The Christmas Nut

A few days ago, notably a week before Christmas, the conversation with my mother went something like this:

Momma: So what are we making for Christmas Day?
Me: Turkey?
Momma: No.
Me: I don’t know, hmmm, roast pork loin? That’s always good.
Momma: Yeah, I suppose we could do that…now what on the side?
Me: Well, the usual, roasted red potatoes, apple sauce, broccoli rabe and of course…
Momma: Chestnuts!
Me: Yes, chestnuts!

Now if you knew my mother and I, you would know we are not the type that finishes each other’s sentences. Rather, if I had to describe our relationship, I would say it’s more along the lines of we love each other to death with an emphasis on “death.” No, seriously, we are best friends, but the kind of best friends that love each other but don’t necessarily “like” each other all the time, if you catch my drift. Hey, we can’t help it. We are both very strong, opinionated Italian women with a lot to say and believe me we’re going to say it. So long story short, the fact that we both couldn’t utter the words, chestnuts, fast enough has a lot less to do with the fact that we operate on the same brain wave or our BFF bracelets have telekinetic powers, but rather the fact that Chestnuts are a must have staple for every Italian holiday feast.

For my family, after the antipasti, a cornucopia of pungent, salty cheeses;  briny cured meats, pickled veggies and crusty bread came of course, the pasta in the form of trays of stuffed shells filled with creamy ricotta and chewy mozzarella cheeses and then the turkey or like and 20 different sides that no one ate because we were still full from the antipasti and pasta, the window in between digesting and dessert was reserved for the adults playing cards, building forts with my cousins, gossiping, talking with our hands at leisure and munching on platters of fresh fruit, chocolates,  dried figs, nuts and of course, chestnuts.

This sweet, creamy rather unusual nut was as much a part of our holiday traditions as spiked egg nog, getting yelled at for one reason or another, Aunt Viv’s rice balls and the endless accompaniment of the Frank Sinatra rendition of the “chestnut” song that played on in the background. “ Chestnuts roasing on an open fire…Jack Frost nipping at your nose…” you know the tune.

Like most family traditions that become a transfixed part of the holidays without question, the continuous embrace of the roasted, sometimes broiled chestnut holiday after holiday for Italians and Americans alike is no exception, until now. How the chestnut came to be the honorable, irreplaceable Christmas Nut is a long story my friends.

Ringing in at roughly $8 a pound, chestnuts may be the new “it” ingredient these days, seen moonlighting in fancy, schmancy restaurants, inspiring avant garde chefs and headlining the seasonal prix fixe as a “truffle infused wild mushroom and chestnut risotto” for $29.95 a cup. Yet, like many of the other fine delicacies of today such as truffles, headcheese, lobster or prosciutto, this nut had much more humble beginnings. Its nutritional value, superior flavors, texture and diversity allowed it to become the main source of sustenance for the unprivileged throughout continents for centuries.

Dating as far back as prehistoric times, chestnuts claim to be one of the first foods eaten by man and have roots in European, African, Asian and North American civilizations. Not only are chestnuts mentioned twice in the Bible, but in Roman and Greek folklore. Pliny the Elder and Homer the Great both name drop the nut in their poetry and literature, heck there is even a legend circulating that the Greek army survived on chestnuts alone during their retreat from the Asia Minor in 401 – 399 B.C.  Now that’s saying something.

As it turns out, the chestnut is one useful nut. It’s diversity and universal benefits range from having medicinal effects and substantial nutritional value to using the tree for building boats, furniture and railroads. It’s no surprise then that a lot of cultures throughout history found some pretty creative ways to consume and use chestnuts.

First introduced to Europe via Greece, the chestnut tree, Castanea sativa, thrived throughout the Mediterranean because unlike grains, they were one of the few crops that could grow on the steep mountain slopes and one of the few food sources that could survive the cold, harsh winters and provide adequate sustenance through the long, chilly months. A mainstay on the winter plate, it’s no surprise then that chestnuts became a large part of the Christmas dinner, eaten cooked or fresh as an everyday substitute for potatoes, grains or starches from September through December when they were harvested.

