Hello Dear Friends,
I have missed you, here it is Fall already! We have not had snow yet, but are nearly knee-high in leaves. This was a bountiful year for some things. We are fortunate to have many chestnut trees on this property that have always produced large nuts around the beginning of October. Last year we hardly got a one. Weather, squirrels or poachers are to blame. This year made up for all that and we harvested so many I didn’t think we had the energy to process them all. Usually we used a paring knife with a fine point to cut a cross on the top, flat side of the nut down. Then we placed a dozen or so in a pie plate to roast for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. When softish and sort of cooled, we peeled off the thick shell and applied a little butter and salt. Yum and double yum!
This year we needed to find a better way to preserve the chestnuts. I did a lot of research and finally came up with a way to do this. We used a single-edged razor blade (be careful) to crisscross a ½-inch gash on the flat side, then covered the nuts in a heavy pan with boiling water, then slowly bring to a boil again for a minute or two. When cool, drain off water and the shell and the protective skin will come right off. It was like magic.
I froze some of the larger nuts for another time and then ground the rest in the food processor, froze some of that, too, but I used the rest to make this bread. You can make it this way or add your own special touches like walnuts, raisins, cut up apricots, cranberries, and apples. Adding more sugar or maple sugar would be great.
WOBIMEN (Chestnut) BREAD
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup (or a little more) brown, white or maple sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons real butter, melted
¾ cup nut meats, broken or lightly chopped
Mix dry ingredients together, then wet ingredients and beat together. Put oven to 350 degrees. Put the batter in a greased loaf pan (9x5 inches) and bake 45 minutes.
Editor’s Note: Just to let you know that Dale Carson, our Native Cooking columnist has been on a “health leave” from her column due to suffering a heart attack this summer. We are very glad to have you back! Continued healing blessings, Dale.
