October festivals in Italy in autumn, could very well include the chestnut harvest and associated festivals.
We held our annual (invitation-only) chestnut festival in the Valtellina yesterday (castagnata) and I have to say it’s a good year for chestnuts.
The harvest is later this year due to late ripening, but some lovely fresh chestnuts were around for the picking, which involved a team of us fanning across the terraces above Ardenno to find the fruit.
The trick to chestnut picking (or chestnut hunting) is to go equipped with bags or baskets to collect them, and gloves if you’re smart – these guys really hurt.
On having plenty to eat (as usual we exaggerated and possibly put a hole in Ardenno’s chestnut harvest), we took them back to our hillside hut for cooking.
Roasted chestnuts are wonderfully sweet, though we’re undecided on whether to cut the shell slightly or not.
If you don’t, it appears that despite a few explosions, they roast all the same.
After getting our fingers all black on peeling them, we matched our chestnuts with nutella or honey.
Look out for chestnut cakes in Italy in fall as chestnut flour is often used to make the castagnaccio (take a look our recipe in the next few days).