Chestnut
Chestnut mushrooms hold their shape in a hot pan and taste a little nutty once the caps brown. More ideas from other cooks are on our chestnut recipes page.
Meet the Mushroom
Raw, the flavor is mild. A hot pan brings out a nutty, savory taste. The caps stay firm if you do not crowd them.
The caps are small and rounded, on short stems. I wipe them clean and leave most of them whole so they brown on one face.
They release some water as they cook. Let that cook off before you add a sauce, or the pan will steam instead of brown.
Chestnut and cremini
A chestnut cap is smaller and a bit firmer than a cremini. After a sear it tastes nuttier. Cremini is the common brown grocery mushroom, milder and a little softer in the same pan.
I use chestnut when I want the pieces to stay distinct in a roast or a pasta. Cremini is the one I reach for when a sauce should carry most of the flavor.
How We Grow It
Chestnuts like cooler temperatures. We colonize the blocks at or below 70°F for about 60 days. Then we fruit them below 65°F at about 85% relative humidity for about 2 weeks.
Storage
Keep them dry and cold. A paper bag in the refrigerator lets them breathe. Cook them while the caps are still firm.
They keep well in the fridge for about 1 week.
If the caps turn slimy or the smell goes sour, compost them. Do not cover that with a heavy sauce.
How to Cook It
- Brush off dirt with a dry towel. Skip a soak. Wet caps will not brown.
- Trim the dry stem end. Leave small mushrooms whole. Halve any cap that is much larger than the rest.
- Heat the pan. Add enough oil or butter to coat it. Salt the mushrooms and lay them in a single layer.
- Leave them until the faces brown. Stir once. They are done when the caps are tender and a few spots are crisp.
Recipes
Roasted with thyme
Toss whole mushrooms with oil and salt, plus a few thyme sprigs. Roast them hot until the caps brown, then finish with a splash of vinegar. The written recipe is the roasted chestnut mushroom salad on our recipes list.
Garlic butter
Sear the mushrooms in butter until the faces brown, then add a smashed garlic clove at the end so it does not burn. I put them on toast or next to eggs. Thyme or parsley is enough of a garnish.
Pickled
Grow It at Home
Growing difficulty
- Hard
We rate growing chestnut at home as hard. The long colonization and fruiting times make a block more likely to dry out or get contaminated.
When your home grow is ready, cook it the same way we cook the mushrooms from the farm. If you would rather buy fresh mushrooms, ask us what we have this week.