Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

[chezdeniseetlaudalino]

Well, we are hoping to do that very soon!

Has anyone seen any fresh chestnuts in the Bay Area?

Would love to find some.

Thanks

Chez Us

www.chezus.com

[sugartoof]

If your fresh options don't pan out, the frozen seasonal ones from Trader Joe's are impressive.

[Michael Rodriguez]

Oakland's Chinatown.

[SPO]

Saw them today at the SF Civic Center Farmers Market $2.00/lb.

[chemchef]

Saw many at the Berkeley Farmer's market last Saturday.

[jamsine]

The mushroom guy at the Oakland Lakeshore Farmer's Market had them Saturday.

[Kenois]

Do you have a proven method for roasting them? I tried a few times last year, making the X with a knife and then roasting, but I pretty much failed each time. The shells never peeled away enough to get the centers to come out, and on the rare occasion that they did, the centers just seemed to crumble. What am I doing wrong?

[hhc]

from the directions I got from Skyline Chestnuts:

Preheat over to 350. Cut a deep "X" in the flat side of ea. nut. Arrange in a single layer on cooking sheet w/ the "X" facing up & place in preheated oven. Start checking after 8 min, once the "X" starts peeling open, they are Done! (8-12 min total cooking time). Allow to cool. Peel & Enjoy!

I tried it and it's true, done when they Start to Peel Open. You still need to take the outer layer off w/ a knife. It turns a light beige w/ a white inside. I've eaten a few. I can say done that, not my favorite.

I saw Chestnuts at Mtn View Farmers Market a bag of large chestnuts for $3 or 4 bags for $11.

Skyline Chestnuts for U-Pick, post here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/330194

[chemchef]

I've always boiled them for 5-10 minutes before roasting them in the oven, as per my Italian step-dad. It always works well for me.

[ML8000]

While not roasted on site, there's vendors in the Japantown mall around the holidays.

Some of the Mitsuwa stores in SoCal use to have on site roasted chestnuts. Maybe San Jose does as well.

[smlee]

The Mitsuwa store in SJ usually has people roasting the small chestnuts on site in the fall/winter. I was there today & they were selling the roasted chestnuts out front, but weren't roasting them on site. Also, today there was a sign saying they were Chinese Chestnuts, but they were the same small chestnuts they've had in previous years.

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Mitsuwa
675 Saratoga Ave, San Jose, CA

[Kathleen M]

I'm in the North bay, but I bought some absolutely beautiful and delicious chestnuts at Andy's Produce, in Sebastopol.

[teaforbed]

I was at the Koreana Plaza in Oakland, (telegraph ave. and West Grand ish), and they had a weekend special for fresh chestnuts at 99cents a pound. I bet the special is still going on through the week.

[SteveG]

Anyone know what drives the Korean love for chestnuts? I was at a tofu house in San Jose and they had huge bowls of them that they were shelling. When I asked if they were chestnuts, the nice old lady running the place really perked up, but unfortunately whatever they were going to use them for wasn't available yet when I was there.

As an aside, the tofu house food wasn't very good...definitely took one for the team but it isn't worth writing up.

[wolfe]

What is the good of taking one for the team if you don't let the team know what to avoid?

[Dave MP]

Yes, I believe I saw them at Alemany Farmer's Market on Sat.........am not 100% sure though, but perhaps someone else can confirm.

[Euonymous]

Yes, I've seen them at Alemany Farmers' Market for the past several weeks.

[chezdeniseetlaudalino]

Thanks! I will have to check it out this weekend.

[Ruth Lafler]

Saw them also this weekend at a couple of vendors at the Mountain View farmers market.