North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Stephen Sadler" <Docshiva@Docshiva.org>]

Just a quick answer - chestnuts, unlike other nuts, contain almost no fat.
Also, their dry weight is 50% sugars. Think of them as a sweet vegetable,
like sweet potatoes.  They don't get crisp and nutty - more soft and sweet.
Sometimes when people don't like the roasted ones, it's just that they're
expecting something else.  
They're good sautéed and added to veg dishes and stuffing.  They're used in
some pastries, both as a puree and, dried and ground, as a pastry flour.  If
you're watching fat intake, or just like exploring/trying different foods,
you can puree and sweeten cooked chestnuts and use that in place of peanut
butter (not in cookies - no oil means they won't cook right).
Regardless of origin, chestnuts are high in carbohydrates with a small
amount of protein and trace amounts of fat.  They're fairly rich in
potassium and manganese.  European chestnuts have more potassium and less
manganese than Chinese chestnuts.  American grown will usually be Chinese
chestnuts, because there are so few American chestnuts trees that survived
the blight.  There are continuous efforts to reestablish the native
chestnuts.  I don't really notice flavor or quality differences; the Italian
chestnuts have a fine reputation, but the American ones can be had fresh.  

~ Stephen

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Olenio
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 12:38 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: [NAFEX] Chestnuts


Hello,

A local store has just received some Italian chesnuts, used for roasted  
chestnuts.  I have two questions;

        1) what is the dietary content of chestnuts?

        2) is there variation between north American
           and Italian chestnuts?

I tried roasted chestnuts once, but I do not know if I tasted badly  
prepared chestnuts, or people either lover or hate chestnuts.

Willing to give them another try.

Thanks,
Tom

g/