Calorie content: Not specified
Time for preparing: 60 minutes

Many have tried chestnuts baked over fire. They are always pre-cut so that they do not explode during heat treatment. Chestnuts cooked over fire - great snack or a nutty snack. Only they are eaten hot, peeling off the singed peel.
Few people know that chestnuts can also be baked in the oven or boiled in water. Boiled chestnuts are just as tasty as those cooked over a fire, and can be served as a standalone snack or used as an ingredient in many interesting european recipes... Look yet so simple.
Before you step-by-step instruction how to cook chestnuts correctly. If you want to surprise your friends and family with interesting unusual dish, you should learn how to boil peeled chestnuts at home.

We will need:

- 0.5 kg. chestnuts,
- about 2 liters of water,
- 1 tsp salt,
- bay leaf optional.

Recipe with photo step by step:

The chestnuts must be washed thoroughly. Then, with a sharp knife, each chestnut must be cut "along the equator" from a more rounded side. Not around the entire perimeter, but only from the curved side, slightly grabbing along the edges.
Be careful not to cut yourself. For reliability, you can fix the chestnut with a nutcracker.
You only need to cut the thick skin and a layer of thin skin inside. In doing so, try not to hurt the chestnut pulp itself.

Now that all the chestnuts have been cut, you can consider that the most difficult thing is over. It remains only to cook the chestnuts correctly. We put them in a saucepan with cold water... The water should completely cover the chestnuts. Put the pan on fire, add salt and bay leaf. Bring the water and chestnuts to a boil.

Cook the chestnuts for about 40 minutes if the chestnuts are large. If the average, then half an hour will be enough.

During the cooking process, the water will turn dark brown, and properly cut chestnuts will open wide at the cut, exposing the yellowish-white flesh.

We drain the water from the finished chestnuts, cool slightly before serving, so as not to burn your hands. Pay your attention to this unusual chestnut tree.

Clean boiled chestnuts it is more convenient while they are hot and damp, as the peel is removed along with the inner skin. After cooling, the peel sticks to the chestnut and it will be problematic to remove it.
Correctly cut chestnuts are very easy to peel, they are like pistachios - already a third ajar.
Serve boiled chestnuts as a snack, snack, or use as an ingredient varied dishes... Now you know how to cook peeled chestnuts at home, so you can surprise your guests with an unusual dish.

Curiously, in Turkey, glazed chestnuts are considered their own national invention and are called Kestane Sekeri. Eastern delicacy is no different from its European counterpart: neither in taste, nor in the method of preparation, nor in the price - quite high, because we are talking about a gourmet product. Roasted fruits of Castanea sativa are also not uncommon in Turkish cities.

In Russia, edible chestnuts are not widespread, since the thermophilic trees that bring these delicious nuts, grow only in the south of the country - in Krasnodar Territory ... So if you want to try very healthy fruit, it is better to go in late autumn, or on winter holidays to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, or, for example, China and Thailand.

How chestnuts are eaten in different countries

Wherever we go, cook fragrant nuts street food vendors will be about the same. Braziers are installed on small carts - wood-burning stoves, and sometimes on crystalline salt, which burns longer and is less consumed. This method is very common in Spain.

Chestnuts are thrown on large pans with holes and stirring occasionally with a spatula, cook until the shell begins to crack with a characteristic sound. They sell a delicacy in 10 - 15 pieces (it is difficult to eat more at a time) in kraft paper bags. In many western cities, one more empty packaging is necessarily added - for peeled shells.

Europeans do not flavor chestnuts with anything, believing that the taste of the product is good in pure form, without such enhancers as salt or sugar. According to tradition, fried fruits are washed down with mulled wine or just good young red wine. If you don't feel like alcohol, you can replace it with natural grape juice.


And in China or Thailand, chestnuts are thrown into the wok along with small pebbles and constantly shaken so that the fruits are evenly baked. Unlike their European counterparts, Asian traders pour sugar syrup on the nuts to add shine and special sweetness.

