Chestnuts- easy air frying method

Chestnuts can be a lot of work to prepare if you don't know the easy air fryer method!

Chestnut season begins in April and peaks in May in South Gippsland, our region has many large established trees dotted along the fence lines of paddocks and in people's gardens.

Chestnuts have a spiky outer shell, which needs to be removed, and around 2 or 3 nuts can be found inside each one. Use gloves, garden tools or even your shoe to help to separate them from their spiky chambers.

Store chestnuts in the fridge, if left out they can quickly spoil and the nut can turn brown inside the brown outer shell. Don't eat the nuts that are brown on the inside.

The easiest method I have found after years and batches and batches of cooking and peeling this seasonal delicacy is to use the air fryer in small batches, don't overlap them.

To prepare them, simply hold the nut, and use a small knife (serrated works best, or a fancy curved chestnut knife) and score 1 single line on a diagonal across one side of the nut. This technique has proven better results than scoring an X or scoring 2 lines or one on each side. I've tested them all.

Next, place the nuts in your air fryer tray or basket with the sliced side facing up, making sure they're not overlapping each other.

Set the temperature to around 200 degrees, you can try hotter or cooler depending on the power of your air fryer. Cook for 10 minutes, then you'll give them a shake for their first cooking. Hotter temperatutes help to dry out the outer shell so they will crack off more easily, but you don't want to dry out the nut too much or burn them.

(You may occasionally hear a bang! This means your didn't quite cut throught the layers deep enough to get to the nut inside and the skin has expanded through steam and heat and popped the jacket off. Nothing to worry about, it should all be contained inside the appliance, you might just end up with a funny shaped one and crumbs.)

After you've shaken them up, pop them in again at the same temperature for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the air fryer and tip them into a bowl, uncovered (no steaming like some methods) to cool for a minimum of 5 minutes as they will be very hot. Now you've got to work quickly, that's why small batches are best.

There is a peak moment when the hulls crack off and peel easily, leaving an intact nut. I can usually wait until about 8-9 minutes after removing them from the air fryer before I attempt my first one, or you could use new/clean gardening/cotton/dishwashing gloves if you're impatient or have sensitive skin.

Hold the nut on either end of the sliced open seam, and squish the outer shell together and hopefully the shell will make a wonderful cracking sound and the nut can easily be released.

If you're finding it very difficult to get the nuts out intact, you might like to pop it back into the air fryer for an additional few minutes to crisp and harden the shells a bit more, no need to throw them out, just cook for a bit longer.

Chestnuts can be eaten warm or cool, and taste both savoury and sweet with hints of roast potatoes, roast chicken, buttered popcorn and starchy nutty flavours.

Roasted and shelled chestnuts can be frozen and kept for up to 12 months.

You could add them to fillings for a variety of meals, as well as in baked goods such as cakes and muffins. I love to use them as the protein in my vegetarian dumplings.

Chestnuts have been a staple food for many places in the world including France, where they were the main protein staple for many generations and helped many people survive freezing winters and famines due to war and weather.

So if you've never given roasting chestnuts a go yourself, this easy method is the best place to start, it doesn't quite have the cosy vibes of "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" but it's a lot less effort for a tasty result.