We've been really lucky and had friends visit us on two different weekends in the past month. When folks come to town, we give them a tour that includes a hike to the castle, ice cream downtown (pumpkin flavor! and Green Tea!) and then we eat something. It's a great circuit and I hope more friends come to take the tour. Today we were lucky enough to pass a chestnut tree that was casting off it's bounty for us to gather.
Before they had busted open, I had no idea that these spiky balls of pain were edible inside. Chestnuts grow in a cluster of brutally sharp spines. Everyone I've seen who notices one goes through the same process. First they think, "Wow, that's a spiny looking ball. I'll bet if I picked it up very carefully it couldn't hurt me." Then they reach out and gingerly, with the utmost caution and utter confidence, take the ouchfest into their hand. This is followed by a quick recalling of the gesture and a wide-eyed look of surprise at the read beads sprouting from their fingertips. You can't outsmart nature, and God help the sucker who sits on one.
Eventually, apparently, they drop to the ground and burst open, giving access to the nimble fingered who dare to extract the brown nuts within.
We cooked them up, and they were tasty. Noriko's got a few recipes she wants to try. I'm looking forward to a weekend of chestnut magic. It was surprising to see in the store that the amount we picked off the ground would have cost us over ten bucks.
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| From Japan '08 |
Our hero, in front of the castle.
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| From Japan '08 |
The chestnut on the tree. It's a pointy bastard.
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| From Japan '08 |
The chestnut, brown and split open on the ground. If you reach inside, you can get the nut.
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| From Japan '08 |
If you kick one by mistake, your toe will be smeared with blood.
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| From Japan '08 |
If you're brave enough, you can keep trying and you'll be rewarded with handfuls of chestnutty goodness.
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| From Japan '08 |
Boil them for a while, and they look like this. They're kind of starchy and nutty. Kind of like a cross between a potato and...um...a chestnut.
I'll post some recipes once Noriko cooks more.
Also, our neighborhood is lousy with rice fields. It's harvest time, and the grandmothers are out in the mornings cutting the rice and gathering into bundles. I want some fresh rice!
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| From Japan '08 |
Chestnuts exactly like these can be found in almost all the woods in Greece, where I live. People like to eat them either boiled, roasted on fire that is usually burning during wintertime inside the home, but also as a kind of sweet delicacy, which is made much like marmalade but with whole chunks instead of puree. Yummy!
Posted by: lopi | August 22, 2009 at 10:02 AM