How To Cook Fresh Chestnuts
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Eight pages on how to cook chestnuts the way we do at EBB Farms. Learn how to score them, then steam, boil, or roast them over an open fire or in the oven. We also cover how to peel them warm and how to store fresh chestnuts so they stay sweet.
Most people who don’t like chestnuts just had a bad one. Maybe it sat in a shipping container for weeks, or it went into the pot without a score. This guide shows you how to cook chestnuts so they come out sweet, tender, and easy to peel.
It comes from EBB Farms in Falls of Rough, Kentucky, the farm lab for United Chestnuts. These are the same methods we use in our own kitchen and around our own fire pit.
What You’ll Learn About How to Cook Chestnuts
- – How to store fresh chestnuts in the refrigerator so they stay plump
- – How to score every chestnut, and which tools make it easier
- – Steaming, our pick for everyday use
- – Boiling, the easiest choice for purees and sauces
- – Roasting over an open fire, finished with olive oil and salt
- – Oven roasting
- – How to peel the shell and the fuzzy inner skin while they’re warm
- – How to freeze peeled chestnuts for later
Why Scoring Matters
Steam builds up inside the shell as chestnuts cook. Without a score, they can crack open hard in your oven or pan. A quick X across the rounded side lets the steam out. As a bonus, it makes peeling much easier.
Fresh Chestnuts Taste Different
Fresh chestnuts are 50 to 60 percent water, so they behave more like fresh produce than like other nuts. That’s why we keep them cold from the moment they arrive. Kept cold and cooked right, they’re sweet and clean, with a flavor tasters often describe as corn-like and milky.
More From the United Chestnuts Academy
Want the bigger story behind the crop? Download Beyond the Song, our free guide to chestnut farming in America. You’ll find more guides in the United Chestnuts Academy Interested in how to plant a chestnut tree or chestnut farming? Consider a private farm tour or order a few trees of your own.
Download this guide and learn how to cook chestnuts that taste the way they should.