Note

We will disappoint gourmets - they will not taste the most delicious chestnuts, called marron, from hawkers. The prices of nuts that once served as food for the poor grow year after year, so elite varieties "Affordable" only expensive restaurants... On the streets, we will be offered simpler options, and you need to be ready for this.

And immediately advice

It is best to buy chestnuts not on the central streets, which are actively visited by tourists, but in remote areas or small towns, where they are mainly prepared for the local population. Visitors come and go, but if the product is not liked by regular customers living in the retail area, the seller will be left without revenue.

Chestnuts are recognized as one of the most valuable products autumn-winter period. When regular use, they are quite capable of replacing the vitamin complexes that are often prescribed to us at this time of the year. Saturating the body with carbohydrates and proteins, unique nuts energize us, improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system, normalize blood composition, and also help fight the blues caused by lack of sun and cold weather.

If we do not plan to travel in the season of chestnuts to where they are a common food, it is worth going to the market or supermarket and preparing the treat ourselves. Fry or bake the fruits on the shoulder even for novice housewives. Of course, if they know what to do with chestnuts and are able to figure out some of the intricacies of the process.


About culinary secrets - known and not so well known, further in the article.

Cooking methods

Basic Rules:

1. Raw nuts are hard to digest and are difficult to shell from. Therefore, they are recommended culinary processing... The most delicious fried and baked fruits - you can eat them as separate dish or serve as a side dish, but boiled ones are best used for making soups and mashed potatoes.
2. First, the nuts brought from the store are sorted out, removing the spoiled ones. The easiest way is to send your purchase in a large bowl of water, and then discard as worthless anything that floats to the surface.
3. Just before cooking, the chestnuts are washed and dried with a paper towel. The shell is cut or pierced, otherwise, when heated, the resulting steam will burst it. Some cooks recommend after this to soak the nuts for 2 - 3 hours in water, which will make their taste softer and richer.
4. You need to clean the fruits warm, as soon as they stop burning your hands.
5. Hot, freshly cooked chestnuts are much more aromatic and tastier than cold ones. For this reason, it is undesirable to cook "in reserve". You need to take a portion that you can eat right away.
6. It is very important not to "overexpose" the fruit in a pan or oven, so that they do not lose moisture.

We cut the shell correctly

If you do not break the integrity of the shell before cooking, we are unlikely to be able to feast on chestnuts. The steam generated when heated will turn the fruit into small crumbs, which scatter in different directions no worse than an artillery shell. And we will not only be left without a delicacy, but we may also suffer if we fry on open fire and don't use the lid.

There are several ways to avoid this kind of trouble:

• pierce the nuts deeply with a fork (about 1/3)
• make a cruciform cut with a knife
• remove the sharp "nose" of the fruit, while capturing a little pulp

The last option is the simplest and fastest, it will save our fingers if the rounded chestnut slips out from under the knife. In addition, the cruciform incision opens up during frying and the nut becomes more dry. And a fork does not always manage to pierce the hard shell to the end and the risk of explosions increases during the cooking process.

In addition to the hard upper shell, the fruits must be freed from the thin elastic peel underneath. Only in this form are they suitable for use.

How to fry in a pan: culinary subtleties

If we cook on the stove, it will take us no more than a quarter of an hour for the delicate product to reach its condition and not dry out.

The classic roasting algorithm found on the Internet and tested by me for training purposes:

1. Put the prepared fruits in a thick-walled deep frying pan, preheated. It is better that the nuts fit in one layer, but you can make two. Important: in no case should you take a Teflon-coated pan, otherwise it will be hopelessly spoiled. Ideally, the cookware should be cast iron.
2. Fry over low heat (so that the chestnuts do not crack), stirring constantly for 12-15 minutes. As the fruit is cooked, the shell of the fruit will acquire a light shade, and some places will be charred to black - this is a normal phenomenon that should not be feared.
3. The readiness of the product is evidenced by the characteristic crackling, a very appetizing potato-nut smell spreading through the house and the appearance of small cracks on the shell.

