits have cooled slightly, they are peeled and served at the table.

How to bake

Baked fruits are the most delicious and healthy. They are added to salads and main courses, make a complex side dish for meat or pour over with sweet sauce and serve as a dessert. Roasting chestnuts is a little easier than frying in a pan, especially if the oven is equipped with a grill. But you can do without this function.

There are recipes where chestnuts, before being cooked in the oven, are kept in a solution with spices or heavily sweetened water.

We offer a variant of the Mediterranean cuisine, the dishes of which are not only appetizing, but also healthy.

1. Pre-sorted and washed chestnuts should be cut along the round side, preferably crosswise, so that they are easier to peel later. The depth of the notch must be at least 5 mm.
2. Lay the fruits on a baking sheet, cut side up. Spray lightly with water.
3. We heat the oven to 200ºС and send our chestnuts into it. After a quarter of an hour, the fruits must be turned over and wait another 5 minutes, and if they do not seem soft enough, then more.
4. Strongly opened cuts indicate the readiness of the nuts.

Roasted chestnuts are best served with semi-sweet red wine.

Microwave to the rescue

When this miracle device is at hand, cooking chestnuts takes about 10 minutes, reducing our labor costs to a minimum.


We wash the nuts, select the spoiled specimens. We make deep cross-shaped notches on the convex side or cut off the spouts.


We spread the fruits in a special dish for the microwave. We add our workpiece if it will not be used as a dessert.


Pour a little water at the bottom of the dish, literally 2 mm.


Cover with a lid and send to cook at full power for 6-8 minutes.


That's how beautiful our chestnuts look in the microwave now! Neither give nor take the flowers that open in the morning sun!


Let's taste this splendor. If the pulp of the nuts is not soft enough, keep them in the microwave oven for another 2-3 minutes.


We clean the fully prepared fruits and call the family to the table. Let everyone enjoy this exquisite delicacy.

Dietary product: how to cook in a peel

Boiled fruits are ideal for a diet menu. They contain the least calories.

Cooking chestnuts is very simple: after cutting the shell, they are thrown into boiling water, salted to taste, spices are added: bay leaf, peppercorns, etc. Cooking time ranges from 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the fruit.

Ready nuts are best taken out of hot water one at a time so that they do not have time to cool down and the shell is easier to remove.

How to clean

If we want to freeze southern nuts for future use or try them raw, we need to get rid of the tough skin. You can do this in the following way:

1. We make, as usual, an incision on one side of the fruit.
2. We throw them into boiling water for 3-5 minutes.
3. We take out and send to the freezer for 4 - 6 hours.
4. After that, blanch again and immediately substitute under a stream of cold water.

After this contrast shower, the kernels will literally "jump" out of the shell.


Roasted or baked chestnuts are one of the easiest dishes to prepare, but, unfortunately, quickly become boring.

Multiple Recipes

What other delicacies from this product can you treat yourself and your loved ones?

Cream soup according to an old recipe

Nothing warms up in cold weather like a thick and rich first course. It is this soup - nutritious, delicate in texture and incredibly fragrant, that we want to offer.

We will need:

• 400 g raw chestnuts
• 700 ml poultry broth
• 1 st. l. melted butter
• 1 tsp flour
• 100 ml cream, 10% fat
• salt and spices to taste

How to cook

1. Peeled as described above, place the chestnuts in a saucepan. There we also add dressing from butter, pounded with flour.
2. Pour in the pre-prepared broth (from chicken or turkey to choose from), add salt if necessary, put spices and cook the chestnuts until soft.
3. Then we puree the fruits in a blender, adding a little liquid so that the mass does not turn out to be dryish.
4. We put the puree in a water bath, reduce the fire to a minimum. Stirring constantly, combine the chestnut mass with the remaining broth.
5. Having brought the mixture to a homogeneous consistency, we introduce cream into it and lightly beat everything together, without removing it from the water bath.
6. The soup is immediately served to the table, garnished with greens.

Vegetarian roast

Such a dish will decorate any table, worthy of competing with the usual potato-meat duet. Light and satisfying, it is equally suitable for those who follow the figure, and those who prefer plant foods, and just connoisseurs of everything new, refined and original.

Ingredients:

• 300 g raw peeled chestnuts (can be replaced with canned or boiled ones)
• 500 g champignons
• 50 g hazelnuts
• ½ large onion
• 2 - 3 garlic cloves
• 50 ml cognac
• favorite hot spices

Cooking

1. Fry sliced ​​mushrooms. Add cognac and simmer until all liquid has evaporated.
2. Grind onion and garlic, fry them together, add spices.
3. Finely chop the chestnuts and nuts.
4. We mix all the ingredients, put them on a baking sheet and, adding a little water, send them to the oven preheated to 180ºС. Bake for approximately 40 minutes.

Sweet snack with coffee sauce

We have already tasted the first and second of the wonderful southern fruits, it's time for dessert. We offer a very simple and quick recipe. Cooked nuts can be served as an independent dish or as a spectacular addition to ice cream.

We will need:

• 500 g boiled chestnuts
• 100 ml strong, freshly brewed coffee
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ cup 35% cream
• 3 tbsp. l. cognac and powdered sugar

Cooking method

1. We already know how and how much to cook chestnuts, so there are hardly any difficulties with their preparation.
2. For the sauce, we need to beat the yolks well with cognac, cream and coffee.
3. We put the resulting lush, airy mass in a water bath, add powdered sugar and, stirring often, cook until it thickens.
4. Drizzle our nuts with sauce and serve.

Chestnuts are worth trying even for skeptics who are suspicious of unfamiliar, little-used products in our kitchen. These fruits give a lot of room for creativity and culinary experiments. Bon appetit everyone!

