Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire
- Thread starter TAE
- Start date
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
I haven't literally roasted chestnuts, but some friends and I roasted this chestnut:
Spotify Web Player - The Christmas Song (Sub Mix) - Sadie Trigg
Spotify Web Player - The Christmas Song (Sub Mix) - Sadie Trigg
keith.rogers
Well-known member
Chestnut Blight pretty well put an end to that tradition, at least as one commonly seen or done, IMO. (Imagine that 1/4 of the trees in the Appalachians - the forests nearest those Tin Pan Alley songwriters - were chestnuts in the early 1900s. By the time I was walking those woods 50 years later, there were none.)
dachay2tnr
One Hit Wonder
Pretty sure I recall (in my younger days) street vendors in NYC selling roasted chestnuts from push carts. Not sure if they still do, and I never bought any that I can recall. I’m guessing they don’t do it anymore, and most likely it’s because of some law regulating having open fires in a push cart. 
Edit:
Chestnut tradition dying out Few N.Y.C. vendors offer treat - NY Daily News
After a little googling, apparently they still do. Or at least they were in 2010.
Edit:
Chestnut tradition dying out Few N.Y.C. vendors offer treat - NY Daily News
After a little googling, apparently they still do. Or at least they were in 2010.
Steenamaroo
...
and most likely it’s because of some law regulating having open fires in a push cart.
<sigh> It's political correctness gone mad!
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
Right-O Steenamari-O. It's getting so you can't even say open fire anymore without gathering scorn(especially, I say especially if you're a card carrying member).
It's Christmas time. Say it loud and proud! Roasts your chestnuts, rock your jingle bells, deck the halls and all that. Merry Christmas, and by golly, have a holly jolly!
Burl Ives matter!
(is california still burning?
)
It's Christmas time. Say it loud and proud! Roasts your chestnuts, rock your jingle bells, deck the halls and all that. Merry Christmas, and by golly, have a holly jolly!
Burl Ives matter!
(is california still burning?
)
Last edited:
Steenamaroo
...
God Bless Burl Ives!
keith.rogers
Well-known member
Chestnut tradition dying out Few N.Y.C. vendors offer treat - NY Daily News
Short answer - people don’t eat them like they used to and they’re expensive because they’re imported from Italy. (Both because there just aren’t chestnut trees around any more!)
No conspiracies or PC nonsense at work here - just plain economics.
Short answer - people don’t eat them like they used to and they’re expensive because they’re imported from Italy. (Both because there just aren’t chestnut trees around any more!)
No conspiracies or PC nonsense at work here - just plain economics.
TAE
All you have is now
Actually the "They're imported from Italy" is incorrect.....for sure you can buy em that are imported from various outher countries...but we still grow em here in the states...a whole bunch of orchards here in Cali.....Now I gotta say ...I am no Chestnut expert...I just started googling after the post here led me to believe there was more to this story than "no open fires" or they're expensive...The American Chestnut was considered one the best tasting chestnuts in the world and still is...problem is there was a disease 100 years ago that started wiping out the over 3 BILLION american chestnut trees...They still exist and new iterations that are disease resistant Chestnuts still grow all over the U.S. and are growing in numbers each year...That the "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" made it in as a line for a Christmas song so many years ago got me thinking...Hey I've never roasted those damn things , I've never seen em getting roasted...what's the deal? well turns out it was a very common thing to do in the late 1800's in the U.S. and I guess contrary to experiences shared here they could be quite tasty...Time will tell...
ON Amazon American and foreign Chestnuts can be had for $20 a pound some for less some for more....Think I'm going to find me a chestnut roasting pan and roast me some Chestnuts this Christmas...I'll report back....Merry Freekin Christmas ya big ugly bunch of Homerecr's!
It appears there's a gazillion opinions on how to roast em...This one was kind of simple and generic.....
keith.rogers
Well-known member
[MENTION=1094]TAE[/MENTION] - I tried to make that point about the loss of trees in my first post in this thread. People don't grow up eating chestnuts like they apparently once did. They were *everywhere* and probably kept a lot of hill folks alive in hard times, honestly. Now, though they may exist in orchards, they are effectively gone. Never seen one in the wild, though saw a lot of old house and barn wood made from the the ones they had before they were wiped out. I don't know what variety is in orchards, but I suspect it's not closely related to the trees that grew wild and there aren't many people left who could tell you whether those nuts tasted anything like the ones they grew up with, either. I'll stick with pecan pie, myself .
