Freshly roasted chestnuts are a real soul-warming treat on cold winter evenings with hot tea, and chestnuts have been roasted in-house for some time. Only it’s not so easy to roast chestnuts. If you don’t roast them properly, the skin doesn’t come off properly, you can scrape off the hairy little bits of skin and end up with a really complicated smeary mess that loses its charm.
Nowadays, the smell of roasting chestnuts is part of the Christmas market atmosphere. And the delicious smell of chestnuts coming from a chestnut oven attracts all those who love the delicacy. It’s easier to buy the delicious crunchy snacks here, which are not only delicious but also very healthy.
A little history
Roast chestnuts have been a delicious delicacy for centuries. It was a staple food in the mild mountainous regions of Europe. Corsica had one of the longest traditions of chestnut growing, where the land was too small to grow cereals. Here chestnuts were also known as breadfruit, as the fruit was ground into flour and baked into bread.
Baking chestnuts at home
So making roast chestnuts at home looks like this:
- Soak the chestnuts a few hours (or even 1 day) before baking. As it is, tip it into a bowl, pour water over it to cover it well, and leave it there. If you don’t have a day, 1-2 hours will do. The ones that come up to the color of water have been eaten out by the worm inside, so they are lighter, so throw them away.
- Before baking, preheat the oven to about 430-450 degrees, prepare a baking pan, line it with baking paper, and, using a sharp knife, carefully, so as not to cut your hand, cut the chestnuts one by one. Cut a large x in each one, place them on the baking tray and do this with each piece. If you see any that are black, moldy or rotten inside, you can throw them out. It’s not going to get any better.
- Once all the chestnuts are in the pan (preferably cut side up), cover/seal the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil and start baking the chestnuts. How long do you bake the chestnuts? Cover and bake for about 15-18 minutes, then bake for about 5-8 minutes after removing the foil.
- I’ve also baked chestnuts by cutting the flat side and baking at 430°F without tin foil. That works too.
- It’s good when the peels are puffed up. Shake them from time to time.
I’ve also collected other tips, so you can have a look:
- Some see the secret of the perfect roast chestnuts in the oven at 450-460 degrees and bake them for 30-35 minutes.
- Others don’t soak the chestnuts for hours, they just put them in water and start baking them, and then bake them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
- I’ve also read that you have to wipe the chestnuts after soaking – but that’s very time-consuming, i don’t think it’s worth bothering with.
- Some people soak the chestnuts and then plunge them in water, and even after plunging, they put the chestnuts in water, and only 10-15 minutes do they put them in the baking pan.
- And some people put a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven so that the steam produced helps the chestnuts to cook.
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Last updated: October 23, 2023