The study of eating chestnuts in autumn and winter

In autumn and winter, when the wind is cold and the weather is cold, a pack of hot, sweet and soft sugar-fried chestnuts has become a favorite snack
.
Although chestnuts are delicious, many senior "chestnut powder" may have had unpleasant experiences, such as occasionally encountering blackened chestnut "saccharin water chestnuts", accidentally eating moldy bad chestnuts, etc
.
How to eat chestnuts to enjoy delicious food?

The origin of chestnuts

Chestnuts have been cultivated in China for at least 2,500 years
.
The Book of Poetry can be seen everywhere with its lush leaves and fragrant flowers and
fruits.
"Mountain has Jiahui, Hou Li Hou Mei", the chestnut tree flowers with a clear taste are called flowers
as precious as plum blossoms.

Chestnuts are distributed in the north and south
of the river.
There are mainly 6 chestnut producing areas in China, namely Xingtai, Xinglong, Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County and Zunhua in Hebei; Tai'an, Mengyin, Feixian and other places in Shandong; Shucheng and Jinzhai areas in Anhui; Luotian and Macheng in Hubei Province; Huairou area of Beijing and Dandong area
of Liaoning province.
But the completely different water and soil environment divides chestnuts into two "camps"
of north and south.
Southern chestnut fruit type is large, sugar content is relatively low, starch and water content are high, meat quality is hard, suitable for cooking, common varieties are Yunnan chestnut, Guizhou chestnut and Hunan chestnut
.
Northern chestnut fruit type is small, low starch content, high sugar content, strong aroma, strong waxiness, more suitable for sugar fried chestnuts, common varieties are Qianxi chestnut, Qinglong chestnut, Xingtai chestnut, Taishan chestnut, Zhen'an chestnut and so on
.

Chestnuts are sweet, soft and nutritious, making them an autumn and winter delicacy
for all ages.
Relevant studies have shown that chestnuts are rich in carbohydrates, unsaturated fatty acids, a variety of vitamins, especially potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese and other minerals
.

Eight steps to choose a good chestnut

In daily life, chestnuts can be used in many dishes, how to choose a bag of good quality chestnuts to give the "tip of the tongue" a little more pleasant and warm comfort? During the purchase process, you should pay attention to the following 8 points:

Look at the color The chestnut shell is purple-brown in color and has a light waxy layer
.
Bright and shiny chestnuts are fresher, while those chestnuts with relatively black or even dark shells and poor gloss are most likely old products
.
The flesh of fresh and high-quality chestnuts is bright yellow in color and has more moisture; The color of the flesh is milky white, and there are black spots on the surface of the chestnut, indicating that the chestnut has been stored for too long or has become moldy and deteriorated
.

Look at the fluff The tail of chestnuts has a lot of fluff, and the hairs on aged chestnuts are generally relatively small, only a little
at the tip of the tail.
Fresh chestnuts generally have more fluff on the tail
.

Look at the insect eye There is no insect eye on the surface of the chestnut, you can rub the skin of the chestnut with your hand vigorously, observe whether the epidermis has an insect eye, if there is no insect eye, you can choose to buy
.

Look at the appearance of high-quality chestnuts with smooth appearance without wrinkles, except for their inherent white hair, there are no other abnormalities; Chestnuts with black-brown mold spots or white downy mold on the appearance of chestnut shells are generally inferior chestnuts with damaged internal structure and deterioration
.
Another point is that the base of high-quality chestnuts (the connection between the bottom end of the chestnut fruit and the chestnut canopy) is generally small, the fruit shape is correct, and the fruit is uniform, while the poor quality chestnut base is large, the fruit shape is not correct, the size of the fruit is uneven, and there are many
deformed grains.

Look at the size Southern chestnuts are generally larger than northern chestnuts, generally weighing more than 12 grams per grain, but their taste and sweetness are relatively poor, and the waxiness is not good
.
Therefore, consumers are advised not to blindly pick large chestnuts when buying chestnuts, small chestnuts may usually be more delicious
.

Pinch soft and hard Good chestnut shell is relatively hard, if you pinch it by hand, it is generally not moving, and the chestnut kernel loses less water, the fruit is full, shake it in the palm, and you can't hear the impact of the chestnut kernel and the chestnut shell; If the chestnut shell is relatively soft when pinched, and even juice flows out, it feels very light in the palm of the hand, and it makes a rustling sound when shaken, indicating that the chestnut has lost water and deteriorated
.

Smell Fresh chestnuts smell fresh or have a faint chestnut aroma, while spoiled chestnuts will have a sour, rancid or other nose-irritating odor
.

Taste the taste of high-quality chestnuts with light yellow, firm, fine meat, less moisture, high sweetness, glutinous texture and strong aroma; On the contrary, it is hard and tasteless, and it is poor
to eat.

