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Candied chestnuts are one of my absolute favorite sweets. I'd even be compelled to swap certain members of my family for a ten-pound box of them (NOT my cats, though). When in the year does the "new crop" start to be sold in France? Right before Christmas or earlier in the fall? I'm starting to plan on being in Paris in November and would love to go on a candy binge/shopping expedition. If anyone has suggestions on the best places to buy these sweets in Paris, please let me know. Merci!

Lizbeth, I brought home several cans of the candied chestnut puree. It is very sweet - tastes somewhat like chestnuts and brown sugar. Do you have any idea how I might use it? Although tasty, it is certainly too sweet to eat right out of the little can. Thanks for any ideas you might have.

Mari, I'm not absolutely sure of this, but I would imagine that the puree you have is used in desserts like the "Mont Blanc" or "Peking Dust" which call for a sweetened chestnut filling. I'd probably eat it out of the can, little by little until it was all gone!

You can put sweetened chestnut purée on vanilla or chocolate chip ice cream, or mix it with whipped cream and use it to top a plain cake. Or make a buttercream with it. Here is a link for some chestnut recipes, many of which call for the sweetened purée you have: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blv92.htm?once=true& Type "sweetened chestnut puree" into Google and you'll come up with lots of other ideas. (Can you tell I'm into this? <g>) When I was in France I just adored a sweet dessert called Marronsuis, small chestnut mousse-like goodies (made by Nestlé--why can't we have them here?). I found it in the dairy case of nearly every corner grocery store. Lizbeth--did you ever have the marrons glacés ice cream from Berthillon? <swoon> Liz

Oh a thread after my own heart! I love chestnuts in any way, shape or form. By the way, this is the only nut that contains no fat, so enjoy with wild abandon. I bought marrons glace in Italy in October last year. I don't know if they were new crop or not, but they tasted wonderful. I have a can or two of the sweetened puree (bought in a grocery store in Paris) and use it on crepes. Just fold a heaping tablespoon or two within a fresh sweet crepe, top with whipped cream and enjoy. Mari, definitely not too sweet to eat straight from the can, IMHO. :-) Lizbeth, I saw them for sale in the grocery section of the Bon Marche department store in the 6th arrondissement; they were tres cher. It's also possible to buy pieces of marrons glace, which are less cher. Unfortunately, Berthillon wasn't serving marrons glace the day we stopped by, but I had the gelato in Italy. Pure heaven. If anyone has a receipe for marrons glace, please share it. I tried one from the Web last fall, and the chestnuts either fell apart or hardened when I cooked them in the sugar syrup.

You can also order them from this mail order company that specializes in French items. http://www.frenchselections.com/

I do not know in France, here in Italy the new productions isn't ready until at least Christmas because it takes more than one month to get the marrons to be properly glacèes. Maybe in France they will be ready a bit earlier not because the process is faster but because, being the weather cooler, chestnuts might be ripe a bit earlier (sounds like a contraddiction, but they are usually ripe in mid autumn, and mid autumn could be a bit earlier in France than in Italy).

The marrons glaces will be available here in France at the end of November, beginning of September. Here's a recipe using the sweetened chestnut puree, aside from making a 'mont blanc'... I'll post it as a separate post because it might be too long to put on here. PB

I meant DECEMBER, in my last post. I can't get the recipe to post... so if you'd like it, just email me. PB