.
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
They weren't completely wiped out, some still scattered about. Ball of nasty spikes, bust open at the top once they fall and lay on the ground, revealing the "nuts". Can open on the tree as well. "Sweeter" once they fall and the pod dries and turns brown. Not really nuts, afaiac. More like pulpy-mealy. Roasting improves a bit, still not much of a fan. Excellent hog feed.
Good wood for flooring, furniture, barns. Makes pretty instruments, as well, though not sure of the tonal qualities.
You step on one of those spiked pods barefooted and it'll likely put you right off 'em for good. Get up into a mess of shine, drunked-up falling down sotted and take a roll in 'em, the hangover will be the least of your worries. Wouldn't recommend it, at all.
I wonder if that tree is still there?
Good wood for flooring, furniture, barns. Makes pretty instruments, as well, though not sure of the tonal qualities.
You step on one of those spiked pods barefooted and it'll likely put you right off 'em for good. Get up into a mess of shine, drunked-up falling down sotted and take a roll in 'em, the hangover will be the least of your worries. Wouldn't recommend it, at all.
I wonder if that tree is still there?
TAE
All you have is now
Yo Keith....like Mick said there are definitely some of the original stock around albeit ones strains that for some genetic reason were more resistant to the rot than their cousins...
So I grabbed me a couple when I was in Czech last year this time and brought em home but never roasted them...just for the shits n giggles of the experience I am going to expose my little family to the tradition this year...maybe we'll like em , maybe will hate em or maybe it'll be just ho hum but we'll all be able to say we've experienced roasting chestnuts...64 years here on planet earth and never ate a roasted chestnut...that's just not right...gonna fix that.
So I grabbed me a couple when I was in Czech last year this time and brought em home but never roasted them...just for the shits n giggles of the experience I am going to expose my little family to the tradition this year...maybe we'll like em , maybe will hate em or maybe it'll be just ho hum but we'll all be able to say we've experienced roasting chestnuts...64 years here on planet earth and never ate a roasted chestnut...that's just not right...gonna fix that.
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
I've never eaten an acorn, only stepped on them, but that is kind of what the meat of a chestnut is like. Roasting does firm up the meat a bit, but it still isn't crunchy, not in my experience. I get it to make use of what you have as a necessity, or it's readily available so don't waste a resource, but wouldn't go out of my way. Probably roasting then mashing into a paste and mixing with apples to make an apple butter, something of that nature might be good. I reckon you could probably substitute in anything calling for chickpeas, such as hummus, if you're into that sort of thing.
Hm, chestnut hummus. I get partial credit if anyone decides to make it and it's a hit. Might be damn good, though chickpeas would be much more economical.
Hm, chestnut hummus. I get partial credit if anyone decides to make it and it's a hit. Might be damn good, though chickpeas would be much more economical.
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
It'd be kind of cool to move out into the country, plant some chestnut trees. Who knows, maybe they'll still be there for a hundred years after you're dead and gone!
Last edited:
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
Pub Style
You Are The Walrus
Man I love the song.....but I have NEVER roasted chestnuts on an open fire or anywhere else...
Any of ya's ever done this magical Christmas tradition? Is it worth the hassle? Just wonderin.....up wid dat?
I love traditional Christmas music and yes, The Christmas Song (especially Nat King Cole's version) is one of the top 10's for sure. However Tae, I'm sorry to tell you that it's pronounced "Fleshnuts, roasting on an open fire" Youza! Gadzooks! Yikes! Ouchers!!!
TAE
All you have is now
Dude! Ya know what they say.... Even the plans of the best laid men often fall awry
they also say...the road to hell is paved with good intentions I REALLY wanted to try it out , ya know with all the grandkids gathered round the blazing fireplace with Grandpa. With their rosy cheeks, cheery little faces and bright eyes watching in awe as I shake the chestnut roaster in the fire...I mean like a Norman Rockwell 1950's scene...alas we live in a different fast paced ipad's in hand world, the TV blasting "wheels on the bus" from Youtube . Dinosaurs, toy trucks and Barbies strewn all over everywhere who'd a thunk it would have come to this? ( actually pretty damn awesome just not 1950's Rockwellian...a little more on the Andy Warholish side) Hopefully I can pull it off in some form or fashion between now and next Christmas. If I do I will report back!