Almost year-round, you can see stalls selling roasted chestnuts on almost every street, and the aroma of roasting chestnuts fills the entire street.
While watching TV, chatting, or shopping, having a jin (about 500g) of roasted chestnuts is a very pleasant thing. Chestnuts have certain nutritional value, but of course, the main reason most consumers like to eat them is for the unique sweet, fragrant, and chewy flavor of roasted chestnuts.
First, the reason people like roasted chestnuts is their unique sweet and delicious taste. So, wouldn't adding sugar make the chestnuts sweeter and more fragrant?
I believe readers with a little common sense can judge that the skin of a chestnut is very tough. Whether it's solid white sugar or heated syrup, it's hard to get inside the chestnut and instead sticks to the shell.
In many places in our country, chestnuts are roasted without sugar, and the taste is still sweet and delicious. Therefore, from a taste perspective, adding sugar to "sugar-roasted" chestnuts is meaningless.
Second, from a hygiene perspective, chestnuts roasted without sugar have a dry exterior, just like the skin of fried peanuts, so your hands won't get dirty after eating them.
After eating sugar-roasted chestnuts, you'll find your hands are black and sticky. Not only do you have to clean the "sugar" off your hands every time, but because of the special stickiness of the sugar after roasting, it's very likely that dust and dirt from the outside will stick to the chestnut flesh and eventually end up in our stomachs.
Again, from a food safety perspective, the "sugar" used for roasting chestnuts undergoes repeated high-temperature heating. We can't be sure if it will produce harmful substances, but it certainly has no benefits.
And now, for the sugar-roasted chestnuts on the market, it's hard to tell if the beautiful color on the surface comes from "sugar" or "paraffin." This creates an opportunity for unscrupulous vendors. It's now common knowledge that paraffin is added to sugar-roasted chestnuts to make them look more beautiful and more appealing to consumers.
Appendix: 1. People with weak spleen and stomach should not eat raw chestnuts; they should be roasted or stewed. They can also make a congee with chestnuts, jujubes, Poria cocos, and rice.
2. People with bleeding disorders, such as hematemesis or hematochezia, should eat raw chestnuts.
3. Postpartum women and children with constipation should not eat too many chestnuts.
4. Because chestnuts contain a relatively high amount of carbohydrates, diabetics should eat them in moderation.
5. Whether eaten raw, roasted, or stewed, chestnuts should be chewed thoroughly, and the saliva should be swallowed to achieve better nourishing effects.