Sweet Chestnuts

malamala

Justamum wrote: »

We all love roasting chestnuts, and usually treat ourselves to a large bag at this time of year. I bought a couple of net bags from Tesco and we roasted them on the braai outside. The first one I tried didn't taste "chestnutty" so I looked at it and saw a maggot :eek: The next one tasted nice, but after an initial nibble I had a look and found a maggot in that one too :eek::eek: In fact quite a few of the chestnuts were either maggoty or just bad inside. Has anybody else had this problem this year? Other years it's not been too bad. I would say that we only had about 1/3 of them which were edible. They are horrendously expensive too. It's put me off chestnuts.

We got that too, almost 50% of them were inedible, so decided not to buy chestnuts from Tesco again.

bargain_babe

yep, I bought some last week from Tesco, they looked beautiful but lots were bad, I know I find maggots in them every year and still i buy them cos I love them (not the maggots -obviously!) but I have to disect each one before I actually put it in my mouth and at the first sign of any badness I throw it away (or if I see a little hole) I always thought I was just unlucky!

Debt_Free_Chick

It's not just Tesco. We don't buy any chestnuts as there are zillions to collect, locally. We've noticed a lot of maggots too.

Put it down to the horrid wet summer, which created unusual growing conditions. Something must have given the critters the opportunity to lay eggs when the nuts were developing.

Of course, return them if you've paid for them. But if you buy elsewhere, you'll probably get the same problem.

A good year for quantity - but not for quality.

Ianna

But sadly I don't have an open fire so how do I roast them? sorry if this is a stupid question.

Anybody got any other things I can do with them? I love them but don't know what I can use them in.

Pink.

Hi Ianna,

There's an older thread with lots of ideas for chestnuts so I'll have a look for it and merge your thread with it to keep all the suggestions together.

Pink

Juliav_2

Hi,

I am making a chestnut and cranberry roll to go with xmas dinner. The receipe asks for vac-packed chestnuts.

Can I use fresh chestnuts that I open up myself? Will this make any difference.

Would really appreciate some advice.

Thanks

Jayar

Yes, it will make quite a difference. Your fresh chestnuts will be much nicer
I usually just score through the skin and chuck 'em in some boiling water for about 20 minutes. Remember it's easier to peel them while they are still hot, so you need asbestos fingers for this job.

Jem8472

Anyone know when chestnuts should be ready? It must be soon. I got a few from the supermarket the other day. Ones from Italy but they are no where near as nice as local ones. I am just hoping that they will be ready soon. I can eat tons of them

Bongedone

They are ready in London. Saw somebody collecting bags of the things in a park last week.

npsmama

I have 2lbs of cooked but alas unshelled and unpeeled chestnuts staring at me.

Anyone have any good ideas?

The thought of shelling and peeling them takes the wind out of my sails...but I guess there's no other option, right?