Option number 2, with oil:

1. Pour into the pan vegetable oil, we warm it up, and then put the prepared nuts in one layer. Cover them moisturized paper napkins, to protect from drying out, and simmer under a lid over low heat for 20 minutes. Some recipes suggest skipping oil by using a dry skillet.
2. From time to time, the fruits need to be shaken without opening the lid. We moisten the napkins as they dry.
3. On ready-made nuts the shell is deeply cracked and easily removed.
4. If the fruits still seem harsh, you can peel them and additionally boil them in milk. The liquid should cover the main ingredient by about 2 cm. natural flavors honey (2 tablespoons) and cinnamon (1 stick) are used.

We wash and dry the sorted chestnuts. We cut off the "noses" or make cruciform incisions.

I liked the method with cutting the noses more. Less hassle, faster, and the result is the same.

We spread in thick-walled frying pan... Our alternative to wet wipes is a thin, approx. 2mm layer of water on the bottom of the cooking utensil. It will create a moist environment that will keep the nuts from drying out.


Covering the future cooking masterpiece lid and put on a small fire.


First, the chestnuts are steamed and then fried. At the end, the lid can be removed, and the fruits must be stirred so that they do not burn.


We clean the finished nuts from the shell - it is removed very easily and we immediately start the feast.


Chestnuts are very tender and tasty. I recommend trying it!

On the grill

In imitation of street vendors exotic nuts you can also bake on the grill.

1. Place the washed and sorted chestnuts in warm water for 10 - 15 minutes.
2. Cut the shell crosswise on the convex side of the fruit.
3. If there is no special pan with holes for roasting chestnuts, you can limit yourself to the usual cast iron cookware with thick walls, placing it on the wire rack. In any case, the fruits should be laid out with a cut down and placed in the grill on a high layer of coals.
4. After frying the product for 6 - 7 minutes, with occasional shaking, turn it over to the other side and bring it to readiness.
5. When the fruits have cooled slightly, they are peeled and served.

How to bake

Baked fruits are the tastiest and healthiest. They are added to salads and main courses, make complex side dish to meat or poured with sweet sauce and served as a dessert. Roasting chestnuts is a little easier than frying in a pan, especially if the oven is equipped with a grill. But you can do without this feature.

There are recipes where chestnuts are kept in a solution with spices or heavily sweetened water before being cooked in the oven.

We offer an option from Mediterranean cuisine, whose dishes are not only appetizing, but also good for health.

1. Pre-sorted and washed chestnuts should be cut along the round side, preferably crosswise, so that they are easier to clean later. The depth of the cut must be at least 5 mm.
2. We spread the fruits on a baking sheet, cut up. Sprinkle lightly with water.
3. We preheat the oven to 200 ° C and send our chestnuts into it. After a quarter of an hour, the fruits need to be turned over and wait another 5 minutes, and if they seem not soft enough, then more.
4. Strongly open cuts indicate the readiness of the nuts.

Baked chestnuts are best served with semi-sweet red wine.

Microwave to help us

With this miracle device at hand, it takes about 10 minutes to cook chestnuts, keeping our labor to a minimum.


We wash the nuts, select the spoiled specimens. We make deep cruciform notches on the convex side or cut off the spouts.


We spread the fruits in a special dish for the microwave. We attach our blank if it will not be used as a dessert.


Pour some water at the bottom of the dish, literally 2 mm.


Cover with a lid and send to cook at full power for 6-8 minutes.


This is how beautiful our chestnuts look in the microwave now! Neither give nor take the flowers that have opened in the morning sun!


We taste this splendor. If the pulp of the nuts is not soft enough, keep them in the microwave for another 2 - 3 minutes.


We cleanse the fully prepared fruits and call the family to the table. Let everyone enjoy such an exquisite delicacy.

Diet product: how to cook in a peel

For dietary menu boiled fruits are ideal. They contain the least amount of calories.

Cooking chestnuts is very simple: after cutting the shell, they are thrown into boiling water, salted to taste, spices are added: bay leaves, peppercorns, etc. The cooking time ranges from 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the fruit.

It is better to get ready-made nuts from hot water one at a time so that they do not have time to cool down and the shells are easier to remove.

