Roast Chestnuts Day Date in the current year: December 14, 2024

Roast chestnuts, also known as roasted chestnuts, are a popular street food in parts of Europe and the United States (particularly in New York City), as well as in East Asia. They are sold in autumn and winter because chestnuts are harvested in the fall, and a lot of people associate roasted chestnuts with the winter holiday season.

Several species of chestnut can be roasted and consumes as food. They include the Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata, also known as the Korean chestnut), the Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima), and the sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa, also known as the Spanish chestnut).

In some parts of the world, chestnuts have been cultivated for their edible seeds for millennia. Today, there are hundreds of edible chestnut cultivars valued for their particularly large and sweet nuts. Sweet chestnuts are a great source of vitamin C and B vitamins; they also contain manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, and other essential dietary minerals. So not only are chestnuts delicious, they are also good for your health.

Raw chestnuts have tough brown skin that is unpleasant to eat. Roasting makes it easier to remove and reach the sweet nut underneath, so chestnuts are normally roasted in their husks that are discarded before eating. Street vendors usually roast chestnuts on portable grills or metal drums and sell them in paper cones or bags. When cooked at home, chestnuts can be baked in the oven rather than roasted in a special pan.

In the Western world, roasted chestnuts are closely associated with the winder holiday season because they are often sold at Christmas markets and fairs. In Portugal, roast chestnuts (castanhas asadas) are eaten on or around Saint Martin’s Day; a common Portuguese tradition associated with Saint Martin’s Day is to gather around a bonfire and roast chestnuts under the embers. Other European countries where roasted chestnuts are especially popular include Austria, Italy and Spain.

Roasted chestnuts have been a popular street food in New York City for more than a century, but today they are mostly purchased by tourists. The roasted chestnut season starts around late September or early October and lasts until early spring, but sales usually peak around the Christmas holidays.

The origins of Roast Chestnuts Day are unclear, but do you really need to know who and when invented this fun holiday in order to celebrate it? You can join the celebration by buying roasted chestnuts from your favorite street stall, at your local Christmas market or in a supermarket, trying to roast chestnuts yourself, learning more about the health benefits of chestnuts, and spreading the word about the holiday on social media with the hashtag #RoastChestnutsDay.