# A Sweet Journey with Chestnuts
As winter arrives, various chestnut vendors appear on the streets, and the cold air is filled with the sweet fragrance of chestnuts. Holding a bag of warm sugar-fried chestnuts feels like embracing all the warmth in the world. Having eaten so many chestnuts, do you know when we started eating them? And what is the best way to cook chestnuts?
Don’t expect to buy sugar-fried chestnuts even if you scroll to the end.
## How Did Ancient People Eat Chestnuts?
China is the country of origin for Chinese chestnuts, with a cultivation history of nearly 2,000 to 3,000 years. Written records can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. *The Book of Songs* mentions: "Chestnut trees grow outside the east gate, not in gardens, but along the roads." *Zuo Zhuan* also refers to chestnut trees as "roadside marker trees". *Records of the Grand Historian · Biographies of Merchants* documents the scene of chestnut cultivation in ancient times. Ancient people mostly ate chestnuts by boiling, steaming or roasting them. So when did sugar-fried chestnuts come into being?
Fried chestnuts were also called "sugar-infused fragrance" in ancient times. The earliest book recording sugar-fried chestnuts is *Notes from Old Learning Studio* by Lu You, which mentions the most famous fried chestnut vendor in the old capital Kaifeng—Li He’s Fried Chestnuts. It is even said that people presented Li He’s chestnuts to envoys of the Southern Song Dynasty on their way to the Jin Dynasty. *Dreams of Splendor in the Eastern Capital* Volume Eight also mentions Li He: "When water chestnuts are on the market, Li He’s shop inside Liangmen is the most prosperous."
Other countries also have the habit of eating chestnuts, though with a shorter history compared with China. The most famous foreign written record about chestnuts is the story of "pulling chestnuts out of the fire", which comes from the fable *The Monkey and the Cat* by the 17th-century French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine.
## Which Region Produces the Tastiest Chestnuts?
Commonly known as Chinese chestnuts (*Castanea mollissima*), they belong to deciduous trees of the genus *Castanea* in the family Fagaceae. They are widely distributed across north and south China except for a few provinces and regions such as Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Hainan. In Guangdong, their distribution ends in the outskirts of Guangzhou; in Guangxi, it reaches Pingguo County; and in southeastern Yunnan, it extends southward from Hekou to Sa Pa, Vietnam. Besides Chinese chestnuts, there is also chinquapin (*Castanea henryi*) in China, which can grow up to 30 meters tall and is widely distributed south of the southern slope of the Qinling Mountains and north of the Wuling Mountains, excluding Taiwan and Hainan.
The most renowned chestnuts are Liangxiang chestnuts. Contrary to the name, they are not produced in Liangxiang but in Fangshan. Liangxiang was an ancient chestnut distribution center and famous for fried chestnuts, hence the name. It is said that Liangxiang chestnuts were tributes to Empress Dowager Cixi, a testament to their superior quality. Qianxi is also known as the "Hometown of Chinese Chestnuts". Qianxi chestnuts, also called Jingdong chestnuts, are reddish-brown, bright and glossy, with a thin wax layer and thin shells. Luotian, also honored as a "Hometown of Chestnuts", produces the largest quantity of Luotian chestnuts in China, which are large in size and bright in color.
## Why Are Chestnuts Fried with Sand and Sugar?
Chestnuts are big in size with gaps between their exocarp and mesocarp, making them prone to uneven heating. Therefore, a "sand bath" is adopted to heat them evenly. In the past, sugar-fried chestnuts in old Beijing did not contain sugar, but now maltose is added during the frying process in various places. Adding sugar does not make chestnuts sweeter; instead, it acts as an adhesive to stick hot sand grains to the chestnut surface for more thorough heating. The irresistible aroma of sugar-fried chestnuts actually comes from the caramel scent produced by maltose in syrup when heated.
## Why Are Sugar-Fried Chestnuts More Fragrant Than Other Preparations?
Researchers have extracted aromatic components from sugar-fried chestnuts using alcohol. Analysis shows the main flavor substances are 3-carene (with a strong pine-like aroma), 4-hydroxy-2-butanone (with a fragrant odor), 2-pentylfuran (with beany, fruity, earthy, green and vegetable-like notes), and other trace furan compounds. Most of these are primary and secondary products of the Maillard reaction or caramelization products. Chestnuts prepared by other methods mostly do not undergo caramelization and the Maillard reaction, resulting in a weaker aroma.
## Other Ways to Eat Chestnuts Through the Ages
Let’s talk about several ways to eat chestnuts mentioned in literary works.
*Dream of the Red Chamber* mentions "air-dried chestnuts". The method is simple: put fresh raw chestnuts in a bamboo basket and hang it in a ventilated place for a few days. Air-dried chestnuts have wrinkled, soft flesh with a chewy texture. Their sugar content is concentrated, making them taste sweeter and smoother than raw chestnuts. The novel also mentions osmanthus sugar steamed fresh chestnut powder cake, whose complicated recipe makes it better to buy ready-made if interested.
Wang Zengqi wrote in his essay about chestnuts that small wine shops in Beijing used to sell boiled chestnuts. The chestnuts were scored with a knife, boiled with water, Chinese prickly ash and star anise until fully cooked, making an excellent appetizer for drinking. There was also a Western-style cake shop in Beijing’s Dong’an Market selling cream chestnut powder, topped with light cream—a delicious treat that no longer exists today. The chestnut cake from Kaiser’s mentioned by Eileen Chang in *Lust, Caution* is similar to the cream chestnut powder Wang Zengqi described. Made without flour, it consists of chestnut paste with only a thin hard bottom baked from corn flour. Shaped like a dome, it is decorated with delicate whipped cream ribbons and a bright red cherry in the center.
