Chestnut Stuffing

Halloween is on the horizon and Sweet Chestnuts are ready for gathering. I’m sure that last year the kids and I were wrapped up in scarfs and gloves for this activity but this year things are different.

Can't Touch This!

You can easily spot the places where they fall because of the spiny cases and crushed nuts on the pavements. The best way to avoid the prickles is to trap the cases using the edges of your shoes and squeeze downward until the nut pops out. Having said this, somebody always gets spiked on this kind of expedition – just the same as when you pick blackberries.

The Tell Tale Signs

I tell the children to only collect the very biggest nuts; otherwise you end up with far too many and end up composting some. We normally have a bit of a contest to see who can find the largest chestnut or draw the most blood.

This Could Hurt But It's Worth It

It’s always best to cook your chestnuts as soon as you can after collecting them as they don’t tend to keep too well, although you can freeze them. I like to roast them on a barbeque of burning twigs and let the flames actually burn the cases and skin, which makes them far easier to remove. They do not take very long under these conditions and generally as soon as they start hissing and bubbling (or exploding if you are unlucky) they are done enough. You can also bake them in a hot oven or by an open fire.

Always cut or pierce your nuts before cooking them or they will explode in a spectacular and possibly dangerous way. This cutting also helps to ease the removal of the pith (the bitter tasting skin between the shell and the nut).

A Small Amount of Big Brown Beauties

You can bake all kinds of things using chestnuts; on the continent they are used for making flour and chestnut stuffing is common in the UK. For many people the preparation required and the time this takes is prohibitive but chestnuts roasted on a fire are always a winner on a cold night.

Quick, Get The BBQ Burning.
Hang on, There's a Hazelnut in there too.

The quintessential autumnal feast, involves, cold air, steamy breath, rosy cheeks stuffed with roast chestnuts, possibly backed up with potatoes or apples baked in hot ashes of the fire on Guy Fawkes Night; all washed down with homemade mulled cider (mulled apple juice for the children).

Then it’s time to break out the sparklers before bedtime.

Chestnutcases

Furry Tentacles

You may have noticed recently, the wonderful, furry, tentacle like flowers adorning Sweet Chestnut trees in the summer.

A Compact Chestnut Tree Flowering In July

They have now turned into the familiar spiky nut cases, although they will not be ripe for a month or so yet.

Scientifically Proven to be One of The Most Prickly Things Known To Man

While we are on the subject of Nutcases...

I found this following little nugget on the internet regarding the "homoeopathic uses" for the flowers of the Sweet Chestnut…

“The flower essence

Sweet chestnut is the remedy for those who feel so stressed, even tortured, that they have reached the limits of their endurance and feel in a state of utter despair. The mind and the body are completely exhausted from uncomplainingly fighting difficulties, cither mental or physical, until a sense of hopeless­ness and complete darkness sets in. In this ‘dark night of the soul’ sufferers may come face to face with themselves and this may prove the catalyst for entering a new stage in life.

The intensity of suffering may push us on to the threshold of inner transformation, and to another level of consciousness. Sweet chestnut helps during such crises in our lives; it enhances the process of transformation that is possible in such a state of despair and helps to prevent us from simply going to pieces and deriving little or no benefit from the experience.”

Why, Thank you - Internet, for supplying us with such appalling English and so much drivel…

We All Know What We Do With These...

You will be pleased to hear that the Urbane Forager will be avoiding this kind of gibberish; and when they duly arrive around October, we will be roasting our chestnuts over an open fire in the traditional way.

That's Better!
Don't Forget To Slit Them First Though

Incidentally, did you know that the Greeks, apparently, call chestnuts Zeus’s Acorns?