Chestnut Cream (Créme de Marrons)
Autumn is a beautiful season filled with magnificent colours and the perfect weather to walk around the forest. The one thing I love most about Autumn is the fact that you can find chestnuts and make so many delicious dishes with them - is there anything better than foraging for your own food and using it in your dishes?
Looking for chestnuts is quite fun just make sure you are picking the right ones as some cannot be eaten. How do you differentiate good and bad chestnuts? It’s very easy, the good chestnuts are inside a braun shell with thorns everywhere. The bad ones are also inside a shell with thorns on the outside, but the shell is green and there are not as many thorns. Sadly you won’t find many chestnuts in northern Switzerland but if you move down a bit you will find that Ticino is full of Chestnut trees and Chestnuts.
You can use this delicious Chestnut Cream to make cakes, the famous Vermicelles or simply to eat it with bread. You can either do it without adding milk (which will make it vegan and will make it last longer in the fridge) or you can choose to make it with milk which will give it a creamier texture but will last only 3/4 days.
Prep Time: 45 Minutes
Cooking Time: 30 Minutes
Ingredients for a jar:
500gr Chestnuts
150 gr sugar
1 dl Milk (Optional)
Water
Preparation:
To prepare the Chestnut Cream, make an incision to each of the chestnuts and boil them for 8 minutes.
Remove the bark and the skin from the chestnuts - this can be a painful step but if you have boiled you chestnuts enough and if the incisions are big enough it will be easier.
Cook the chestnuts with 20dl of water at low-medium heat for 20-30 min (add more water if needed). When you are able to crush the chestnuts without any effort, you can go to the next step.
With the help of a blender, blend the chestnuts to obtain a smooth and creamy paste.
Add the sugar and cook for 10-20 minutes more over low-medium until the paste gets thicker and the sugar integrates. You can add the milk if you want to thin out the preparation.
Enjoy