Chestnuts

[lady_p_gold]

Why is is that whenever I buy chestnuts (and I have recently bought them in US and England) that some of them are always bad or have nasty things lurking in them like a roasted maggot ???? I am sure they never used to be like that.

[WendyS]

Yes, I've noticed that too. Do you think they can possibly have been kept in a coldstore and are the previous year's crop, rather than the current year? We've had so many duff ones recently that I now insist on biting one open now (heaven help my teeth) to test them before I buy them. You can sometimes tell whether they're going to be rotten or not by looking at the brown outer skins. If they're fresh and shiny (like new conkers) they're probably OK. Those with dull skins which sometimes have air pockets inside so that you can squeeze them slightly seem to be the ones that are of poor quality and maggety. I also find that storing them in a warm room takes away their freshness very quickly, as it does with fruit, and dries out the skins.

[lady_p_gold]

Well I am on a quest now to find out !! Might contact the Food Programme or something. I always remember getting a bag of them in Switzerland once, god they were heaven. When they are good they are the best things in the world I think.

[rescuer]

When I was a boy my parents bought chestnuts and they were toasted on the open coal fire either by laying them at the front or putting them on the prongs of a toasting fork. They were very tasty and i never remember there being any bad ones. But several Christmases afterwards I bought them and like the questioner found many bad ones.

However I have found vacuum packed ones in cans by the firm EPICURE are very good. Trouble is that not many shops stock them. There are some from France which are vacuum packed in a gree carton which are aceptable but not on the same high level as the Epicure ones.