Last October one of the market stalls I buy mushrooms and vegetables from in La Roche Posay had sweet chestnuts. There were two different sorts, marked 'marrons' and 'chataignes', and they were different prices. So I asked the stallholder what the difference is.
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| Cultivated sweet chestnuts (marrons) on the left at €7.50/kg and wild sweet chestnuts (chataignes) on the right at €5.80. |
According to him, marrons are cultivated, and a premium product, whereas chataignes are the wild ones that are foraged in the forest. But beware -- marrons can also refer to horse chestnuts, which are not edible.
In cultivated chestnuts, known as marrons in French, there is just a single big 'nut' in the husk (Fr bogue), whereas in the wild chataigne there are usually three 'nuts' nestled together in the prickly husk. The popularity of the term marron came about because chestnuts were seen as poverty food and the word 'chataigne' was associated with hard times.
Chataignes are smaller and paler, and traditionally dried to preserve them and kill any insect infestation, then ground make flour. They were important for preventing famine in areas that were too steep to grow grains of any sort. Marrons are used fresh for roasting and candying (the famous marrons glacé that are such a treat at Christmas time) because they peel more easily.
1 comment:
My friend Carolyn F has emailed me to say that Blogger won't let her log in and comment. I think a lot of people have that problem, and I'm sorry -- I can't do anything about it. Anyway, her comment is this: "Thank you for clearing that up. I've always wondered about the difference. I learn something new every day, and often it's from your blog."
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