Gefen Organic Whole Peeled and Roasted Chestnuts, 5.2oz (12 Pack) | Chestnuts Peeled and Ready to Eat | Great for Cooking & Baking | Gluten Free | Kosher

I stayed away from all other nuts in 2014 after reading Dr. Esselstyn’s Prevent and Reverse Heart (2007). But started eating chestnuts after reading this from Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, MD’s website, 3 years ago: “Nuts – What about nuts? I hear so many different opinions? As nuts are a rich source of saturated fats, my preference is no nuts for heart disease patients. That also eliminates peanuts and peanut butter even though peanuts are officially a legume. For those with established heart disease to add more saturated fat that is in nuts is inappropriate. For people with no heart disease who want to eat nuts and avocado and are able to achieve a cholesterol of 150 and LDL of 80 or under without cholesterol lowering drugs, some nuts and avocado are acceptable. Chestnuts are the one nut, very low in fat, it is ok to eat.” These organic chestnuts come from China (the American Chestnut crop of billions of trees on the east coast of the US was decimated by a blight in 1904). I have found these ‘as good get it gets,’ or at least good enough to satisfy my taste for nuts, with no health consequences, and otherwise very nutritious Here are some excerpts from emails I have exchanged with the distributor: Q- What is the shelf-life of this product? No shelf-life information appears on the packages. A- “This product lasts for 2 years from production until expiration. This is when it’s sealed in the original packaging. We can assist you in determining the expiration dates; please provide me with the ink jetted lot code on the back of the bag (bottom left).” Q- Even after additional roasting in my toaster oven then stored in an open jar in the refrigerator, I have seen white mold forming on the chestnuts. Washing the white mold off seems to be all that is needed. A- “Once opened, the chestnuts last only about 1-2 days sealed in the fridge. If they are moldy, please do not eat them (even if you can take the mold off).” Tree chestnuts like these are different from water chestnuts, although, these chestnuts come in an air-sealed container along with air and water, and thus are wet out of the package. I spread them on the grill of my toaster oven. Those that are too small, such they fall through the grill, can be placed instead on compostable parchment paper, or placed in a Pyrex® baking pan. I bake them at 175 degrees F for an hour. They come out looking more like a nut, chewy, very sweet, and could be habit-forming.

This product is an excellent year-round snack, low in fat and calories without sodium, artificial flavors, colors or chemical additives, but my primary use is in wild-rice stuffing accompanying roast turkey during the holidays. My original routine was to buy whole chestnuts and roast and shell them. Since I do not live in an area where chestnuts are native, the cost was usually outrageous and the supply unpredictable. So, tracking them down often required checking stores just when there never seems to be enough time. Then began the roasting process which was also time consuming and often frustrating because usually, once opened, a number of nuts were revealed to be moldy and had to be discarded. I always bought more than I needed because of the failure rate. Vacuum packed, peeled roasted chestnuts solved all those problems. They are available year-round, ready to use and I cannot remember ever finding a moldy chestnut in either a jar or pouch. I first bought the jarred chestnuts which are similar in appearance (both medium brown in color) include a syrupy liquid that is not found in the pouch variety. After my first pouch I never went back to the jar – less messy and easier to store--overall more convenient. The chestnuts are very tender, slightly sweet with their own subtle distinctive flavor. They are good alone but also are a unique addition to many dishes. I bought this brand last year and was very pleased with the taste and quality. The vast majority were whole although I coarsely chop those not being snacked-on so a few halves are not a problem. They are shelf-stable, reasonably priced, save prep time and are readily available so I can keep them on-hand.

