Homemade sweet chestnut puree
Wednesday January 02nd 2013, 11:48 pm
Filed under: Food,Recipes

Michelle took John to the airport this morning, and with a touch of bittersweet we are three again.

But I’m still playing in the kitchen. I just finished this a few minutes ago.

I had a 20 oz bag of roasted, peeled chestnuts from Costco and a recipe (oh. wait. that’s not the link. here, try this) calling for 12 oz. So I upped the sugar by a third, figuring a bit less proportionately is good–and it certainly came out sweet enough.

So here’s what I did. I boiled three cups of water, a cup and a half of sugar, and all 20 oz of chestnuts for 35 minutes, figuring I might as well go for the longest time since I had more of the ingredients, turning the heat down a bit after the start but still boiling.  Cooled it some, added a tsp of vanilla, then dumped it all straight in the Cuisinart and whirled a long time. It was almost too thick for it, and I let the machine rest several times to keep it from overheating.

Somehow the taste was as if there were a bit of dates in there. Curious. It was pretty good, but then I spread some of it across some very thin, crisp ginger cookies Trader Joe’s sells, a combination that would have ended our supply of those pretty quickly–it was *very* good. Totally sells the chestnuts. Richard’s face lit up, too.

But what suddenly stopped me from eating a third was my tongue suddenly feeling like it was burning in spots. More so than that I-am-just-imagining-this of yesterday with the cream puffs. I Googled for nut allergy reactions. I so was not expecting this.

I’m still not sure, and if I am reacting then it’s certainly not on the level that that allergy site was talking about, but neither am I going to mess with this before calling my doctor. I had a reaction to dried rambutan (also from TJ’s) that had my mouth suddenly on fire and my throat closing nearly shut a few years ago while I gasped for breath–scary stuff.  A cousin of lychees, and I like lychees, but I’ll never touch them again.

I am quietly putting that spread away in the fridge as soon as I finish typing this. Hmm.


8 Comments so far
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Too bad about the possible chestnut allergy; that spread sounds tasty! About maple cream, from your previous post: I’ve been buying it from a neighbor, website here: http://www.mcbridevt.com/maple.php. I don’t see the maple cream listed there, but you could email him. Simply, it is the best I’ve ever had. Ever. I call it maple crack, it’s that addictive! The family spreads it on toast or biscuits; I just take whole toasted almonds and dip it straight out of the jar. Seriously delicious.

Comment by India 01.03.13 @ 7:12 am

It’s a real pain when you find something you love, but it doesn’t love you back.

Everyone touts the benefits of soy milk. I tried it once … ended up in the ER!

Comment by Anne 01.03.13 @ 9:06 am

You have had two warnings. Sit up and pay attention!

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 01.03.13 @ 9:35 am

sorry that experiment didn’t work out for you to enjoy! over the years my daughter has developed an allergy to walnuts — she ate them a lot as a child (we lived there in the Bay Area where we could get fresh ones easily), but a few years ago she notices that eating them made her tongue “feel funny”, so now days all of the goodies previously made with walnuts have either been made with pecans or just nut free

Comment by bev 01.03.13 @ 10:09 am

Oops! No fun to find a dangerous allergy. I’m allergic to nuts (maybe even some human ones), and I’ve known it since I was a kid.

Comment by Don Meyer 01.03.13 @ 10:21 am

Uh oh. Better back away from the chestnuts. Can you try making the puree with cashews or some other nut? Hope there’s some other way to tweak that treat.

Comment by DebbieR 01.03.13 @ 10:22 am

I could also have been something in the cookies. Manufacturers change ingredients all the time, and every once in a while the package does not reflect the new stuff. (I discovered this when potato chips started using sunflower oil, and the package reflected it about a month after my reaction)

Comment by Diana Troldahl 01.03.13 @ 2:44 pm

Uh oh… I don’t think you should proceed with caution, not without the doctor’s blessing.

Comment by Channon 01.04.13 @ 7:26 am



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