Chestnut Hill Blog

With the sound of Nat King Cole singing sweetly in the background, here's how to roast your own chestnuts.  First, pick chestnuts at the store that are firm, clean and not moldy.  If you can squeeze them and feel the shell dimple and the hard kernel underneath, the nuts may have dried out and could be moldy inside.  American-grown Dunstan or Chinese nuts are a smooth brown in color, and rounded in shape, whereas imported nuts from Europe are often pointed at one end, and often somewhat tiger-striped in coloration.  If you can find them, the Chinese or hybrid nuts will be better (sweeter) tasting, and peel easier.  What you most often find roasted on the street are European nuts.

Traditional roasting is over charcoal or an open flame, with the nuts' shells blackened from cooking.  Special chestnut roasting pans with holes in the bottom to allow the flames to hit the nuts are available in the stores to cook them this way, often with long handles to place the pan into the fire.  If you leave some of the nuts un-cut, when they start to explode (like the song says, pop pop pop!), they are done.  Take them off the flames and let them cool before eating.