Comfort, Love, and My Mother's Chestnut Soup--A Recipe to Remember

I would love to taste again……my mother’s homemade roasted chestnut soup, to swirl the silky smooth and comforting creamy and buttery blend of warm woody, nutty flavors around my tongue; to let the tender meat of the soft sweet nut nourish my body and my mind.  Nothing short of inviting, the simmering smell of chestnut soup, fragrant as sweet potato, warms my memories, recalling a time of maternal love, with all its subtle complex, layered flavors.

There are two basic types of chestnuts.

Edible varieties include the sweet chestnut and toxic inedible ones like the unrelated horse chestnut.  Along with beeches and oaks, edible chestnut trees belong to the family Fagacae.  Within the genus Castanea, there are four main species groups commonly known as American, European, Chinese, and Japanese chestnuts.  

Likewise, I guess we are all more or less related by virtue of our humanity, even if we come from different families.  When I speak of my family, I mean the Whoolery family who raised me. They are the ones whom I was lucky enough to call my mother and father.

My Lucky Horse Chestnut: Inedible

In the fall, after Sunday School at the First Parish Unitarian Church of Sudbury, Massachusetts, we children all played together on the partially-wooded, picturesque New England church lawn in the center of town. Some chased each other in games of tag and others chatted pleasantly in the style of the adults mingling inside during their coffee hour.  

I found myself drawn to a stooped tree that had begun to drop its nuts from round green warty pods, like miniature green bombs, that grew from its branches.  These pods, called burrs, produced beautiful horse chestnuts, very similar to ‘lucky buckeyes.’  

Horse chestnuts contain significant amounts of a poison called esculin.  This poison can cause severe indigestion, paralysis, or even death if eaten raw. These substantial mahogany brown rounded shells looked polished and self-contained to my youthful eyes. 

Believing they possessed magical powers, I picked one up from the ground, put it in my pocket and for years kept my “lucky chestnut” in a cardboard box on my bedside table. 

The Status of Sweet Chestnuts: Edible

Sweet chestnuts grew on the common American Chestnut Tree.  Once found in Appalachia and considered ‘the food of the poor,’ the American chestnut is now functionally extinct. Although the underground root systems don’t perish, the new shoots of the American Chestnut die of the chestnut blight before growing to maturity. 

In 1904, the chestnut blight, a fungal disease, was introduced to Eastern America from an imported Asian chestnut tree planted on Long Island, New York.  Tragically, the entire species was wiped out in forty years.  

As a result, the bulk of the edible chestnuts we find on the market today originate in China, Europe, and other Asian countries.

 The American Chestnut Foundation strives to rescue the species by scientifically engineering a blight-resistant tree.  American Chestnuts once included some of the tallest, fastest growing trees in the Eastern U.S.--and were therefore known as ‘the redwood of the East.’

These edible chestnuts grow inside sharp and spiky burrs. The inner chestnut has one flat side and a pointy tassel on its tip and a light brown attachment scar, called a hilum, at the other end.

Preparing the Chestnuts

In late autumn and early winter, my mother purchased her edible chestnuts at the local Star Market grocery store.   But don’t be fooled: the preparation of shelling the chestnuts made for grueling work.  

Approximately one millimeter thick, the shiny mahogany shells needed to be scored deeply with an ‘X’ before they could be placed on baking sheets.  Next they’re roasted in the oven until the shells curled back, exposing a sour-tasting, fuzzy, inner brown membrane called the pellicle. 

Inserting fingers into the scorching hot spaces to pry the shells apart was always difficult and always painful.  

The Layer of Comfort

For my mother this labor of love was second nature.  I watched in amazement as my mother’s arthritic knobby knuckles deftly negotiated the mahogany shells and tough inner membranes.

Inside lay the treasure, the tender sweet meat that, when roasted, mellowed into a pleasant nutty, woody flavor.  The painful process of roasting and peeling not only exposed the nut inside but released the nut’s hidden inner sweetness.  

This flavor and its warm smell remind me of aging antiques, colorful autumn leaves and virgin snows.

The Toxic Pondering

In May 2000, I had just recovered from a stroke, and my father had just been robbed at knifepoint on a business trip in Florida.  

My mother said, “I feel like Job.  Why do bad things keep happening to me?” 

Did it ever occur to my mother that she wasn’t the center of the world?  That we could maintain boundaries and still love one another? 

So I answered her sharply, “Mom. I’m the one who suffered a stroke, and Dad’s the one who got robbed, nothing bad has happened to you.  Besides, I’ve recovered, and Dad wasn't hurt.  So, we are all lucky; we still have each other.”  

Whether we were truly lucky is debatable.
One month later my mother died at home, falling down a flight of stairs.

The Comfort and Its Complexities

I’ve always felt that my mother loved me unconditionally.  But what I didn’t fully understand was that my mother’s love could, at times, be overbearing. The boundaries blurred, and she absorbed our suffering and accomplishments as her own.  

My mother was always the one who had her hands in our collective experiences and who scorched herself in the process of making pain palatable to her loved ones.  

Like the majestic and blight-stricken American Chestnut Tree, now my mother’s gone. She left me with the insight that love can be layered with both painful and surprising sweetness. 

Remembering, I crave the golden glow and creamy comfort of her chestnut soup made from my mother’s familiar recipe. 

***

Chestnut Soup

Makes about 8 cups, serving 6.

Soup

8 cups chicken stock

1 ½ lbs chestnuts; shelled, peeled and roasted (see roasting instructions below)

1 large onion, sliced thin

1 cheesecloth bag containing 3 sprigs of parsley, 2 cloves, and one bay leaf

½ cup heavy cream

¾ teaspoon sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Garnish

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

3 sprigs of parsley, chopped

3-4 chestnuts; roasted, coarsely chopped

In a large saucepan combine chicken stock, chestnuts, shelled and peeled (see below), onion and a cheesecloth bag containing parsley sprigs, cloves and bay leaf. 

Bring stock to boil, and simmer the mixture, partially covered, for 45 minutes.  

Discard cheesecloth bag.  Set aside 3-4 chestnuts for garnish.  

Puree mixture through a food processor into a bowl, and transfer the puree to the pan.  

Add heavy cream, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste and heat the soup over moderate heat, stirring until it is heated through.  

Ladle the soup into heated bowls. 

Garnish each with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream and sprinkle the cream with minced fresh parsley and coarsely chopped cooked chestnuts for texture.  

***

To Roast Chestnuts in the Oven

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

With a sharp knife cut an X on the rounded side of the chestnuts.  

Place chestnuts cut sides up in a baking pan and roast them, covered, in a hot oven, sprinkling them with 3-4 tablespoons of water every 15 minutes for 1 hour.