shelling chestnuts

Hi all!

Trader Joe's was out of, or is possibly no longer carrying (stock person was not certain) unshelled chestnuts. A few years ago they had them in a jar, last year they were vacuum packed in plastic, this year they had neither. So I had to buy fresh for my stuffing recipe.

I am lousy at shelling chestnuts. I tried doing it for three holidays in a row before giving up and buying the pre-shelled type.

In the past I roasted them, but they were either under or overcooked and the skin would not budge. Do any LTHers have tried and true methods of shelling they'd like to share?

Alternately, does anyone have source for unshelled chestnuts so I know where to go next year?

Thanks!
Kim

Last year I bought unshelled chestnuts at DiHo Market in Westmont, so I know they have them there.

Last night, I was near Chinatown so I stopped in and got several bags (5.5 oz for $1.50 or so) at the little market at the far eastern end of Chinatown Mall (almost across the Spring World) -- sorry I don't have the name or address.

We last shelled chestnuts about six years ago -- never again.

They also sell them at the various markets near Argyle. That's where we have been buying ours since I retired my chestnut shelling gloves several years ago. My last purchase was a big foil pouch that cost .99.

williams sonoma carried them a few years ago.

i peel them every christmas. it's a royal pain, but it's tradition.

Hi,

When I made my first Thanksgiving dinner at 13 or 14 years old, I also had the chestnut shelling issue. I spent quite a bit of time trying to shell them like a nut, then using a paring knife to remove the sections that didn't loosen. Lots of fine cuts, chestnut fragments under nails and general misery.

After the holiday, I looked up chestnuts in the Joy of Cooking to find a comment on shelling. Cut an X on the flat side, then heat chestnut in the oven for 15-30 minutes at 350 degrees. While there is still some effort to do, it is far easier than my guestimated method.

This event also launched me into cookbook collecting. I didn't see any reason to be reinventing the wheel when someone had the answer somewhere for me to refer to.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Regards,

I love roasted chestnuts but have yet to perfect the secret method for roasting them and then shelling them. Cut an X, 15-20 minutes at 350-400, yadda yadda ya. It never works out right for me. What's the secret? BTW, Berwyn Produce Market had them (raw, unshelled) last night for $4 per pound.

Cogito wrote:What's the secret? BTW, Berwyn Produce Market had them (raw, unshelled) last night for $4 per pound.

The only acceptable way that I have found is to go to an Asian market and buy then already shelled. You can thank me later.

When choosing the chestnuts, be careful to pick only nuts that are flat on one side and rounded on the other. X in flat side as Cathy says.

I was never a chestnut lover, finding them just a pile of damp (and hot) starch, but a few weeks ago I had some in a salad at Vie. They were from Hillside Orchards, a seller at the Green City Market. What a relevation. Nuanced, with a nice hint of sweetness, not too much at all. My wife and I have since bought some ourselves from Hillside but have yet to do 'em.

One thing my wife keeps asking: how far in advance can they be peeled before using in another dish?

HI,

I bought chestnuts for our turkey stuffing. I cut an X on the flat side of each chestnut:



They baked in the oven at 350 for maybe 25 minutes. They left the oven partially opened with fairly brittle shells:



I got my Mom, aka Cathy, which explains why I am Cathy2, to peel chestnuts for your entertainment pleasure!

Mom peeling chestnuts on youtube.com

No, we have not started on the eggnog over here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Regards,

Looks pretty good. When you score the X on the shell, do you cut all the way through the shell? What I mean is are you basically just making a hole?

Hi,

I cut through the shell probably just nicking the nut meat.

Regards,

So last night, in the interest of science or possibly obsessive behavoir, I decided to experiment with my chestnuts. I split them into three piles and tired three different methods of peeling. All methods involved cutting a big "X" in the shell.

1) Traditional Oven Roasting
Roast 375 F for 20 minutes on a baking sheet

The results: At 15 minutes, these were done, almost over done. The first few chestnuts peeled easily, the rest, not so much.

2) Modified Oven Roasting as recommend by Savuer
Bundle the chestnuts into tin foil packets that have 2-3 tsp water in them. Allow them to roast at 350-375 for about 15 minutes.

The results: The nuts were done in about 10-12 minutes. The addition of steam helped immensely with the removal of the shell and skin. FYI, I bundled about 15 nuts into 3 different tin foil package of 5 nuts a piece. While working on peeling one packet, I let the others sit in the oven to keep warm. I believe this method would work even better if you had two ovens. One to keep the already roasted, but unpeeled, nuts warm at about 170 and one to roast.

3) Quick boil
Boil water in a 2 qt pot. Drop a few nuts in (5-6) and boil for about 8 minutes.

The results: The best of all three methods. The shell removed easily and the skin often came off in one piece! While working on a couple of nuts, I let the other remain in the hot water with the fire turned off. This method makes the nuts VERY VERY hot, so you need tough fingers. The resulting nuts were golden just like their oven roasting counterparts.

So there you have it. Does this mean I'm going to roast fresh nuts next year? Hell no. I'm going to use the resources that this thread provided me with for already unpeeled nuts.

Happy Turkey Day!
Kim

Kim,

Thank you for your thorough research. We will try the boil method next year or perhaps earlier.

Regards,

Kim3 wrote:
3) Quick boil
Boil water in a 2 qt pot. Drop a few nuts in (5-6) and boil for about 8 minutes.

The results: The best of all three methods. The shell removed easily and the skin often came off in one piece! While working on a couple of nuts, I let the other remain in the hot water with the fire turned off. This method makes the nuts VERY VERY hot, so you need tough fingers. The resulting nuts were golden just like their oven roasting counterparts.

this is how I do it. it's still a miserable process. my wife won't even help.

Vital Information wrote:I was never a chestnut lover, finding them just a pile of damp (and hot) starch

I'm with you, Rob. That is until I tasted Julie's Grandmother's Greek turkey stuffing. Now I happily eat them once a year at Thanksgiving.

My Mom demonstrates chestnut peeling technique:



Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

You can also microwave them rather than boiling, after making the x. I was skeptical, but it works pretty well.

I would only do this if they're going to be further cooked, like in a stuffing.

rickster wrote:You can also microwave them rather than boiling, after making the x. I was skeptical, but it works pretty well.

I would only do this if they're going to be further cooked, like in a stuffing.

I've never boiled, though I will give microwaving a shot.

Regards,

I tried roasting/peeling chestnuts for the first time this year. The x-on-the-flat-side oven roasted method worked great for 3/4 of the chestnuts. (although I used an exacto knife and cut my thumb!) But some still had brown skin sticking on them. I theorized that putting them back in the oven to crisp the skin would work- and it did, but that was not apparent at first. What finally removed the skin was to gently squeeze the chestnut- it cracked off as I rolled and squeezed, b/c the inner part was soft.

Holiday shoppers and visitors to downtown Evanston should be sure to stop by the corner of Church Avenue and Maple Street on Fridays and Saturdays, between 3 and 5pm, November 27 - December 19, where free roasted chestnuts will be passed out, courtesy of Church Street Plaza.

You only get three, but it's a nice treat to sneak into the movies.

Simple dinner: chestnuts & beer.

Roasted @425, 25 minutes in my Le Creuset skillet. Seemed perfect to me. I thought about running them under the broiler for a few minutes to give them a burned/smokey tinge, but was preoccupied with kids. I think chestnuts are fairly forgiving in terms of time and temp (?) These peeled very easily.