Chestnuts roasting on an ...

... no, not an open fire, but a baking sheet in my oven. How lucky can I get! A couple of dear friends just stopped by and brought me these lovely chestnuts from their trees...just picked and they even removed the stickers for me.











I always used to see just one kind of Chestnut tree in Germany. We called them Kastanien. I just learned from one of my readers that there are edible and non-edible ones, called the Horse Chestnut. Below is a photo of the edible chestnuts. They have a spikier shell.



The following is a picture of the non-edible Horse Chestnut.



Thankfully, my two friends know the difference!


Here are the ones I baked in the oven. I criss crossed them on top and they popped open and taste oh, so sweet and good. Warm, kind of chewy and bread like, they go great with a cup of fresh coffee. Hey, I have more. Come on over and I'll share!

Did you know that Chestnuts are very healthy and that they are the only nuts allowed on some reducing diets? You can read more here, but this gives you a quick glance of the nutritional value of Chestnuts:

Water (g) 48.2 84.8
Protein (g) 3.4 0.2
Fat (g) 0.2 0.1
total Carbohydrate (g) 32.1 14.0
Sugars (g) 3.3 1.0
Energy (kJ) 730 230
Dietary Fibre (g) 14.9 0.1
Calcium (mg) 17.6 7.0
Zinc (mg) 0.4 88
Iron (mg) 0.7 0.3
Sodium (mg) 0.8 1.0
Potassium (mg) 468 110

As you can see, unlike most nuts, they are very low in fat. They also have a lot of potassium and, as all nuts contain protein. All the more reasons to enjoy some "Chestnuts" and if you can roast them on an open fire, then more power to you. Happy eatings!