How to clean

If we want to freeze southern nuts for future use or try them raw, we need to get rid of the tough skin. This can be done as follows:

1. We make, as usual, an incision on one side of the fruit.
2. Throw them in boiling water for 3 - 5 minutes.
3. We take it out and send it to the freezer for 4 - 6 hours.
4. After that, blanch again and immediately put it under a stream of cold water.

After that contrast shower, the kernels will literally "jump out" of the shell.


Roasted or baked chestnuts are one of the easiest dishes to prepare, but unfortunately they quickly become boring.

Several recipes

What other delicacies from this product can you treat yourself and your loved ones?

Old recipe cream soup

Nothing warms you up in cold weather like a thick and rich first course. It is this soup - nutritious, delicate in consistency and incredibly aromatic - that we want to offer.

We will need:

• 400 g raw chestnuts
• 700 ml poultry stock
• 1 tbsp. l. melted butter
• 1 tsp flour
• 100 ml cream, 10% fat
• salt and spices to taste

How to cook

1. Peeled as described above, put the chestnuts in a saucepan. Add a dressing made from butter, ground with flour.
2. Pour in the pre-cooked broth (from chicken or turkey of your choice), add salt if necessary, add spices and cook chestnuts until soft.
3. Then we puree the fruits in a blender, adding a little liquid so that the mass does not turn out to be dry.
4. Put the puree on water bath, we reduce the fire to a minimum. Stirring constantly, combine the chestnut mass with the remaining broth.
5. Bringing the mixture to a homogeneous consistency, add cream into it and lightly whisk everything together, without removing from the water bath.
6. We immediately serve the soup to the table, garnish with herbs.

Vegetarian roast

Such a dish will adorn any table, competing with the usual potato-meat duo. Light and satisfying, it is equally suitable for those who follow the figure, and those who prefer vegetable food, and simply for connoisseurs of everything new, refined and original.

Ingredients:

• 300 g raw peeled chestnuts (can be replaced with canned or boiled)
• 500 g champignons
• 50 g hazelnuts
• ½ large onion
• 2 - 3 cloves of garlic
• 50 ml brandy
• favorite hot spices

Preparation

1. Fry the mushrooms cut into slices. Pour in brandy and simmer until all the liquid has evaporated.
2. Chop onion and garlic, fry them together, add spices.
3. Chop chestnuts and nuts finely.
4. We mix all the ingredients, put them on a baking sheet and, adding a little water, send them to an oven preheated to 180 ° C. We bake for about 40 minutes.

Sweet snack with coffee sauce

We have already tasted the first and second of the wonderful southern fruits, it's time for dessert. We offer a very simple and quick recipe... Nuts cooked on it can be served as independent dish or as an effective addition to ice cream.

We need:

• 500 g boiled chestnuts
• 100 ml strong, freshly brewed coffee
• 2 egg yolk
• ½ cup cream 35% fat
• 3 st. l. cognac and powdered sugar

Cooking method

1. We already know how and how much to cook chestnuts, so there are hardly any difficulties with their preparation.
2. For the sauce, we need to beat the yolks well with cognac, cream and coffee.
3. We put the resulting lush, airy mass in a water bath, add icing sugar and, stirring often, cook until thickened.
4. Pour sauce over our nuts and serve.

Chestnuts are worth trying even for skeptics who are suspicious of unfamiliar, little-used products in our kitchen. These fruits give a lot of room for creativity and culinary experimentation. Bon appetit, everyone!

Hot chestnuts are one of the favorite treats of Parisians. They are prepared and sold right on the streets of the most romantic city in the world. Residents and guests of Paris buy them, and eat from a bag, closing their eyes with pleasure. And then they ask the French how to roast chestnuts in order to pamper themselves more often when they return home.

These reddish-cinnamon fruits are good not only as a standalone dish. They are also included in many other recipes. But, before we tell you how to cook chestnuts, let's talk about which ones you can eat.

After all, this name hides several different varieties nuts that look similar to each other.

All of them are covered with a thorny green shell, under which shiny fruits of a characteristic shade are hidden. Here are just those that are edible, more elongated, resemble an onion in shape, at the sharp end they have a tiny tail. The tree on which they grow has long, jagged leaves attached to a branch by a handle. You can cook chestnuts of this variety without any fear.

