INGREDIENT

CHESTNUTS ROASTING ON AN

OPEN FIRE

For an extra bit of holiday warmth, consider adding chestnuts to your favorite winter recipes.

BY JO JOLLIFF

The seasonal lore of roasting chestnuts is often thought of as a nostalgic Christmastime activity. While these delicious nuts do make for a good treat all on their own, they are also delicious in both sweet and savory recipes. Owners of Gaunt’s Chesnuts (417-736-3810) Don and Vera Gayle Gaunt like to use chestnuts in everything from dessert tru es to soups because of their ability to enhance the avors of whatever dish they’re added to.

The Gaunts planted their rst chestnut trees in 1991 and now have 26 trees in their grove. They sell the chestnuts at the Farmers Market of the Ozarks located in Farmers Park once they start to harvest them in the fall. “They’re really popular in the winter because of the song about chestnuts roasting on an open re. Of course, down at the farmers market we don’t do the open re because we didn’t think the re department would appreciate that too much,” Vera Gayle jokes.

With each bag of chestnuts purchased, the Gaunts give buyers a brochure featuring recipes and instructions for cooking and taking care of the nuts. They also hand out their phone number so they can further help to educate others. “We love educating people to see how they could be used and it’s really quite interesting to see what people come up with themselves,” she says.

Over their many years of growing and selling chestnuts, the Gaunts have worked to educate and teach many others about chestnuts, from customers, to neighbors, to students, to grandchildren, to people who’ve recently moved to 417-land from other countries. The Gaunts have shared their passion with others in hopes that they would also plant chestnut trees. While their grove is currently one of the oldest chestnut groves in Missouri, they hope to see many other groves come to fruition in 417-land to further share their passion.

How To

Roast and enjoy your chestnuts with these simple steps.

1

Prepare

a e an -shaped cut or lengthwise slit on each side of the chestnut so they can handle the internal pressure from the heat. This also allows them to be easily peeled after roasting.

2

Roast

Place the chestnuts on a ba ing sheet and coo for to minutes at F or until the s in has pulled bac from the cuts.

3

Transfer

emove chestnuts from the oven and place into a bowl lined with a tea towel. rap the chestnuts in the towel and allow them to sit for up to to minutes.

4

Peel

Snap off the shells and peel bac any s in around the chestnuts. Chestnuts are easier to peel while warm and can be stored in the fridge for to days or ept in the freezer after being peeled.

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