Chestnuts in syrup or Marrons

Marrons glaces in syrup

Chestnuts in syrup

Marroni or chestnuts in syrup is an ancient recipe that has been handed down for generations in my family and not only, in fact, in Cilento the art of conservation still survives today. When there was no electricity, and even globalization, the Cilento people lived exclusively on their products, therefore, in addition to consuming them fresh, they needed to keep them as long as possible.

Thanks to their skills, acquired over time, of knowing how to transform the product, using sugar, salt, oil, vinegar, also exploiting solar energy and ancient conservation techniques that differed mainly between smoking, drying, boiling, salting and pickling. oil, allowed them to have available all year round, a rich and varied pantry of meats, game, fish, fruit and vegetables which was stocked all year round, such as chestnuts which, in addition to consuming them fresh in “Vrole” (Roasted chestnuts), “Vuddute” (Borlotte), they preserved them by means of sugar and boiling, obtaining excellent marrons and chestnut jams in syrup, a large quantity was dried of which they obtained flour which was used in the kitchen, both to make bread and for various dessert recipes but also to enrich the pig’s mash.

The recipe for marrons or chestnuts in syrup, I mention both words, because, many do not know what the difference is, it must be premised that both are good but, with chestnuts, the fruit of the chestnut is defined in a generic way but, they differ in the fact that, there is the wild chestnut and its fruits are smaller and are called chestnuts, not to be confused with the horse chestnut which is toxic, while, the brown is the fruit of the chestnut grafted and cultivated by man and it is larger and more rounded. Back to the point, therefore, for the recipe of chestnuts in syrup you can use any variety of chestnuts you find at the greengrocer, certainly however, the larger ones have another effect, especially if you have to make a gift.