


Other names: roasted chestnuts
Translations: Kastanis, Kaštonas, Castan, Kesten, Chuyện xưa, Kasztan, Kastanje, कुम्मैत, Castanha, Каштан, Κάστανο, كستناء, 밤나무, Kaštan, Kastanye, Kulay-kastanyas, 板栗, Castaño, Gaštan, Castagno, ערמון, Кестен, チェスナット, Châtaigne, Kastanie, Castaño, Каштан, Kastanja, Кестен

Physical Description

Colors: reddish brown

Tasting Notes

Flavors: sweet
Mouthfeel: Crisp, Earthy, Firm
Substitutes: Almonds, Walnuts

Selecting and Buying

Buying: If you are unable to find them fresh, you can take advantage of chestnuts canned, pureed, or preserved in sugar or syrup (marrons glacés).

Some specialty markets also carry frozen shelled and peeled Italian chestnuts. Canned chestnuts can be either sweetened or unsweetened and are usually imported from France, making them a bit pricey.

Procuring: Harvested from October through March, December is the prime month for fresh chestnuts.

Preparation and Use


Conserving and Storing



in Europe, Asia and Africa, chestnuts are often used as an everyday potato substitute.Today, most of the chestnut food crop is imported from Japan, China, Spain, and Italy. Chestnuts are known as marrons in France and some parts of Europe.Chestnuts contain twice as much starch as potatoes. It is no wonder they are still an important food crop in China, Japan, and southern Europe where they are often ground into a meal for breadmaking, thus giving rise to the nickname of "bread tree."

History: Probably one of the first foods eaten by man, the chestnut dates back to prehistoric times. The chestnut tree, Castanea sativa, was first introduced to Europe via Greece. The majority of the chestnut trees currently found in America are of native European stock, but Native Americans feasted on America's own variety, Castanea dentata, long before European immigrants introduced their stock to America.




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