But the fruits of trees with large spreading leaves, somewhat reminiscent of maple, are not worth eating - you can get poisoned. Their nuts are round, sometimes lumpy. And, unfortunately, they are the ones that grow in abundance in middle lane Russia. So the residents of this region are better off buying chestnuts in the store.

Method 1

Method 2

Method 3

Serve peeled chestnuts hot, in a beautiful plate... Eat them to some soft music or good old French comedy and enjoy parisian romance in your home.

More recently, this fruit, in some places replacing local residents potatoes and corn, was completely alien to us. Today we are looking more closely at chestnuts- not only on European trips, but also on the menu of restaurants, in stores and in their own kitchens.

What are chestnuts

In the courtyard of my childhood, as in many other old Moscow courtyards, a luxurious chestnut grew. We can say that an exemplary chestnut: it reached the sixth floor in height, regularly bloomed with elegant candles in May and dropped weighty cones on an out of place installed bench in sunny October. Hard greenish stones were used for a variety of children's games, but if someone told us that somewhere they are fried, boiled and made from them cakes with chocolate, we would have laughed in his face. By the way, they would have done the right thing, because that chestnut, obviously, was horse- its leaves looked like curly star-shaped paws (near a tree with edible fruits they are oblong and are attached to the branch handle one by one).

Edible chestnuts do not grow in our latitudes. The nearest place on the map is the Caucasus, Armenia and Azerbaijan, but even there they somehow turn out to be small, like walnuts, while in Europe it is the size of a good tangerine. However, especially large ones are valued almost like truffles and are not even exported. You can meet them in southern France, in Spain and, of course, in Italy, where, of course, solid delicacies will be born.

The most selected are in Sicily, just good ones are in the north of the country. In Piedmont, in Lombardy, you can see signs on the streets warning of the seasonal fall of nuts (chestnuts are exactly nuts). During this very fall, passers-by do not hesitate to pick up the crop, lay it out, satisfied, in their cases and bags from Furla - why, you don't have to pay three euros per kilo, like in a supermarket!

Extremely rare for Europe have survived in northern Italy wild chestnut forests, where in September-October whole companies go with baskets. And mothers of families remember dozens of recipes for making this autumn gift nature. You need to hurry: chestnuts are poorly stored - after a couple of days they begin to dry out and deteriorate. True, if you freeze them baked or boiled, then you can use the whole season, and the taste will not be affected.

However, nature throws chestnuts everywhere. One of the varieties is fragrant tamba chestnuts - grows on the Japanese island of Honshu. In the country rising sun chestnuts are highly respected - among the poetic Japanese people, they are considered the same symbol of autumn as cherry blossoms are - a symbol of spring. Fresh chestnuts The tamba are so sweet they don't even have sugar added to them when they cook rice balls kurimochi, an amaguri beer snack or waffle filling sold at the bustling crossroads of old cities.

How to eat chestnuts

We also gradually got to know the chestnuts. Sooner or later, each of us came to Europe for Christmas and was fascinated by its magic. The winter may have been warm and almost snowless - such that one wanted to walk and walk. In the old city, a festive bazaar was buzzing around the cathedral and offering all kinds of sparkling and singing treasures. Fragrant corrugations were baked everywhere, punch and mulled wine were poured, stirring up interest in life. And, of course, an integral part of this whole tale were the chestnut sellers, who theatrically controlled in the falling twilight with their antediluvian braziers. On the iron sheets, the brown chestnuts bounced, crackling, and glowed to a noble golden hue. The burst balls were poured into a paper bag - then they easily opened, showering the skin, and pleasantly burned. The taste resembled a hazelnut and at the same time boiled sweet potato, which is baked on the streets of Asian cities. But it happened in Paris, or Rome, or Strasbourg, Cologne, Vienna ...

