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Thanks for your reply. Yes, of course, they are the edible variety. For how long should they be boiled?Boil them in plain water. The skin will be soft and pliable when still warm and the inner will be a little plastic and quite robust. With the aid of a small sharp knife they’re easily prepared.
They are edible chestnuts (castanea savita) and not horse chestnuts?
A charming look at traditional ways of capturing the chestnut harvest. However, without the special tools and equipment, I am unable to replicate their time-tested methods. I loved the look of some of those chestnut treats at the end of the video! Thanks for sharing.Here is another one of the excellent short documentaries by Eugenio Monesma. This is an opportunity to practice your Spanish comprehension skills, but there are also subtitles in English.
Five minutes will do it.Thanks for your reply. Yes, of course, they are the edible variety. For how long should they be boiled?
Ah come on - build a two story drystone barn with a loose thatched roof. Cut enough chestnut beams and pales to make a grid floor and cover that with a layer of un-husked chestnuts. Get a fire going, but keep it low. Surprisingly chestnut coppice and leaf is really good for this. Keep going all winter…A charming look at traditional ways of capturing the chestnut harvest. However, without the special tools and equipment, I am unable to replicate their time-tested methods. I loved the look of some of those chestnut treats at the end of the video! Thanks for sharing.
'twas truly wonderful... though I see the name is not "castenas" (as it would be in Portuguese I think), but "avellana". At any rate... fantastic.I have done some reading about sweet chestnuts. There seems to be some kind of illness impacting the trees in Galicia right now, reducing harvests and eventually killing trees. Also I understood that each tree "belongs" to a family and that they have the rights to harvest the nuts rather than general foraging.
I don't care for roasted chestnuts myself although they do smell good while being roasted. The ice cream does sound pretty good though.
I think that means hazelnut?'twas truly wonderful... though I see the name is not "castenas" (as it would be in Portuguese I think), but "avellana". At any rate... fantastic.
You are correct... I think I took a picture of the wrong thing... because my gelato is a different colour, and because I am extremely allergic to hazelnut....I think that means hazelnut?
It seems strange how there are chestnut fast food vendors around the world. One year I remember buying Chestnuts from a cart in Birmingham UK, travelling to Russia via Istanbul and having them from a cart near Taksim square and a few days later having yet more chestnuts from a street cart in Sochi.The smell of chestnuts being cooked on a hot tin plate. It is one of my best sensory memories and instantly brings me back to Burgos in autumn.
Which is not an answer to the question at all! But such a good Camino experience.
(Is it too early to put the Christmas tree up?)
Lamb Stew with Chestnuts & Pomegranates
Yield: 6 servings
1 pound Chestnuts roasted & shelled
2 Onions
1/4 cup Sunflower oil
1 1/2 pound Lamb boneless cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric ground
1/4 teaspoon Saffron threads crushed
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon ground
1 cup Walnuts minced fine
1/4 teaspoon Mint crushed
1 cup Pomegranate fresh juice
2 tablespoonsTomato paste
3 tablespoons Lemon juice freshly squeezed
1 1/2 cup Chicken stock
1 teaspoon Honey
1 teaspoon Salt
1 Garlic clove finely minced
1 teaspoon Black pepper
1/4 cup Fresh mint as garnish
Heat the oil in a heavy casserole over medium heat then saute the onions & garlic for 10 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the meat, turmeric, salt, pepper, and brown the meat on all sides. Stir in the saffron, cinnamon, mint, walnuts, tomato paste, & chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, & simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Add lemon juice, pomegranate juice, and chestnuts stir well then cover and simmer for 10 more minutes. Serve over a bed of saffron <yellow> rice.
NOTE: You may add other fruits such as prunes, rasins, apricots, apples, etc. to this. dish. Use approx. 1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra fruit(s) as a total amount.
A large shop near me in Wales. 22 August this year!
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One of my Christmas traditions is to bake a chocolate log filled with a puree of chestnuts, cream and honey. A bit like a Swiss roll but where the sponge is made from only 3 ingredients - cocoa powder, eggs and sugar. So it is gluten-free though that is not an issue for me personally. From a recipe by the UK celebrity chef Delia Smith. A surprisingly simple but luxurious treat!
View attachment 136465
I can just imagine you all sitting round the table under a parasol watching the pudding blazing and singing "In the bleak midwinter" in swimsuits and Akubras...OK, in our house we will do the traditional English Christmas Pud but really only as an excuse to pour and light a cup of brandy, for the spectacle.
I hope I don’t sound too pedantic but cucina povera is an Italian term. The Spanish equivalent would be cocina pobre.I remember sitting in a smoke filled hut while the chestnuts were spread on a metal mesh “ceiling” well above the fire. The nut warms slowly, gently over hours. As it’s juices slowly turn to steam the shell and the inner membrane are stretched away from the inner kernel. This is cocina povera and a way to pass a warm night or two as the nights lengthen. A guardian is essential. One spark, one glowing ember might destroy crop, thatch, hope.
Modern books suggest blanching and plunging into iced water. Modern industry uses pressurized steam; a blast freezer and a tumbler mill.
The old way requires thumb-nails like horn or a grandma that remembers the old ways. More modern methods just require the machinery
I remember sitting in a smoke filled hut while the chestnuts were spread on a metal mesh “ceiling” well above the fire. The nut warms slowly, gently over hours. As it’s juices slowly turn to steam the shell and the inner membrane are stretched away from the inner kernel. This is cocina povera and a way to pass a warm night or two as the nights lengthen. A guardian is essential. One spark, one glowing ember might destroy crop, thatch, hope.
