Crème de marrons
Sweet chestnut spread is a speciality of the Ardèche in France. The classic version was created in 1885 in Privas by Clément Faugier to use up broken candied chestnuts. Chestnuts boiled, peeled and puréed, then slowly cooked in vanilla syrup make a thick, velvety spread with a nutty vanilla flavour. At home it is eaten with fromage blanc, crêpes and whipped cream, and pastry cooks use it for desserts such as mont-blanc. The peeling is the hard part — the inner skin has to come off too.
Your own work in that: 1 h.
- Scoring the chestnuts 15 min
- Boiling 25 min
- Peeling 40 min
- Puréeing 10 min
- Syrup and cooking the spread 25 min
- Filling the jars 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneScore the chestnuts
Score each chestnut with a sharp little knife in a cross on the flat side, cutting through the hard shell. Without a cut the shell will not come away and the chestnuts may burst.
Ingredients: 1000 g chestnuts in their shells · 100 ml water for puréeing
A cross on the flat side — the shell will come away.Boil the chestnuts
Put the chestnuts in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and cook 20–25 minutes until the flesh is completely soft.
Ingredients: 1000 g chestnuts in their shells · 100 ml water for puréeing
Peel while hot
Lift the chestnuts out a few at a time, leaving the rest in the hot water. Remove the hard shell and the brown inner skin — it is bitter and fibrous. The skin only comes off easily while the chestnuts are hot. Kitchen gloves protect your fingers. Peeling a kilo of chestnuts takes about 40 minutes.
Ingredients: 1000 g chestnuts in their shells · 100 ml water for puréeing
Both skins, while hot — they will not come off cold.Purée the chestnuts
Blend the peeled chestnuts with the water to a smooth purée or pass them through a food mill. Weigh it — there should be about 600 g. Allow about 65 g of sugar per 100 g of purée.
Ingredients: 1000 g chestnuts in their shells · 100 ml water for puréeing
Boil the syrup
In a wide pan bring the sugar, water and split vanilla pod to the boil. Boil 3–4 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens slightly.
Ingredients: 400 g sugar · 200 ml water · 1 pcs vanilla pod
Cook the spread
Add the purée to the syrup and cook over low heat 15–20 minutes, stirring constantly with a long wooden spoon, until thick and glossy and the spoon leaves a trail on the bottom. Take care — the thick spread spits and burns.
Ingredients: 400 g sugar · 200 ml water · 1 pcs vanilla pod
The spoon leaves a trail — the spread is ready.Fill the jars
Take out the vanilla pod and scrape the remaining seeds into the spread. Spoon the hot spread into clean, scalded jars and close.
Ingredients: 400 g sugar · 200 ml water · 1 pcs vanilla pod
Cool and refrigerate
Cool the jars and refrigerate. Serve with quark or fromage blanc, on crêpes and waffles, with whipped cream or as a cake filling.
Ingredients: 400 g sugar · 200 ml water · 1 pcs vanilla pod
Before you start
Storage
The spread keeps up to 3 weeks in the fridge and up to 6 months frozen. Do not keep it in the pantry: chestnuts are a low-acid food, there is no tested home method for preserving this spread, and in a sealed jar outside the fridge the bacteria that cause botulism could grow. Always use a clean spoon on an open jar.
Vacuum-packed chestnuts
You can use 600 g of ready-peeled, vacuum-packed chestnuts. Then you start straight from puréeing and save over an hour's work. They are drier, so you may need a little more water when blending.
With rum
A spoonful of rum or cognac stirred in at the end deepens the flavour and suits a spread destined for a grown-up dessert.