In general, our memories of the day when we first tasted chestnuts are not devoid of sentimentality. However, discarding sentimentality, you can to cook exotic nuts obtained in the ordinary market or in an expensive gastro boutique, and on own kitchen ... The simplest recipe is fry them in the same primitive way: make an incision (otherwise they will explode) on the flat side, put them on a frying pan (not on a Teflon pan, of course), cover them with a lid and listen as they jump there, ready to burst and present the world with their tender crumbly insides. However, the most delicious chestnuts are not those that have already burst, but those that are about to burst, “on the brink” ... But to define this “just about” is practically an art. Only professionals can use it. For example, the Japanese who roast their Tamba chestnuts in drums filled with hot river sand, without leaving the temperature regulator unattended.

Chestnuts are delicious exceptionally hot, just from a brazier or frying pan. If you are aiming not at a fleeting connection (a dinner of students: chestnuts and young wine), but at a serious relationship, this stage of roasting can be the beginning of what is called a wonderful friendship. Use a spoon to gently scoop out the warm pulp from the cracked skin and cook in one of dozens of ways.

How to cook chestnuts

Let's say chestnuts can be served as side dish for roast - instead of the usual potatoes. Or add to pilaf. Or, as in the Caucasus, fill them with big amount onions in a bowl where meat is being prepared, and leave for ten to fifteen minutes: the chestnuts will have a completely different aroma. And they will need to be served separately, generously sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

A lunch near Moscow is good combination with applesand: first, pouring water, bring the chestnuts to pleasant softness, then, draining the water, add chopped apples and butter and simmer until the fruits become soft. Prunes and nuts will add piquancy to the dish.

Chestnuts are baked, fried, boiled, and stuffed with poultry: in America for Thanksgiving, in Europe for Christmas. We are not connected centuries-old traditions and we can stuff the cock or the turkey right now. By the way, a capon stuffed with chestnuts and armagnac is sold for incredible sums in gastronomic boutiques.

Chestnut is generally a favorite of craftsmen. haute cuisine... And those who like to compose unusual flavor combinations... By the way, in such combinations, it is perfect as a souvenir: they just brought me a jam from Paris, called “chestnuts and Chinese smoked tea". It's almost unsweetened, you can't eat it with cookies or pancakes - it's just an artifact.

Friends with an interest in gastronomy will appreciate the beauty of the game if you cook for them chestnut soup... It does not require special knowledge or effort: to meat brothseasoned with onions, garlic, celery and parsley, after the chestnuts, add a spoonful of butter, a glass of cream and a little alcohol like brandy.

When there is no time to mess around with roasting and peeling nuts, you can use canned chestnut puree... It forms the basis for dozens of interesting and easy-to-serve dishes. Mostly sweet, of course. The simplest cake, which does not even need to be baked: stir a couple of glasses of puree well with 175 grams of butter, 300 grams of dark chocolate and a few spoons of rum, put in a mold and keep in the refrigerator overnight. Or just whip the puree with the cream.

Of chestnut flour aromatic cookies (mmm, s pine nuts and raisins), but, probably, most of us, especially children, love whole chestnuts: gnaw a nut large, like an egg, besides with such unusual taste- who won't like it? Our weakness is indulged primarily by manufacturers marron glaces - glazed chestnuts, which can be found in any French, Spanish or Italian supermarket.

Chestnuts aged in sugar syrup and hidden in a thick chocolate or white icing shell, it is easy to prepare yourself. Even easier - Drunk chestnuts: Pour one hundred grams of sugar into a glass of red wine, put boiled chestnuts and simmer for a while over medium heat until syrup is formed. Then, while still hot, place the whipped cream on the featherbed, sprinkle with vanilla and garnish with mint and candied fruits.

We sell edible chestnuts in three types: fresh unpeeled, fresh frozen peeled and pickled. The last ones are already finished product, without additional processing they can be added to salad, for example, combined with an orange or smoked fillet duck breast... Freshly frozen chestnuts must first be fried and then used, say, in a soup with porcini mushrooms. And fresh unpeeled nuts should be cut, covered with foil and baked in the oven for about 20 minutes, then salt and eat just like seeds or corn are eaten.
Another unusual "chestnut" product, directly related to nuts, however, has nothing to do with it, is honey. Pleasantly liquid (it does not crystallize until spring, or maybe longer, it just did not stay longer with us), dark brown - just chestnut! - colors with light aroma and an amazing bitter taste. It is useful for renal and gastric diseases, kills germs. There is no 100% chestnut honey - it would be too bitter, bees collect pollen from other plants. And the more clearly the bitterness is felt in honey, the more chestnut itself is in it.