Modern books suggest blanching and plunging into iced water. Modern industry uses pressurized steam; a blast freezer and a tumbler mill.
The old way requires thumb-nails like horn or a grandma that remembers the old ways. More modern methods just require the machinery
I hope I don’t sound too pedantic but cucina povera is an Italian term. Cocina pobre (or cocina de los pobres) would be the Spanish equivalent.I remember sitting in a smoke filled hut while the chestnuts were spread on a metal mesh “ceiling” well above the fire. The nut warms slowly, gently over hours. As it’s juices slowly turn to steam the shell and the inner membrane are stretched away from the inner kernel. This is cocina povera and a way to pass a warm night or two as the nights lengthen. A guardian is essential. One spark, one glowing ember might destroy crop, thatch, hope.
Modern books suggest blanching and plunging into iced water. Modern industry uses pressurized steam; a blast freezer and a tumbler mill.
The old way requires thumb-nails like horn or a grandma that remembers the old ways. More modern methods just require the machinery
I was remembering an autumn in the Appenines. Chestnuts know no boundaries, nor does poverty.I hope I don’t sound too pedantic but cucina povera is an Italian term. The Spanish equivalent would be cocina pobre.
Come on! It's November the 8th and you haven't put your Christmas tree up yet? Are the neighbours still talking to you?I think you’re supposed to roast them on an open fire…
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose…
(Is it too early to put the Christmas tree up?)
I don’t know but pretty sure Google knows!Thanks for your reply. Yes, of course, they are the edible variety. For how long should they be boiled?
As that old chestnut goes (or will go ha):Thanks for your reply. Yes, of course, they are the edible variety. For how long should they be boiled?
Thankfully some knowledge predates,and will probably survive, Google et al.I don’t know but pretty sure Google knows!
As that old chestnut goes (or will go ha):
I don’t know but pretty sure Google knows.
Being a former Torontonian, I also hold such memories.I've enjoyed chestnuts ever since I was a child buying them from roadside roasters in Toronto in the fall.
It was St.Martin's Day here on Friday. The annual chestnut fair was in full force with celebrations throughout the evening. Many chestnuts were consumed alongside a local liqueur called jeropiga, a traditional pairing.
For me that's the proper way for Brussels sprouts to be done at Christmas.I don't know where this recipe comes from, maybe Wales, but this is what my husband has all the family hooked on: chestnuts with Brussels sprouts (apr. 50:50) with pieces of pork and stock cube in slow cooker overnight. We get the chestnuts already peeled and cooked in cans though.
Anyone who hasn’t already started cooking their Christmas sprouts has no chance of obtaining that grey, soggy, perfection that makes the winter rituals worth pursuingFor me that's the proper way for Brussels sprouts to be done at Christmas.
I don't mean to take "chestnut talk" away from this thread, but I have to mention that I was in Marvao a few years ago for two days in June. Such a magical village with its castle on a hill; one of my very favorite memories of touring Portugal. You are lucky to be there today, chestnuts or no chestnuts!I'm currently in Marvão in southern Portugal where they have been holding their annual chestnut festival this weekend.
This is certainly the easiest "recipe" of all.I am a "chestnut producer" but the only recipe that I know so far is to put them in the micorowave with a little cut for less than a minute.
I am not really interested in my chestnuts yet. I had to cut the previous pines in my field because there is a house near and they were afraid about the risk of fire. So, I planted the chestnuts 4 years ago with the intention of creating a "souto" there. In fact, I bought the cheapest ones in terms of the quality of their fruit. Nevertheless the fruit is not that bad and they are sweet enough to eat.This is certainly the easiest "recipe" of all.
After watching the extremely interesting Youtube video that @C clearly shared (post #5), I was fascinated as I knew nothing about chestnuts prior and had never seen them before until my recent Fall walk on the Via F. in Italy, where I became curious about them as the opened burrs and smooth nuts were all over the ground and so unusual. I since have watched a few short videos on them and like you say, there is different pricing on the trees planted according to the type and quality of the nut produced.I am not really interested in my chestnuts yet. I had to cut the previous pines in my field because there is a house near and they were afraid about the risk of fire. So, I planted the chestnuts 4 years ago with the intention of creating a "souto" there. In fact, I bought the cheapest ones in terms of the quality of their fruit. Nevertheless the fruit is not that bad and they are sweet enough to eat.
Yes, mine costed 6 euros each and the good ones for nuts costed 20 euros. In my area of Galicia there aren't chestnut forests like in El Bierzo, so chestnuts are not so important.After watching the extremely interesting Youtube video that @C clearly shared (post #5), I was fascinated as I knew nothing about chestnuts prior and had never seen them before until my recent Fall walk on the Via F. in Italy, where I became curious about them as the opened burrs and smooth nuts were all over the ground and so unusual. I since have watched a few short videos on them and like you say, there is different pricing on the trees planted according to the type and quality of the nut produced.
In Spain I always have walked in spring, so was surprised to learn that Galicia and other regions have bountiful supplies of chestnuts.
Christmas in England used to be the time for elaborate stuffing of the Christmas Fowl with forcemeat stuffing. The recipe my mother used included Chestnuts. The modern version of it is below:I am a "chestnut producer" but the only recipe that I know so far is to put them in the micorowave with a little cut for less than a minute.
Chestnuts | 1/4 Pound/125g | |
Beef suet | 2 Ounces/50g | |
Breadcrumbs | 1/4 Pound/125g | |
Sausage meat | 1/4 Pound/125g | |
Finely chopped thyme | 2 Teaspoon | |
Salt | 1/2 Teaspoon | |
Pepper | 1/4 Teaspoon |
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