Chestnuts roasting on an open fire




While visiting the mountains last weekend, Jose and I collected some chestnuts during our hike. I had no idea how chestnuts came to us naturally and was in for an education. They are just like any other type of nuts I guess in that they grow on trees (see above). Chestnuts are collected here in Spain in the fall and early winter. Then they are often sold by streetside vendors who roast them as you wait. Yum! We decided to cut out the middle man since there were so many just laying around the trail as we hiked.

Here is how chestnuts are protected in nature:



This is a spiky, ouchy shell that surrounds and protects the nut itself. They fall to the ground and need to be cut or broken open to harvest the seed inside. Pretty ingenious chestnut tree, well played. As we walked we found quite a few that had already escaped their shells. There were a lot of empty hulls laying about. We picked out the biggest and best looking to take with us.



At home we cleaned the chestnuts off well and then made a little cut in them before sticking them in the oven. We roasted the nuts for about an hour at the highest temperature and then ate them hot. So good! It might not have been an open fire but I knocked off one thing on my Christmas bucket list. Plus I feel pretty good that this cost us nothing to do. 


If only we were able to pick up one of these beauties to cook up while hiking...perhaps another time.

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