I love chestnuts! These take me back to my childhood! Ever since I was a kid, we'd take the train into NYC to see the Christmas tree and department store windows decorated for the season. There would be street vendors selling bags of roasted chestnuts and we'd get some while we walked. Years later we'd pick up chestnuts at the grocery store, parboil them, and then roast them in the oven. The only trouble with that was the work in getting those shells open and invariably finding several of the nuts had gone bad. We'd compare how many bad ones we'd each gotten and since my sister was 5 years younger, I'd wind up giving her some of my share. Sigh, really good memories. But I'm reviewing THESE nuts. First, no shelling nuts! Yay! Second, it is rare to find a bad nut in these bags. It does happen, but not often. For the most part the nuts are whole and, therefore, it is impossible to tell that one is bad. But truly, in a box containing 12 packets of nuts, there is probably only 2 or 3 bad nuts in the whole case. These are great if you are making chestnut stuffing (though I never have). I eat them as is. You could roast them a bit in the oven or even in the air frier to get that taste like when we were kids, but I just eat them out of the bag like a snack. Yummy! This order was the 3rd time I've ordered them this year. Yeah, I love chestnuts.

Given that American chestnuts are only beginning to make a comeback from decades of blight, I have struggled to find any local grocery or even bigger chains that regularly carry them. So I decided to try a 10 pack of these. They are flavorful so no worry there, and still have the nutritiousness, , but tend to not have a meaty consistency needed for cooking. They get crumbly very quickly upon eating or cutting. Overall they are just fine, but not up to the test of consistency! Chestnuts should be meaty and maybe they can work on a way to improve this.

Very nice value $.,.. Thanks for it.

Haven't had chestnuts in many years. My uncle, Father Donatus Taglienti, a Franciscan of the Capuchin order, would visit every Christmas. He loved chestnuts and would cut them, put them in a pan of red wine and roast them in the oven. What a treat! These thoughts came to mind the other night and I was craving chestnuts. Of course, I go on Amazon and there they are! These chestnuts are now my new favorite bad habit! They are too delicious....IMO. They are soft and moist but still firm, roasted to perfection. The health benefits are many....look them up. They come 12 packs to a box which comes to $3.48 per bag, 4 servings per bag....which is not bad for a healthy option. One serving is about 5 chestnuts. I'm guessing 2 servings per day can offer numerous health benefits. However, if you have portion control issues, these can be a problem. Between last night and this morning, I polished off 2 bags....that has to stop. The bags do not have the re-closable seal which tells me it's ok to eat the whole bag in one sitting.....as you might guess, I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Rationalization. Although the health benefits are many, too much of a good thing can counteract the benefits. I am shooting for 2 servings per day so a bag should last me 2 days. A serving with breakfast and the other with dinner. These bad boys are also organic and ready to eat! Give them a try...they are sold in smaller quantities. I just may add this product to my subscriptions. No buyer's remorse here.

EDIT: wrote a private message to seller explaining that we've been ordering these for years and know stale from fresh. Insultingly, the seller said point blank they were fresh and we were wrong. They offered a 20% discount. We werent looking for a return or discount and declined. Just wanted the seller to know that stale is stale and happening too often. We need to finally change brands after many years. We've bought dozens of these through recent years. At first they were great, but the last several orders have been TERRIBLE. Dry, stale, no moisture. Really unpleasant or at least disappointing to the extent that we didn't eat them (just recycled them). The staleness is getting to be worse than every 2 of 3. They sell stale food and get away with it despite the customer feedback because they known we can't return even unopened food to Amazon. BAD company IMO.

Very good! I have ordered these many times and will definitely order them again. Great for snacking or cooking.

I like the fact that more superfoods are available these days. Chestnuts are delicious and filling, yet do not cause inflammation in the body. I'm stocking up on these because they keep well in the pantry.

Good tasting , well cooked chestnuts

👍🏻

Ordered these for my wife because she's been searching all over for chestnuts since she got some from her co-worker. So I thought what a great gift to use at a stocking stuffer. And I was right when she saw them she went nuts lol Ate them all in 2 days. So i order her some more.

I was expecting these to be much better tasting. Felt dry and tasteless. Not worth the price I paid for it