Sweet Chestnuts

This sweet chestnut tree is on the bank of our neighbour's lake. Sweet chestnuts were brought to the UK by the Romans. As I stood listening to the brook babbling after all the rain we've had I thought of my paternal granny. She used to love marrons glacés, chestnuts candied in sugar syrup and glazed. I'm not keen on the starchiness of the nuts and all that sugar is too much of a good thing as far as I am concerned.

Chestnuts are used quite extensively in classic French desserts. I've been reading Le Répertoire de La Cuisine that my sister, who lives in France, gave me. Nesselronde pudding, coupe Clo-Clo and many other dishes using chestnuts sound lovely. I always serve Mrs Beeton's chestnuts au jus with Christmas dinner. I buy them ready peeled and frozen from Waitrose. My MiL used to spend ages peeling hers, it's a very fiddly task removing the shell and the skin underneath.