Foraging chestnuts in Scotland

I am in Scotland this week visiting my family and fully soaking up the fall colors and smells of autumn. My family has a house out in the woods and on the grounds, I found both horse and sweet chestnut trees.

See below for the unique properties of these wonderful tasteful nuts – I will start by describing how my husband and I prepared them as part of a meal with the family.

2: 
Preheat the own to 200 degrees. Place the chestnuts flat side down on a
cutting board and using a serrated knife cut an X into each. This will allow
steam to escape as they roast. Place on a baking tray with the X facing up.

Depending upon the size of the chestnuts and
your oven, cooking times can vary. Generally, chestnuts take about 20-30
minutes to roast.

3: When cooked, the shells burst open, and the chestnut will be golden brown. Peel the chestnuts while they are still warm.

4: The cooked chestnut has a firm texture with autumn flavors just exploding in your mouth when you bite into them. They invite you to be shared from a bowl with your family in front of the fireplace. Served with a warm drink after you have been out for a walk in the woods enjoying all the autumn colors. I resisted this and decided to cook them as a side dish for our evening meal of roasted lamb served with a spicy red wine.

I took a bag of Brussels sprouts, cooked them as per directions and mixed the Brussels sprouts in a pan with bacon and the chestnuts. Once all was seared to desired taste I added some fresh thyme leaves. Needless to say, the meal was a right treat!

Nutritional Information:

Chestnuts, unlike other nuts and seeds, are relatively low in calories and fats while still being a rich source of minerals and vitamins. Another unique feature of chestnuts is that they are primarily composed of starch (carbohydrates) in contrast to other kinds of tree seeds and nuts, which are rather high in calories, protein, and fat. The nutrition composition of chestnuts is, therefore, comparable to that of other staple starch foods such as sweet potato, sweet corn, potatoes, and plantain. 

They are an excellent source of dietary fiber; providing 8.1 g (about 21% of RDI) per 100 g. and exceptionally rich in vitamin-C with 100 g providing 43 mg of vitamin-C.


Chestnuts / Foraging / Scotland /
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