By the middle ages, the chestnut had become a staple food of the peasants in large parts of Italy, from Piemonte to Lazio and on down and during the 16th century, chestnuts were such a huge part of the Italian diet, a population living in the highlands of Tuscany is said to have subsisted largely on chestnuts for half the year. As recent as the 19th century, some Europeans substituted chestnuts entirely for grain products. It wasn’t uncommon for an individual to have consumed between one and two kilograms of chestnut products daily, which doesn’t seem unlikely, since many of us might reach that total when adding up our own daily regimen of eating grain products and potatoes.

At one point, dried chestnuts were such a valued staple in the Napoleonic era in Italy the government actually placed a tax on them, while the chestnut trees were counted like residents in the official census.

Why? Well, chestnuts contain twice as much starch as potatoes so they definitely stick to your bones and create a base for many recipes. They also contain very little fat, much less than walnuts, almonds or dried fruit and are very, very nutritious. They are the only nut to contain Vitamin C  and contain only about 180 calories in a 100 gram serving compared 700 inWalnuts. Big difference.

Because chestnut flour contains no gluten, Italians used it as a substitute for grain based flour used for bread making which today is all the rage for those on gluten free diets. Italians were also able to incorporate a generous proportion of chestnut meal to prepare traditional, sweet treats like little flat cakes that were similar to chapatti and cooked over hot stones called necci. They also prepared castagnaccio, a baked pudding-like dish that includes a variety of nuts and sultanas and was served on Christmas day.

For me, it was much simpler. In my family, complicated desserts were saved for whoever dare tackle making cannolis or 7 layer cookies from scratch and did not involve chestnuts. Chestnuts were saved for the tiny, sticky fig sandwiches my nonna used to make me, an art all to itself. She knew just how to pick the sweetest, gummiest fig that I now know to identify as the darkest, softest, slightly bruised ones in the bunch. What followed next was as an ingenious as the pairing of peanut butter and jelly or wine and cheese. She would take the fig and wait for it…stuff it with a sweet, meaty chestnut. I was always amazed at the careful assembly, similar to how she could effortlessly carve me bracelets when she skinned an orange or apple after Sunday dinner. She would de-shell the nut with one hand, pull out the precious earthy flesh in one magical flick of her wrist and maneuvering of her fingers and smush it into the patient fig, sitting idle, waiting to receive. What resulted was a sticky, candied treat filled with a nut far superior in taste and texture to any simple almond, walnut or dare I say, peanut.

Some historians believe it was the Roman legions that introduced the chestnut into other European countries and America. Some of the first arrivals in the U.S. were by avid gardener and plant collector Thomas Jefferson who brought some cuttings of a European variety to Monticello and grafted them onto American trees. By 1889 there were many hybridized American-European chestnut varieties growing in America.

As in Europe, chestnuts quickly became a source of sustenance and traditions in cold regions in the US, specifically in the Northeast where brisk winters called for a hearty meal and where many immigrants of European descent settled and craved the foods of their home countries which for most involved chestnuts.

More specifically, the notion of “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” and being enjoyed by all can be credited to the time of the harvest season back in Europe when huge portions of chestnuts were roasted as a way of drying them to be ground into flour. Wood smoking sheds were created for drying the nuts, a process that took about two weeks and since the fires had to be closely tended what resulted was an annual social network formed around these smoking sheds and towns close by. Not a far stretch from modern day peddlers selling roasted chestnuts on the streets of New York surrounded by the neighborhood busy bodies seeking warmth and fresh dirt or families gathering by the fire roasting their own and basking in the glow of the warm, holiday spirit. And not a far stretch from what went on in my household if you add in a dash of arguments, too much red wine, and TV yule log. Ok, well maybe not as similar, but we did have chestnuts.

Photo Credits: Ciao Chow Linda, Emiko Davies .