Chestnuts

Cook them and eat them.
Wash them off with a damp cloth.
Cut a small x in the outer hull (important step to allow steam to escape otherwise they might explode).

To roast them you can put them in a pan in the oven at 425 degrees for 30 min.
Then let them cool, then peel and eat them.

You can also boil them (unsalted water) for 20 min (still have to cut the x in them), then peel them when they are cool and eat them.
I've been told they are easier to peel after boiling.

You don't know till you've peeled them if a few have gone rotten or not, so if a few look off, just throw the rotten ones away.

Additional:
Sweet chestnuts are edible.
Horse chestnuts are NOT edible and are poisonous.
These are two different kinds of tree and you do NOT want to confuse the two when you are picking your own chestnuts off the ground.
The ones sold in the market are the edible kind.

http://tree-species.blogspot.com/2009/03/edible-chestnuts...

hubby made a chestnut pie (instead of pecan pie ) i hated it and he loved it. toppings for ice cream. just snack on them. Seems like martha stewart made a really beautiful wreath out of them. i wonder if they would be yummy in bread, toppings for pancakes or baked into muffins.

B is correct, I just wanted to add, cut the x on the flat side of the shell..

You roast them on an open fire, duh! While Jack Frost is nipping at your nose......

No really, I have no idea........

You could roast em on an open fire!

What a timely question. I JUST NOW (no kidding, within the last 10 minutes) discovered that we have a chestnut tree in our new backyard. There are literally HUNDREDS of chestnuts on the ground around the tree. We were told that they were the really good, expensive kind, too. I'm planning on having my kids go out later and do some foraging. But then what? Boil them? Roast them? How long do they last? Do they need any flavoring? I'm not a chestnut expert, but I think I'm about to become one!

We boil them for a while to make the hull soft enough to cut an X in then roast in the oven the rest of the way. See "B"'s instructions, below. Eat a few now to get a taste and then freeze the rest until Thanksgiving and put them in your stuffing. YUM!! My mom and grandma used to make chestnut stuffing for holidays all the time. It was a standard. The chestnuts are high maintenance and take a long time, so now it's more of a treat for us. Enjoy!