Eating requires a method

Although chestnuts are delicious, how to eat healthier is very particular
.

Wang Guangpeng, a researcher at the Changli Fruit Research Institute of Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, said that chestnuts have high starch and sugar content, 6 large chestnuts or 10 small chestnuts have about 200 kcal of calories, equivalent to a bowl of rice, so pay attention to eating the right amount, generally speaking, 8-10 grains a day
.
At the same time, it is not recommended to eat a lot after meals, so as not to consume too many calories, which is not conducive to maintaining weight, and it is not recommended to eat on an empty stomach, which can easily lead to bloating
.
The best way to do this is to snack chestnuts between meals, or eat them as ingredients into meals
.
In addition, while eating chestnuts, attention should be paid to appropriately reducing the intake
of staple foods.

There are many ways to eat chestnuts, in addition to the common sugar fried chestnuts, simmering, stir-frying or cooking porridge with a few when adding a few to dishes, are all good choices
.
From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, raw food also has a good health care effect
.
It should be reminded that whether eaten raw or cooked, chewing carefully is the healthiest choice
.

If you buy sugar-fried chestnuts from the market, you should be wary of chestnuts that are too shiny and have a particularly sweet taste
.
Wang Guangpeng explained that the main function of sugar in sugar-fried chestnuts is not to make chestnuts sweeter, but to remove the fluff on their surface, so that the fried chestnuts are not sticky to the hands and better peeled, and can also increase the oil brightness of the chestnut appearance, making people more appetizing
.

As for those sugar-fried chestnuts that are too sweet, the kernels are often blackened after peeling, and some are even bitterly sweet, then such chestnuts are likely to have been soaked in saccharin water
.
Saccharin water is made of sweetener sodium saccharin with water, although sodium saccharin is not absorbed in the human body, but the amount is too large to have a metallic bitter taste
.
In fact, high-quality chestnuts themselves are as sweet as sweet potatoes, and nothing needs to be added
.

Chestnut peel is difficult to remove, how to peel?

After washing the chestnuts, cut a little in the middle with a knife, put them in salt water, cook on the stove for 5 minutes, and remove the chestnut shell and skin
while hot.

Hot water soaking method Wash the raw chestnuts and put them in a utensil, add a little refined salt, immerse them in boiling water, and cover the pot
.
After 5 minutes, remove the chestnuts and cut them, and the chestnut skin falls off along with the chestnut shell
.

Brine soaking method Pour chestnuts directly into salted boiled water for 5 minutes, then cut a hole with a knife to remove the chestnut shell and skin
while hot.

Incision soaking method Cut the chestnuts in half, remove the shell, and soak with a cover with boiling water for 5 minutes, it is easy to remove the chestnut skin
.

Store carefully

Although chestnuts have a hard shell, they are actually a difficult food
to store.
Fresh chestnuts bought home, if not properly disposed of in time, may deteriorate after a few days, and the slightest carelessness in the preservation process may cause mold
.

Wang Guangpeng suggested that consumers can refer to the following preservation methods
.

Refrigerated storage short-term storage can first clean the fresh chestnuts and drain the surface moisture, and then use plastic bags or crisper boxes to divide, and then seal the mouth of the bag or box and put it in the
refrigerator refrigeration layer.

Cool storage For a long time, chestnuts can be placed directly into a woven bag with better air permeability, and then the bag is stored in a cooler, ventilated place such as a cellar
.
Although this storage method is simple, it is more demanding on the environment, and if the environment is too humid or dry, there may be air drying and deterioration problems
.

Frozen storage After buying chestnuts, wash and drain the surface moisture, divide them into sachets and immediately freeze them in the refrigerator, and remove
them when they want to eat.
When chestnuts are frozen (do not thaw), they are directly stir-fried or boiled to preserve their freshness
.
This method can be used for short or long periods of time
.

Processing and storage After fresh chestnuts are cooked, the chestnuts are peeled and divided into fresh-keeping bags for freezing
.
It can also be used in the method of semi-cooked freezing, that is, after buying the chestnuts, first put them in a cool and ventilated place for a day or two, then wash them and put them in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, cook until half-cooked and take them out to dry until normal temperature, and then use plastic bags to divide, seal and freeze in the refrigerator, this method is suitable for long-term storage
.

In addition, before preservation, you should also pay attention to check whether there are insect eyes on the chestnut shell, because the chestnut itself is easier to attract insects, and the chestnuts of raw insects are of poor quality and the taste is not good
.
Most of the bugs hidden in chestnuts do not appear during storage, most of them are flying insects laying eggs on them after the chestnuts bloom and pollinate, and when the chestnuts mature, the bugs also grow.

In this case, be sure to remove chestnuts with worm eyes
.

(Zhu Meiqiao comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News (November 17, 2022, version 06).

(Responsible editor: Zhu Meiqiao)