Among all products, there is one of the oldest, which is still used today - chestnuts, how to cook recipes for which you can quickly figure out even for an inexperienced hostess.

Chestnut fruits have a wonderful aroma and a peculiar taste, thanks to which the popularity of the nut has been preserved to this day. It is also worth noting that the chestnut is the only nut that contains vitamin C, glucose, fructose, iron, and potassium.

Can I eat raw chestnuts or not?

Cooking chestnuts at home is very simple, because there are many recipes for boiled, fried fruits. For those who wonder whether chestnuts can be eaten raw, any specialist will answer positively. Raw chestnuts need to be peeled to be eaten. However, it should be remembered that raw chestnuts do not have a pleasant taste, aroma, which can be dried on a nut with proper preparation.

Boiled chestnuts

Compound

• 400 g chestnuts;
• 1 glass of milk;
• 1 st. l. flour;
• salt, sugar to taste;
• 2 tbsp. l. butter.

Cooking

1. Peel chestnuts, rinse with water.
2. Place fruits in a bowl.
3. Pour in milk.
4. Put on medium fire.
5. When the milk boils, cook the chestnuts for 35 minutes with the lid closed.
6. Mix flour with butter.
7. Add to chestnuts.
8. To stir thoroughly.
9. Remove from fire, serve.

How to cook chestnuts

Not everyone knows how to cook chestnuts at home, and even more so how to free the fruit from the shell, which must be removed before cooking.

First way

Make a small incision on the flat side of the nut, dip in boiling water, cook for 5 minutes. Remove the chestnut from boiling water, peel the shell, film. If the film and shell are not removed, the fruits will acquire a bitter aftertaste. Place the chestnuts in a saucepan, add cold water and boil for 15 minutes. How do you eat chestnuts cooked according to this recipe? You can use them with oil as an independent dish or as one of the salad ingredients, a side dish. If chestnuts were boiled for soup, meat dishes, then dill with spices should be added to the water during cooking.

Second way

Slice the chestnuts on one side. Put all the nuts on a baking sheet, put in the oven. Keep in the oven until the shell bursts. Peel the shell with the film, place the peeled nuts in boiling water, cook for 15 minutes. With this method of cooking, chestnuts should be used immediately, because they quickly dry out and lose their taste. If you know how to cook chestnuts correctly, you can cook a very tasty dish.

What can be cooked from boiled chestnuts:

• salad;
• roast;
• souffle;
• pudding;
• component for jam, confectionery;
• can be used as an independent dish in the form of mashed potatoes, porridge.

chestnut pudding

Compound

• 1 cup of peeled chestnuts;
• 60 g sugar;
• 0.5 l of milk;
• 30 g butter;
• 60 g flour;
• 3 eggs;
• breadcrumbs.

Cooking

1. Place chestnuts with milk in a saucepan.
2. Cook until fruits soften.
3. Make chestnut puree, add sugar, milk.
4. Mix butter and flour, add to puree.
5. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes.
6. Whisk the eggs.
7. Mix them with puree.
8. Grease a baking sheet with oil, sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
9. Lay out the finished mass.
10. Send to the oven for 45 minutes.
11. Serve with jam or sweet sauce.

Roasted chestnuts

For those who do not know how to cook chestnuts in a pan or are cooking them for the first time, there is a method that demonstrates how to cook roasted chestnuts, the recipe for cooking in a pan is very simple.

Compound

• 500 g nuts;
• 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
• salt, spices to taste.

Cooking

1. Cut open each chestnut.
2. Grease a frying pan with oil, heat up.
3. Place the chestnuts on the hot skillet.
4. To cover with a lid.
5. Fry for no more than 15 minutes over medium heat.
6. Stir chestnuts occasionally.
7. Nuts will be ready when a specific smell appears.
8. Peel the fruit from the shell.
9. Add spices, salt.

Knowing how to cook chestnuts in a pan, you can make a delicious independent dish without a serious investment of time.

Other cooking methods

There is another roasting method that demonstrates how to cook chestnuts in the oven. One of the disadvantages of this method is time - on average, you need to spend 30 minutes. Chestnuts are baked in the oven at a temperature of 240 degrees. You just need to make cuts on the nuts, grease the baking sheet with oil, lay out the fruits in one layer and just wait.

How to cook chestnuts in the microwave

This method is the fastest and will save time. Chestnuts should be washed, cut, put in a single layer on a dish, placed in the microwave. It is better to fry nuts at maximum power for about three minutes, it all depends on the capabilities of the oven. The recipe is great for those who do not know how to cook chestnuts at home, because it does not require any specific knowledge in cooking.

If a person does not know how to eat chestnuts, but has already been able to cook them, then there are many options. The easiest way is to just eat raw or cooked nuts. They are a tasty and very healthy product even without any manipulations, additives.

Having learned how to cook chestnuts, you might think about what to serve it with in an original way, then a meat dish would be an excellent option. Ready-made nuts can be added as an ingredient to a sauce or stew, stuffed with a roll, and also mashed, stewed, served as a fragrant side dish.

Contraindications

Despite the fact that chestnut-nut is popular, how to cook it is not the only thing you need to know about the product, because it has a number of contraindications:

• allergic reaction, individual intolerance;
• reduced blood clotting, thrombocytopenia;
• acute form of gastritis, stomach ulcers;
• violations in the menstrual cycle;
• pregnancy;
• constipation;
• low blood pressure.

Chestnut is a tasty, healthy product. If you know how much to cook chestnuts, you can cook a delicious, fragrant dish, an ingredient for salads, sauces. The composition rich in vitamins and microelements helps to reduce the symptoms of many diseases, however, like most products, chestnut has some contraindications that must be taken into account. Knowing how to cook chestnuts at home, you can really surprise household members who are accustomed to simple and uncomplicated food.