On Food and Cooking

different species of large trees in the genus
Castanea, which are found in Europe, Asia,
and North America. They’re unlike the other
common nuts in storing their energy for the
future seedling in the form of starch, not oil.
Chestnuts are thus usually thoroughly cooked
and have a mealy texture. Since prehistory
they have been dried, ground into flour, and
used in the same way that the starchy cereals
are, to make gruels, breads, pastas, cakes, and
provide substance in soups. Before the arrival
of the potato and corn from the New World,
chestnuts were an essential subsistence food
in mountainous and marginal agricultural
areas of Italy and France. At the opposite
extreme, a luxurious chestnut specialty
invented in the 17th century is marrons
glacés, large chestnuts that are cooked, slowly
infused over a day or two with a vanilla-
flavored syrup, then glazed with a more
concentrated syrup.
The American enjoyment of our native