Tagged: chestnuts

Photo Gallery / Traditional customs

How to roast “Castanhas” – Chestnuts

 

Chestnuts correia farm

How to roast chestnuts:

1. Using sharp knife, make an incision about 1/8-inch deep through the top of chestnut.

Chestnuts correia farm

2. After slitting place the chestnuts on roasting pan and roast them 400  degrees for about 20 – 30  minutes. To check for doneness, squeeze one holding a dish towel and it should be soft.

Note: Optional – Portuguese custom is to sprinkle the chestnuts with salt before roasting for a salty kick.
 3. Place a damp towel over the chestnuts to retain the heat and moisture. While they are still hot and cool enough to handle squeeze them gently with a towel to peel the shell and then remove the inner skin.

chestnuts2

 

Recipes

Correia Chestnut Farm Brings Fall Tradtion to Your Table

Chestnut – Castanha season is here!

Warm your family’s and friends heart with fresh chestnuts this fall. See the recipe for cooking chestnuts at the bottom of this article.

Harvey Correia is a third-generation farmer of Portuguese decent from the Sacramento River Delta.  His grandfather first immigrated from Madeira Island, in the Azores in 1907 and returned twice to his homeland. On his second visit back to Madeira he married Harvey s grandmother.  Harvey ponders at how in 1920, his grandfather and then pregnant grandmother sailed the long journey across the Atlantic, and traveled that long train ride across the country to reach California. Harvey’s father, is the second of 10 children and recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

His grandfather worked at the docks in the San Francisco Bay Area and then began farming near Isleton, California where he eventually purchased farmland and settled.  Harvey began growing chestnuts at the since 1998 after transitioning the farm from growing Bartlett pears. Growing pears required the use of many pesticides which left Harvey with concerns about the risks of using large amounts of pesticides on his farm. However, chestnuts in the Central Valley of California are relatively pest free.

Warm and just out of the oven! They came out delicious!

Correia Chestnut Farm has experimented with growing many different varieties of chestnuts and began offering a limited quantity of Italian marroni-type chestnuts in 2005 which received rave reviews from customers.

The rest of the farm’s orchard was grafted to these varieties in 2007 and they are now the only varieties grown in significant quantity.  While some varieties of chestnuts will produce larger chestnuts, most customers have agreed that none match the taste and quality of the Italian marroni. Visit them on their website for more information and visit them on their Facebook page for updates.

Order your chestnuts here just in time for Dia de Sao Martinho (St. Martins Day) and the upcoming Holidays!

Medium Size – 1.125 to 1.25 inches in diameter, averaging 30 nuts per pound.  $5.50 per pound

Large Size – 1.25 or more inches in diameter, averaging 20 nuts per pound.  $7.00 per pound

 Minimum Order – 5 pounds

Don’t forget to order the chestnut knife and roasting pans as well !

Look at these beautiful chestnut trees on the Correia farm!

Chestnust should normally be able to be stored for at least a month in your refrigerator at home following the instructions supplied with your order.

“Chestnuts are unlike other “nuts” in that they have a high moisture content and are low in fat.  Therefore, it is important to store chestnuts in refrigeration until a few days before you intend to enjoy them.

We have found that a majority of grocery stores do not properly refrigerate chestnuts or do not refrigerate them at all!  As a result, chestnuts purchased from a store are often spoiled or dried out.  The industry is attempting to educate retailers but this has been a slow process.  To ensure the chestnuts you purchase are of the highest quality, we suggest that you make your chestnut purchase directly from us, the grower, so that we can rush them directly to you from our refrigerated storage.” www.chestnuts.us

Corriea Chestnut Farm video


How to roast chestnuts recipe:

1. Using sharp knife, make an incision about 1/8-inch deep through the top of chestnut.

2. After slitting place the chestnuts on roasting pan and roast them 400  degrees for about 20 – 30  minutes. To check for doneness, squeeze one holding a dish towel and it should be soft.
Note: Optional – Portuguese custom is to sprinkle the chestnuts with salt before roasting for a salty kick.
3. Place a damp towel over the chestnuts to retain the heat and moisture. While they are still hot and cool enough to handle squeeze them gently with a towel to peel the shell and then remove the inner skin.


Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery / Portuguese Christmas / Recipes / Traditional customs

Dia de Sao Martinho – Castanhas – Roasted Chestnuts

“É dia de São Martinho;comem-se castanhas, prova-se o vinho”

“It’s Saint Martin’s day; we eat chestnuts and drink the wine”

chestnuts

Dia de Sao Martinho – Saint Martin’s Day is celebrated each year on November 11.

Martinho, was a Roman soldier who encountered a bad storm on a winter day wearing only his cape to to keep him warm.

While riding through the storm, he was approached by a beggar who was shivering with the cold. Upon seeing the beggar, Martinho cut his cloak in half to share it with the beggar. When Martinho did this good deed, the clouds broke up, the storm ended and beams of sun shined in the sky.

That night, Martin had a dream of Jesus, who was wearing the half-cloak he had given away to the beggar. A voice spoke, saying;  “’I tell you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.”

Martin became a changed man and became a patron of the poor.

From this day on, he began looking at and treating people differently and was later canonized as a saint.

St Martin’s day is celebrated in many countries of Europe, as signifying the end of Fall and beginning of winter.

In Portugal, the first wine of the season is tasted and the harvested chestnuts are eaten around a bonfire.

The weather in Portugal during this time of year is generally mild and summer like, thus called; Verão de São Martinho (St. Martin’s Summer).

As the storm dissipated by the good deed of Sao Martinho, we thank God for the good summer like weather on the saints feast!

 

Chestnuts

The scent of roasting chestnuts during the Holiday’s is an instant heart warming feeling!

The season for chestnuts is October through late December. Look for unwrinkled shells and a glossy brown shell.

Avoid dingy shells with small pin holes. They feel very firm to the touch. Smell them for a scent of mold which means that they are not good!

 

How to roast Chestnuts recipe:

1. Using sharp knife, make an incision about 1/8-inch deep through the top of chestnut.

2. After slitting place the chestnuts on roasting pan and roast them at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

3. While they are hot peel the shell and remove the skin.
Chestnuts correia farm

 

Chestnuts correia farm

 

 

 

Here is a video of a different recipe with a great demonstration of the process!

 

 

Photo credit:

http://ladies-with-bottle.blogspot.com/2011/11/chestnut-liqueurfor-christmas.html