Peeling chestnuts: 5 tips & tricks

Peeling sweet chestnuts made easy: With these simple tricks, chestnuts can be easily removed from their skin. Our expert tips from Plantura.

Hot chestnuts are a real treat in winter. Unlike horse chestnuts, the delicious sweet chestnuts are edible, but unfortunately their preparation is not that easy: too often the chestnuts cannot be peeled. Both the woody outer shell and the inner skin of the chestnuts stick stubbornly to the core and sometimes cause despair. Fortunately, there are a few tricks that will help those with a sweet tooth peel the chestnuts better. In this article, we'll tell you which tricks make the arduous task of peeling chestnuts easier.

Tip 1: Correct preparation makes it easier to peel chestnuts

Even if raw chestnuts are particularly tasty and healthy with their sweet taste and numerous vitamins, they are only recommended for the patient. In fact, removing the shell on the raw nuts is the most troublesome. The peel comes off more easily if you boil the chestnuts and then peel them or roast them in the oven beforehand. Roasting in the oven is particularly recommended, as this method also makes the fine inner skin more easily detached. If you also put a bowl of water in the oven, this not only prevents the chestnuts from drying out, but also ensures that the shell becomes a little softer. This will make it a lot easier to peel the chestnuts.

Tip 2: score chestnuts before preparation

Whether in the oven or in the saucepan - before the chestnuts are prepared, you should scratch them crosswise with a knife. This not only reduces the cooking time of the chestnuts, but also makes the chestnuts easier to peel. The chestnuts can be soaked in water for one to two hours to make it easier to get through the peel with a knife. This makes the peel more flexible and you have less trouble scratching the fruit. After preparation, the incision is the perfect starting point to start peeling the chestnuts.

Tip 3: Prepare chestnuts in the microwave

If you want to prepare and peel your chestnuts as quickly as possible, you can use a simple trick: the The chestnuts are not only cooked in the microwave in no time, but the peel should also peel off particularly well permit. To do this, the incised chestnuts are placed in a microwave-safe bowl and covered with a little water. The chestnuts can now stay covered in the microwave for about a minute. Then shake the bowl once and put it in the microwave again for a minute. The water vapor loosens the chestnut peel - it is much easier to peel the chestnut after cooking in the microwave.

Tip 4: Peel chestnuts while hot

If the chestnuts come fresh from the pot or the oven, they are boiling hot. Many people therefore let them cool before they start peeling the chestnuts - a mistake: chestnuts peel more easily when they are still hot. As soon as the chestnuts have cooled down, the inner skin in particular can hardly be removed. In order not to burn your fingers when peeling the chestnuts, you should only touch the hot chestnuts with a kitchen glove or a tea towel. The peel is now removed with a sharp knife. So that the remaining chestnuts do not cool down in the meantime, it is worthwhile to always use small amounts Peel them out of the pot or oven and keep the rest of them hot with the remaining heat keep.

Tip 5: Remove the inner skin with a tea towel

Not only the hard shell, but also the furry inner skin of the chestnuts must be removed before the delicacy can be consumed. However, even this does not leave the field without a fight - it is often difficult to peel the chestnut. You can solve this problem easily and efficiently if you peel the chestnuts: After the chestnuts have been freed from the rigid skin, rub them off in a clean tea towel. This loosens the inner skin particularly well and you save yourself the annoying detail work with the knife. A little tip: Here, too, the skin loosens best when the chestnut is still as hot as possible.

Do you already know that one? Difference between chestnuts and horse chestnuts? You can find out more about this in our article.

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