As autumn and winter arrive, it's once again the perfect time to buy and eat fresh chestnuts. In this regard, Lu Hong, a nutritionist from the Chifeng Nutrition Society in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, says there are clever tricks for selecting chestnuts and important considerations for eating them.
Lu Hong says that to buy good chestnuts, you should look, squeeze, and taste. When purchasing, those with brown or purple, shiny shells are of better quality; if the shell is discolored and dull, it indicates poor quality. When selecting, gently squeeze the chestnut—those that are firm and plump are good. If you feel a hollow shell, it means the flesh has shriveled, and such chestnuts should not be bought. Good chestnuts have pale yellow kernels and fine, fragrant flesh. When buying sugar-roasted chestnuts, you also need to look and taste. Well-roasted chestnuts are easy to peel, revealing golden flesh that is both fragrant and sweet. Sugar-roasted chestnuts should be round and shiny, but if they remain greasy and bright after a long time, it may indicate that chemical substances were added during the roasting process to make them look more appetizing to customers.
Lu Hong advises that chestnuts can easily cause indigestion, so people with weak spleens and stomachs, postpartum women, children, and patients should not eat too many. Lu Hong explains that chestnuts are sweet in taste and warm in nature, containing calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, and sugars, fats, proteins, and vitamin C. They are believed to promote blood circulation, stop bleeding, nourish the stomach and spleen, and strengthen the waist and kidneys. In traditional Chinese medicine, they are often used to treat children's mouth sores, deficiency-cold diarrhea, weakness in the waist, and swelling and pain in the muscles and bones. Additionally, they can be used to treat diarrhea, palpitations, insomnia, chronic nephritis, bleeding after a fracture, vitamin B2 deficiency, children's leg weakness, and children's indigestion.
Lu Hong introduces that raw chestnuts are difficult to digest, while cooked ones can easily cause indigestion, so one should not eat too many at once. Chestnuts are generally cooked by boiling and are rarely used in dishes, but they can be used to make chestnut and lean pork soup, which is especially suitable for people with a constitution of yin deficiency and internal heat.