In most European countries, roasted chestnuts are a street treat. Trees with these miraculous fruits grow just on the streets of cities, and therefore any tourist can taste the dish quite affordable price... Here, you can taste the taste of this delicate nut only in a restaurant, or try to cook it yourself at home. Just how to roast chestnuts?

The taste of roasted chestnuts is quite unusual and not everyone will like it, like any other product. But it's worth a try, especially since it's not only tasty, but also very healthy. The main nuance is to learn how to cook them correctly.

So, we master the art of cooking roasted chestnuts.

Chestnut contains a large number of vegetable protein, and eating this product is very beneficial. It is especially indispensable for adherents of a vegetarian diet, since it is able to fully provide the body with protein, which they exclude, refusing to eat meat.

But, despite all the benefits of chestnut-nut, there are a number of contraindications to its use. Therefore, before eating it, you need to pay attention to your own health and evaluate all the pros and cons.

Positive qualities of chestnuts

So to useful properties walnut include the following features.

1. High energy value... You can eat two, three chestnuts, and not remember the feeling of hunger for half a day. A good product for those who like to eat at night or before bedtime. You can eat chestnuts before going to bed and sleep peacefully until morning, full and not afraid for the figure. For people whose constant companions are fatigue and weakness, chestnuts are the best helper.
2. A great option to diversify the menu. This versatile nut can be roasted, boiled, baked and made into salads. If a traditional cereals, pasta and potatoes as a side dish are simply bored, then chestnuts can be cooked as an addition to meat or fish.
3. Saturates the body with vitamins and minerals without detriment thin waist... As noted above, chestnuts contain a lot of protein, in addition, they are a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. In reasonable quantities, the product will not only benefit, but also help saturate the body with everything it needs during the diet. Athletes can consume the product as a protein source after exercise.
4. Universal medicine... Chestnut-nut is useful for diseases of the respiratory organs, thrombophlebitis, varicose veins. A decoction of fruits, bark or leaves will help remove acute symptoms hemorrhoids and remove skin problems.
5. Is the source women's health... The product is recommended for women with mastitis, mastopathy.

Contraindications

In any case, if there are the slightest health problems, you should consult your doctor before introducing chestnuts into the diet.

• allergies;
• poor blood clotting;
• acute gastritis and gastric ulcer;
• violation of the menstrual cycle;
• pregnant women;
• low blood pressure;
• problems with stool;
• completeness.

Before you understand how to roast chestnuts properly, you should learn how to choose a nut. There are fruits of edible and inedible plants. It must be remembered that you cannot eat any chestnut, since some nuts may even be poisonous.

Traditionally used in cooking:

• sowing chestnut;
• american;
• crenate, or Japanese;
• softest, or Chinese;
• chinkapin.

The specified varieties of chestnuts with a thorny shell, the color of which must certainly be green, are suitable for eating. The fruits should be elongated, outwardly similar to an ordinary bulb with a small tail.

But the bumpy ones, round fruits horse chestnut it is better not even to try to eat, because this is at least food poisoning.

How to roast chestnuts at home - the main ways

When the chestnuts are selected, you can start cooking them. Surely no one will be left indifferent by the taste of roasted chestnuts. Let's find out how to roast chestnuts at home. There are several ways, but any of them must begin with a bulkhead of the fruit.

First of all, you must throw out all damaged, dented, cracked or spoiled copies. Good nuts should be thoroughly washed with a sponge and poured into a container of water.

You can only cook nuts drowned in water, those fruits that have surfaced, without pity, are sent to the trash can.

Selected, good fruits it is necessary to leave in water for at least 15 minutes, then dry with a towel and pierce with a fork so that the shell does not break during the frying process.

