21 Chestnut Recipes That Demand a Spot on Your Holiday Table (2024)

FAQs

What are the side effects of chestnuts? ›

The nut is also LIKELY SAFE when consumed in the amounts found in food. It is not known if American chestnut leaf, nut, or bark are safe in the larger amounts typically used as medicine. American chestnut might cause some side effects such as stomach and intestinal problems, kidney and liver damage.

Chestnuts are also eaten as a stuffing or cooked with pheasant, duck, goose, and chicken. Chestnut-fed pork and beef are considered a delicacy because the chestnuts impart a sweet flavor to the meat. Pigs are fed on chestnuts to produce such specialties as the Serrano hams in Italy and 'jamón ibérico' in Spain.

Stored in good conditions in your refrigerator, chestnuts should keep for a month or two. Chestnuts can be frozen once they are peeled. Thawed chestnut kernels are great for recipes requiring purees and confections, and OK for soups, stews etc.

Sweet chestnuts are edible, but horse chestnuts are poisonous. If eaten, they can cause digestive problems such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and throat irritation. More than one in 10 cases of poisonous plants being mistaken for edible plants involve horse and sweet chestnuts.

Just 10 roasted chestnuts include 17% of what you need for the day — a major plus considering most of us don't get nearly enough.

Chestnuts are also a good source of potassium, providing 11% of your daily needs. Potassium is important for a healthy heart and helps regulate your blood pressure ( 10 , 11 ).

Potassium, which is present in water chestnuts, may reduce your risk of stroke and high blood pressure, both of which are linked to heart disease. Studies suggest that people whose diets contain plenty of potassium have a significantly lower risk for stroke and high blood pressure.

Improves cardiovascular health

They reduce any inflammation in the body which reduces any risk of strokes, heart attacks, blood clots, arthrosclerosis and coronary disease. People with a history of heart disease in the family can benefit by eating a handful of these delicious nuts every day.

They can be candied or puréed and sweetened for desserts. They are used to make fritelli (fritters), and they are also used as a substitute for potatoes in stews. Many Italian-Americans incorporate chestnuts into their Thanksgiving stuffing.

Chestnuts lose some of their vitamin C if you boil or roast them, but still have anywhere from 15 to 20 percent of your daily intake for this healthy vitamin. To retain more vitamin C in chestnuts when cooking, you can roast them at lower temperatures or use a food dehydrator to dry them.

When should you not eat chestnuts? ›

Certain people with severe intestinal issues, kidney problems, liver disease, and those who are pregnant, should avoid raw chestnuts. These nuts are usually boiled or roasted before eating due to the high levels of tannic acid.

Chestnuts can be frozen with or without their shell, raw or cooked. Regardless of form, they can remain frozen for 2 to 3 months. If you intend to use your frozen chestnuts for roasting, then it's ideal to leave the shells intact.

Pet owners may wonder if dogs can eat chestnuts safely. The answer is yes, but there are a few caveats.

NO. Despite the name water chestnuts are not a nut and come from the edible portion of a plant root. Chestnuts are in a different botanical category to peanuts and also to tree nuts and most people with chestnut allergy can tolerate peanuts and tree nuts.

In cases of severe allergy to chestnut, which are rare, the allergen responsible for the reaction is likely to be one of the lipid transfer proteins (LTPs). Symptoms may include wheezing, throat swelling and breathing difficulty and there could even be a fall in blood pressure leading to collapse.

Sweet chestnuts are usually known simply as chestnuts. Chestnuts don't contain the same proteins that cause allergic reactions in people with peanut or tree nut allergies. So, if you are allergic to chestnuts that does not necessarily mean you will be allergic to tree nuts or peanuts, and vice versa.

Chestnut food allergy has also been reported in those patients presenting with latex-fruit or oral allergy syndrome (2).