”Chestnuts are the peace of the hearth. Things of another time. The crackle of old logs, lost pilgrims.”

This line from Federico García Lorca captures exactly what the chestnut represents today: a fruit synonymous with autumn, gathered in woods tinged orange, and enjoyed roasted in the warmth of home, perhaps paired with a glass of new wine. Once known as “the poor man’s bread,” today the chestnut is a much-loved fruit, prized for its flavor, its versatility in the kitchen, and its beneficial properties, both for health and in cosmetics.

Chestnuts are the fruit of the Castanea sativa tree, a long-lived plant belonging to the Fagaceae family, native mainly to Southern Europe, but also found in western Asia and southern Africa. The nuts are round, with a tough brown shell and a starchy flesh, and have been considered a nourishing, energizing food since ancient times: the Greek physician Galen described chestnuts as acorns providing “nourishment worth remembering,” while Pantaleone da Confienza, a 15th-century physician from Savoy, claimed that chestnuts and dairy together provided a complete diet for humans.

Chestnuts: a brief history

The chestnut tree is such an ancient plant that the earliest traces of this beautiful shrub date all the way back to the Cenozoic era. It soon won over ancient peoples, from the Greeks, with Xenophon calling the chestnut tree “the bread tree” in the 4th century BC, to the Romans, thanks to whom chestnuts spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and even into regions north of the Alps. Virgil gave advice on growing chestnuts, while Pliny the Elder, in his “Naturalis Historia,” documents the custom of women eating bread made from chestnut flour during festivals held in honor of Ceres.

Over the centuries, chestnuts came to be seen as the only food capable of getting people through frequent famines, since they were filling, highly nutritious, and could be found virtually everywhere in Italy. Even Matilda of Canossa sought the help of Benedictine monks to increase chestnut cultivation, in order to feed the poorest classes.

In the Middle Ages, the uses of chestnuts, chestnut leaves, and chestnut bark grew ever more varied. Monks were responsible for their cultivation and harvest, aided by the “castagnatores.” During this period, chestnuts were used to treat gout, migraines, and especially colds and coughs, thanks to their expectorant properties. They were also considered a highly aphrodisiac food, perhaps due to their shape, reminiscent of male genitalia, as already noted in the 6th century by Isidore of Seville.

Calorie content and types of chestnuts

Chestnuts shouldn’t really be considered a diet food: in fact, 100g of the product contains around 200 calories, rising to as much as 287 calories for boiled chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts (“caldarroste”) tend to lose water during cooking and are slightly less caloric, much like oven-baked chestnuts, certainly considered the least caloric, and therefore the healthiest, option.

Even so, chestnuts can be enjoyed for their flavor without too much worry, as long as they’re eaten in moderation: chestnuts are, after all, the basis of many traditional Italian dishes, from Ossolana-style gnocchi and castagnaccio to the delicious Mont Blanc dessert made from chestnut purée. The most common way to enjoy them, however, is certainly roasted, cooked over hot coals in special perforated iron pans.

Beyond their flavor, there’s every reason to eat chestnuts, since a 100g serving provides the body with 10% of the daily potassium requirement, 9% of iron, 15% of folate, and 14% of magnesium: this translates into a range of benefits for the cardiovascular system, the digestive tract, muscles, and bones.

So go ahead and enjoy chestnuts: in Italy, there are many prized varieties, among them the PGI chestnuts of Cuneo, the PGI Marroni of Val di Susa, the chestnuts of Marradi, and the wild chestnuts of Vallerano.

Chestnuts and marroni are often mentioned together, frequently mistaken for one another, reducing the distinction to a mere matter of terminology. In reality, chestnuts grow wild, are small, have a dark brown skin, and the thin inner skin covering the nut often penetrates deep into the flesh, dividing it. Marroni, on the other hand, have a lighter brown, streaked skin, their inner skin does not penetrate the flesh, and they are larger: because of their size, when they first appeared on tables in the 1200s, they were reserved for the tables of the nobility, considered tastier.

Chestnuts as a true vitamin elixir

Chestnuts are rich in vitamins C, K, D, and E, essential for keeping the central nervous system healthy and helping prevent degenerative conditions typically associated with aging. Their content of B-vitamins is also notable, particularly B5, otherwise known as pantothenic acid (essential for nutrient metabolism), and B9, or folic acid, especially recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding women: folic acid, in fact, helps prevent fetal malformations, such as those affecting the neural tube, on which the development of the central nervous system depends. Thanks to their high content of B-vitamins, chestnuts also contribute to the synthesis of proteins, DNA, and hemoglobin.

Vitamin B6 is water-soluble, meaning that, since it isn’t stored by the body, it must be continually replenished through diet, or the nervous system risks dysfunction. A 100g serving of chestnuts contains as much as 26% of the daily requirement of vitamin B6: this helps support the synthesis of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, boosts the production of red blood cells and hormones, helps slow aging, and gives the metabolism a boost.

Chestnuts are also rich in amino acids and, above all, polyphenols, which help combat the formation of free radicals and, as a result, cellular aging.

Benefits for bones, gut, and heart

Chestnuts are recommended during periods of particular physical and mental stress, fatigue, and during recovery from seasonal illnesses. Thanks to their high fiber content, they’re considered filling, probiotic foods that support gut flora and help regulate the digestive tract: the only precaution is to avoid eating chestnuts raw, as they’re difficult to digest and can irritate the stomach lining.

Chestnuts have remineralizing properties, thanks to their rich content of minerals such as manganese, calcium, copper, chlorine, potassium, iron, magnesium, and zinc: these nutrients benefit bones, joints, tendons, metabolism, and the nervous system. In particular, thanks to phosphorus, chestnuts help boost memory and concentration, keeping the central nervous system active; magnesium makes this fruit important for nerve regeneration and metabolism, while potassium helps maintain fluid balance, regulates blood pressure, and strengthens muscles.

Being a plant-based food, chestnuts are virtually cholesterol-free and, thanks to their content of Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids, help lower levels of bad LDL cholesterol, helping to combat the onset of cardiovascular disease.

Phenolic acids boost the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant action of chestnuts, helping prevent the oxidative cell stress that increases the risk of cancer.

Chestnuts are also an antibacterial food, with research carried out in 2000 showing their ability to counter as many as 7 different bacterial strains, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Besides their health benefits, chestnuts also offer benefits for skin, hair, and hands: a decoction made from chestnut peels, for instance, leaves hair softer and gives brown hair warm, coppery highlights; a mixture of thermal water and chestnut flour, perhaps with the addition of honey or almond oil, makes for a useful scrub, leaving the skin of the whole body brighter and free of dead cells.