Why you can’t roast chestnuts for Christmas anymore
Roasting chestnuts on an open fire is a holiday tradition — Photo courtesy of MBadnjar / iStock Via Getty Images
In 1946, Nat King Cole recorded “The Christmas Song,” one of the most beloved holiday songs ever. Its opening lyric, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” evokes a nostalgic image of the holiday most of us have never experienced.
Chestnuts were synonymous with Christmas in the United States even before the melody hit the airwaves. They were one of the most popular ingredients in American dishes throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and for good reason: the Eastern seaboard was covered in chestnut trees.
But a blight caused the American chestnut tree, once the most predominant tree in the country, to go almost extinct. So, how (and why) are chestnuts still a holiday staple? Here’s everything you need to know.
What are chestnuts?
Chestnuts have a prickly shell and thick, dark peel — Photo courtesy of elescordo / iStock Via Getty Images
Chestnuts are the edible fruit of a deciduous tree that grows in Europe, Asia, and North America. The most common variety we see around the holiday season is the European chestnut, also known as the Spanish or sweet chestnut.
Chestnuts grow inside a prickly outer shell with an inedible, smooth, shiny brown husk. You can eat them raw, but they’re usually roasted (yes, over an open flame or in the oven), boiled, steamed, or fried. When cooked, chestnuts are soft, almost like the texture of sweet potatoes, with a mildly sweet, earthy flavor.
Where do chestnuts come from?
Modern varieties of chestnuts are larger than those native to America — Photo courtesy of Paolo Graziosi / iStock Via Getty Images
Most chestnuts imported to the U.S. come from Italy, while some come from China or Korea. But they’re a far cry from the sweet snack earlier Americans enjoyed.
Wild American chestnut trees once grew abundantly from Maine to Alabama and as far west as Kentucky and Ohio. At one point, nearly half the trees in the forests on the East Coast were American chestnuts.
The chestnuts from these trees were smaller than what we commonly see today, about the size of an acorn. They were sweeter, too, and a significant food source for Indigenous communities, farmers and settlers, wildlife, and livestock for centuries. But in 1904, a fungus accidentally introduced from an imported chestnut tree killed off just about the entire population of American chestnuts from Maine to Georgia — over 30 million acres of chestnut forest died over 40 years.
There’s hope for the American chestnut, though. Groups like The American Chestnut Foundation are working to return the iconic American chestnut to its native range. For decades, scientists have been working to breed blight-resistant trees that will produce the small, sweet nuts that were such a big part of this country’s early culinary tradition.
While plots of these hybrid trees are growing in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, there are chestnut farms throughout the country, including California, Oregon, Texas, Ohio, and Illinois. They’re widely available, so there’s no reason you can’t experience the holiday tradition!
Why are chestnuts a Christmas thing?
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire are still popular in Europe — Photo courtesy of anouchka / E+
For over a century, chestnuts roasting over an open fire was the smell of Christmas in America. But the tradition of eating chestnuts wasn’t solely American.
“Humans have eaten chestnuts for a long time,” says Libby O’Connell, author of “The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites.” “You’ll find them mentioned in the history of the ancient Greeks and Romans; they’ve always been popular in Italy and France. Historically, chestnuts were a food that was free to the poor and the rich. Culinary traditions in all walks of life have involved chestnuts.”
Eating chestnuts around the holidays probably has more to do with the time of year they’re harvested, from October through December, so they figure prominently in winter celebrations. They have a short shelf life and must be consumed quickly, and cooking them, like over an open fire, only enhances the nutty sweetness.
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At one point in the U.S., when the trees were abundant here, train cars overflowing with hundreds of thousands of pounds of chestnuts supplied street vendors in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. They’d sell bags of nuts roasted over charcoal on almost every corner.
It’s still possible to find chestnuts roasting on city street corners around Christmas time, though vendors are fewer and farther between. You’re more likely to see them in Europe: People worldwide eat other chestnut varieties, just as they have for centuries.
How to roast chestnuts
Roasted chestnuts feel like Christmas — Photo courtesy of DronG / iStock Via Getty Images
If you want to live the song at home, you can easily roast chestnuts over an open fire — or in an oven. Fresh chestnuts are available at many grocery stores around Thanksgiving through Christmas; you can buy them online directly from farmers or via Amazon.
When shopping for them in person, look for chestnuts without blemishes or signs of rot or mold. The outer shell should be shiny, smooth, and firm; if they crack to the touch, they’re dry and probably too old.
To roast chestnuts, cut a small “x” in the rounded side of the nut, making sure to cut through the shell. (Don’t skip that step; the chestnuts might explode when roasting.) Soak the chestnuts in water for 30 to 60 minutes, so the shells can be removed easier after they’re roasted. Take the chestnuts out of their bath and pat them dry.
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To roast over a fire, place the chestnuts slit-side up in a cast-iron skillet, place the skillet over the fire, and cook the chestnuts for about 10 minutes, moving them around a few times. To roast in the oven, after cutting the “x” in the rounded side of the nut, place them in a single layer on a sheet tray and roast in a 400° F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
The chestnuts are done when you see the skins pull back a little from the “x.” Once cooled, use a knife to peel back the hard outer shell and inner brown skins.
Chestnut soup is a delightful way to use roasted chestnuts — Photo courtesy of yurhus / iStock Via Getty Images
Eat roasted chestnuts fresh from the fire or oven or chop them up for stuffing, blend them into cakes, puree them for pasta, add them to sauces, or make a traditional chestnut soup. Chestnut-flavored desserts are hard to resist.
You can usually find already roasted and peeled chestnuts by the bag or jar in grocery stores around the holidays; toss those in the hot skillet for 10 minutes or in the oven to add more caramelization and flavor and enjoy.