In a frying pan

Frying chestnuts in a pan is a snap. This makes a tasty and healthy dish.

1. A thin and small frying pan is not suitable for roasting chestnuts. It is necessary to take a frying pan with thick sides and bottom and large enough.
2. There should be enough oil to completely cover the beans, and it is better to put moistened wipes on top so that the chestnuts do not dry out.
3. When heated, chestnuts begin to explode, and keep these delicious nuts from jumping out of the pan, the lid will be able to.
4. They should be fried for about half an hour over medium heat.
5. In order not to overcook the chestnuts, it is necessary to shake them from time to time during the frying process, but under closed lid... Or you can stir it periodically with a spatula.
6. You can determine the readiness of the chestnut by simply pushing it. The finished chestnut will be soft.
7. It is necessary to lay out the finished product on paper towelsto remove excess fat.

In the oven

If you don't know how to roast chestnuts at home, choose the oven cooking method. Fried this way they will keep all their useful material and at the same time do not saturate excess oil.

To do this, you need to perform a number of actions.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Cut or chop the sorted, washed and dried fruits.
3. Put the prepared product on a greased woodwind leaf with a cut up.
4. Sprinkle the fruits with water and send to bake for no more than 20 minutes.
5. To prevent the chestnuts from burning, you must periodically move them.
6. When the fruit becomes soft, and the shell itself begins to crack easily, you can take out the chestnuts, cool and peel.

The chestnuts are ready! You can serve them as a side dish, or as an independent dish.

In the microwave

Another way to cook chestnuts quickly at home is to roast them in microwave oven... The process of preparing these tender fruits is the same as in the previous two cases, but they will have to be prepared in two stages.

1. Put the prepared chestnuts in a deep microwave dish, cover with wet wipes, send to the microwave for 5 minutes at maximum power. Do not be lazy and stir the nuts every one and a half minutes.
2. At the second stage, add vegetable oil to the dish and bake for another 15 minutes, stirring at the same frequency.

In the airfryer

The recipe for cooking chestnuts in an airfryer is similar to baking in the oven.

1. Sort the fruits, soak, dry and cut.
2. To lay out good nuts on a baking sheet of the airfryer.
3. Bake the chestnuts for about half an hour at 180 degrees.
4. There is one secret to roasting chestnuts in this glass saucepan - the bottom and top wire racks must be covered with foil. Then the effect of a double boiler is formed and the nuts do not dry out and do not become hard.

How to peel roasted chestnuts?

You can peel the chestnut by simply pressing on it. The shell will begin to lag behind itself and it is enough just to remove it.

It is necessary to start peeling immediately after cooking the beans, within ten minutes, since it is much easier to remove the shell from warm nuts. After the chestnut cools, the shell becomes harder and harder to remove.

It is necessary to peel the nut not only from the upper peel, but also from the inner films and membranes.

To make the peel easier to peel off, before roasting the chestnuts, you can put them on a short time on steam bath... The finished product is also wrapped in a damp towel for easier cleaning.

Italians and French people enjoy a special secret peeling the finished chestnuts - put them in a bag. This way the chestnuts are not only easier to peel, but also stay warm longer.

In order to make your own dish at home that will not be inferior to the restaurant one, you should pay attention to some useful recommendations.

1. Boil the chestnuts for a few minutes before frying.
2. Be sure to pinch or cut each nut. This will prevent them from shooting out of the pan and will be easier to clean.
3. You can only put the beans in the cooking container in one layer.
4. You do not need to fry the nuts for a long time so that they do not become hard.
5. You can store raw chestnuts for a short time, just a couple of days, in a cool place.
6. Extend shelf life ready meal you can by putting it in the freezer.

Conclusion

Chestnut is a wonderful delicacy, very useful for the body and having a large nutritional value... As it turns out, these delicate beans are not that difficult to cook. At the same time, it can be eaten as an independent dish, a side dish, added to a salad or soup, and even served as a dessert.

Such unusual product diversifies daily menu and will become an exotic highlight festive table... He will not only bring joy to your taste buds, but also quickly and for a long time will satisfy the feeling of hunger.