IN the Alpine Shire chestnuts are a common sight in autumn – sold by the bag at local markets and an attraction for two local festivals.
In fact, conditions are so good for chestnuts growers the nut’s national lobby group, Chestnuts Australia, is based here.
But it has one nutty problem – many people don’t know how to eat them.
According to Tanya Edwards, communications officer for Chestnuts Australia, said they have found many people don’t know how to eat chestnuts, so have created resources to show how they can be cooked and stored.
At last Saturday’s La Fiera Festival in the Myrtleford Piazza, the group was selling roasted chestnuts, chestnut paraphernalia, as well as handing out free information on the nut.
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Chestnuts Australia recommend good chestnuts should be firm, glossy and heavy, and they should be stored in the fridge.
“To prepare them, you must always score them or put a cut or a cross because it's a bit like a potato,” Ms Edwards said.
“A chestnut, if it's not scored, it will explode.”
To negate the chestnut’s short season, their final tip is to freeze cooked chestnuts so they can be used for months.
“They can appear a bit daunting if you don't know what to do with them, but it's not really that hard,” Ms Edwards said.
Wandiligong resident Lindsay Bennett, who was roasting chestnuts at the Wandiligong Nut Festival last month, said sometimes the chestnut’s prickly outer casing, called a burr, can confuse potential nut pickers.
“A lot of people see the prickly burr, and they don't really know what it is, that this beautiful nut’s inside it,” he said.
Mr Bennett said the growth of different ethnicities in Australia has resulted in a greater understanding of the chestnut’s culinary capacity.
“We've got foods that 15-20 years ago we hadn't even heard of and now they're a staple every day,” he said.
“Chestnuts are one of those things that have been around forever, but we really didn't know what to do with them.
“Now we're getting enough ethnic people that grew up with them in Europe, that are that are living here now, that enjoy them.”
Roasting on a fire or in the oven is common, but Mr Bennett recommended boiling them.
He boils them for twenty minutes, cuts them in half, adds some butter and squeezes the nut out of the husk.
Wodonga resident Robert Lacey, who had come up to visit Bright last month, was a self-confessed chestnut novice, saying he prefers almonds and cashews.
“I know nothing about chestnuts,” he said.
“If my wife were here maybe she would be able to help.”
After some discussion on the merits of the chestnut, Mr Lacey suggested a tool could be invented to remove the nut from its shell.
“It would bring that sort of nut onto the market,” he said.
