Sweet Roasted Chinese Chestnuts
By: Hias Gourmet
A just tossed bag of hot nuts, maroon-brown with a sticky feel clinging to its skin, and fragrant with the aroma of toasted sugar: This is the sweet roasted Chinese chestnut. Like so many dishes in the Chinese street food canon, it has its humble origins – and similar to a well-cut suit from an expert Shanghai tailor – is as swell as it is simple. At first look, sweet roasted chestnuts elicit little intellectually curiosity. However, the senses scheme to set off a neuro-electric chain reaction resulting not so much in a thought as an instinct: Start peeling and popping them in!
Once the bag of chestnuts in polished off, however, the mind is free to contemplate the now disappeared bag of goodies. Amid the wave of street food trends that has recently swept through China, from bubble tea to grilled oysters, roasted chestnuts has remained a popular autumn-winter staple. This most traditional of preparations can be found in simple food stands from northern Beijing all the way south to Hong Kong as well as all around the world. But where is it from? Who created it? And how should it be made? The city of Tianjin claims the chestnuts as its own, and it is certainly ubiquitous there, showing up in many dried fruit stores and markets. But unlike, say Peking Duck, which no one denies belongs to Beijing, sweet roasted chestnuts exact birthplace and original recipe are less definite. Nevertheless, there is a cult-like following of roasted chestnuts in Beijing. No where else is this more apparent than the southeast corner of the Di’anmen intersection.
Chestnut Perfection: The Qiu Li Xiang Way
This version of sweet roasted chestnuts is based on the way the most popular chestnut store makes it in Beijing. For an extra kick, use the legendary youli chestnuts from Huairou, once used a tribute to the Qing emperors.
As tradition goes, this process of chestnut harvesting begins every year on the 15th day of August. Before these hot, meaty nuts are ready to be cooked, they are first washed and fumigated before being stored in a cold storage unit at 2-3 C for a month to allow the starch content to convert to sugar. (Interesting fact, chestnuts contain twice as much starch as potatoes). With such low temperatures, moisture evaporates slowly and chestnuts are kept save from mold and hungry insects. These chestnuts are then transported into the city and lands in the expert care of the Qiu Li Xiang roasters who discard any nuts that are soft, discolored, moldy or with strange shapes. Remember, an ideal chestnut should always appear round and fresh! The final step is putting it all together. At the Dianmen store, the pebbles are heated to 300C and then 10 kilos of chestnuts are thrown into giant woks armed with rotating twin blades. The chestnuts are roasted for about 30 minutes, then drizzled with diluted corn syrup and roasted for another 10 minutes. The corn syrup coats the skin and makes it wholesome and shiny.
The supply and demand equilibrium are clearly not equal. Each 10 kilo batch of chestnuts takes 30 minutes to cook and 10 minutes to sell out. The store sells 2000 kilos of chestnuts per day.
The combination of people lining up at the Qiu Li Xiang chestnut store by the 4-lane intersection in October with a sweet, smoky and nutty aroma hanging in the air has a hypnotic effect. Soon, Beijingers patiently standing in line will clutch a brown paper bag filled with a quarter-pound of the city’s most loved roasted chestnuts. How does one eat un-slit chestnuts? Just hold the chestnut in one hand, run your fingernail down the center of the flat side and then squeeze gently. The whole chestnut will pop out. Repeat until the bag is empty.
Established in 2007, Hias Gourmet is a Beijing-based firm specializing in experential culinary events and travel in China. http://www.hiasgourmet.com/
