Sweet Chestnuts are beginning to drop now and we have been out to stuff our pockets full of the biggest, freshest, shiniest, auburn/brown ones we could find.
Roasted Chestnuts are the perfect antidote to the sad feeling we can experience, as the nights draw in. Conkers are nice to find too but they cannot be eaten. Autumn should be celebrated for its vibrant colour and tempestuous weather changes.
I like to roast my nuts over a fire, normally I set one on the barbecue, I let the flames lick at the Chestnuts and blacken the shells, this makes then much easier to peal and remove the pithy skin beneath.
We are also making use of other things that we have gathered and stored in one way of another. Chocolate & Hazelnut Pear Upside-down cake, bit of a mouthful but a damn tasty one! This was a new recipe that we tried and it has been proclaimed an absolute winner.
However, the best thing about the Autumn, as always at this beautiful time year, has to be grabbing handfuls of dry leaves - throwing them in the faces of your unaware pesky children - and running off...
"LEAF FIGHT!"
I’ve been out the past few weekends in the New Forest but all the chestnut trees seem to be bare, Brown husks on the ground. They must be early ones.
ReplyDeleteI know there are Conker trees in the parks in central Southampton, but are there any chestnut trees centrally? Where do Find them?
Chestnuts do seem to have been a bit early this year. There are a couple on the common and a few scattered about by roadsides.
ReplyDeleteTelegraph hill has tons, in fact, the whole area between Harefield and West End is stuffed with massive Chestnut trees.
Hi thank you for the tip , I was desperately trying to find chestnut trees around Southampton . So will visit telegraph hill weather permitting this week.
ReplyDeleteAny clues for walnut trees please :)