Throughout history chestnuts have been one of the most important ingredients in many of the regions of Italy and the Mediterranean. In Liguria, it was said that villages without ‘l’albero del pane’, the bread tree, could not survive.
The sweet chestnut season begins in mid October. In the Apennines the semi-wild trees produce the small rounded ‘castagne’, which are dried and ground into flour. This is used for making bread, gnocchi, castagnaccio and batter for fried pastries. The most prized variety of chestnut is the ‘marroni’, produced from grafted trees, which bear much larger nuts.
Fresh chestnuts feel firm and solid. To remove the skins, place the chestnuts flat side down and make a shallow cut with a sharp small knife across the curved part. Either roast in a hot oven at 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 until just soft and the skin opens up, or boil in water for 15 minutes. Do not let the chestnuts cool too much as it makes them harder to peel. For some recipes we boil them in milk, which preserves their natural sweetness.
Dried chestnuts – ‘secchielli’ – are available in Italy. These need to be soaked for 24 hours in water, then cooked in milk. Recently, frozen peeled chestnuts have become available. They have excellent flavour.
Chestnut flour is very perishable and if kept for more than 3 months turns sourly acidic.