21 Chestnut Recipes That Demand a Spot on Your Holiday Table (2024)

FAQs

Why don t we eat chestnuts at Christmas in North America anymore? ›

The American chestnut is all but extinct. It is estimated that more than 4 billion of them were killed after 1904 by an imported Chinese blight. Probably fewer than 5000 specimens escaped the blight, mostly trees that were isolated or began growing out of the normal range.

Chestnuts were synonymous with Christmas in the United States even before the popular carol hit airwaves. In fact, they were one of the most popular ingredients in American dishes throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and for good reason: the Eastern seaboard was covered in chestnut trees.

But in modern American life, chestnuts are almost entirely absent. In the first half of the 20th century, a fungal disease called blight, inadvertently imported from Asia on trade ships, wiped out nearly all of the trees.

Chestnuts have been a food source for thousands of years. They can be eaten raw, roasted, ground into flour, or mixed into pastries. They grow on trees in the genus Castanea, and many species in this group can live for an impressive 500 years or more.

The soaking period allows the shells to fill up with water. The water in turn produces a steaming effect when the chestnuts roast, forcing the shells to burst away from the nut. Many recipes and tips I've encountered throughout my cooking life call for a brief soak, 30 minutes or so.

They can be candied or puréed and sweetened for desserts. They are used to make fritelli (fritters), and they are also used as a substitute for potatoes in stews. Many Italian-Americans incorporate chestnuts into their Thanksgiving stuffing.

Although the shell is very difficult to remove, chestnuts are edible. However, it is rare to eat them raw and can even be dangerous for certain people. Chestnuts are more traditionally eaten when roasted, especially around the holidays.

Sweet chestnuts are edible, but horse chestnuts are poisonous. If eaten, they can cause digestive problems such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and throat irritation. More than one in 10 cases of poisonous plants being mistaken for edible plants involve horse and sweet chestnuts.

Asia is the largest producer and consumer of chestnuts in the world. The use of chestnuts as food over 9,000 years ago in Japan is documented in carbonized nuts found in ancient villages. Recent programs have mandated the large-scale establishment of chestnut orchards in many different regions of China.

How often should you eat chestnuts? ›

You can eat as many chestnuts as you want as long as they are boiled/cooked properly but preferably boiled then roasted.

Though the American Chestnut tree technically still grows in the U.S., it's highly endangered because of the blight fungus which remains rampant along the eastern region of the United States. Once planted, the tree is guaranteed to die from the fungus.

Wholesale prices for large, high-quality chestnuts are $3.00-5.00/lb, and higher for organically grown chestnuts. Retail prices range from $3-10.00/lb.

Roughly 34-39 chestnuts per pound.

Chestnuts don't just bring in the deer, they can bring in the dollars for landowners as well. In fact, they can and do bring in millions of dollars every year from the sale of chestnut nuts. Chestnut orchards can make $35,000 or more per acre per year.

In 1904 however, the non-native chestnut blight fungus (Chryphonectria parasitica) was introduced and quickly spread through forests of the eastern U.S. By 1950, almost all American chestnuts in their native range were dead.

Today, chestnuts might not be the first treat you think of around Christmastime, but the tradition is far from dead. Street vendors still sell warm chestnuts on Fifth Avenue before Thanksgiving even rolls around.

The tree's demise started with something called ink disease in the early 1800s, which steadily killed chestnut in the southern portion of its range. The final blow happened at the turn of the 20th century when a disease called chestnut blight swept through Eastern forests.

Despite its demise as a lumber and nut crop species, the American chestnut is not extinct. The blight cannot kill the underground root system as the pathogen is unable to compete with soil microorganisms.