Honey-fermented chestnuts
A delicious recipe to turn chestnuts into a fermented, probiotic food using unpasteurized honey!
Servings 20
Equipment
- quart jar(s)
Ingredients
- 1 quart pre-baked cut chestnuts (halved, quartered, or cut into eighths) Note: Only fill jars to 1" below top with chestnuts.
- unpasteurized honey Quantity note: Fill to 1 1/2 cup mark on quart jar AFTER chestnuts placed in jar
- filtered water Quantity note: Fill to cover nuts.
- 1 tbsp salt (optional, see tasting notes)
Instructions
- Prepping chestnuts: Cut chestnuts in half with a chef's knife. Place cut chestnuts on a baking sheet one layer deep and bake in preheated oven at 350F for ~40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cooled, separate nut meat from shells and testa.
- (Optional) If you want smaller sized chestnut pieces, cut cooled baked chestnuts into smaller pieces, either quarters or eighths. Smaller sizes will allow more liquid penetration into the starchy chestnuts during fermentation.
- Put cut chestnuts into quart jar allowing ~1" space between nuts and top of jar. Pour unpasteurized honey over chestnuts to 1.5 cup mark on side of jar and let settle for a minute or so to ensure you've added enough honey. Once honey has settled, pour filtered water into jar until chestnuts are fully submerged.
- (Optional) For honey-salt ferment, add 1 tbsp salt (we use pink Himalayan).
- Shake or stir jars to combine ingredients. (You can use silicone lids to avoid BPA exposure from canning lids.) Put lids on jars that allow them to burp (standard canning lid not screwed down works fine.) Place jars in room temp ~70F indoor location out of sunlight.
- Stir or shake jars twice per day, about every 12 hours. Unsalted ferment jars will begin becoming bubbly and microbially active first, within 24-48 hours. Salted fermented jars will take longer to begin bubbling, 5+ days. Around Day 7, begin tasting small amounts of the liquid and/or chestnuts after stirring to monitor flavor development. Allow either version (salt or no-salt) to ferment for ~10-15 days or until desired taste and texture is achieved. Refrigerate jars when done. Use within 2-3 months.