Do not call them, trivially, chestnuts, because i brown I'm something more. Because if it is true that these two fruits are "relatives", coming from two different varieties of the European chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.), and then yes look alikeHowever, it is equally true that the differences are many, and they are seen, and felt. The chestnuts they are poor relatives, the browns are those wealthy because they are more fine, more sought after, more appreciated and, paradoxically, even more rare. A little 'because the productions are limited, a little bit because brown is delicate and bad weather conditions are enough to ruin a whole collected.

The curvy version of chestnuts
Big and round as they are, at a glance the browns look like some super-chestnuts. These are two important characteristics, because here the dimension It is decisive for quality and value: in a hedgehog chestnut they can find up to seven fruits, while in one curly of brown they are kept at the maximum three. Observing them better, the browns are also distinguished by the peel striped, with shades a bit 'clearer than the chestnuts. And when you open them it turns out that the film that covers the fruit and separates it from the peel it is much smoother and more homogeneous than that of chestnuts. It is much easier to to remove. With chestnuts they share the same characteristics nutritional and the sweet and delicate flavor, but otherwise i brown but they have an extra gear. Already in 1939 there was a Regio decree that put the black on white distinction. If the chestnuts the fruits of trees are common "Wild", the browns are the product of trees which have been modified by man (like many other species vegetable) selecting the best specimens, with prunings and grafts, until obtaining cultivars of great quality. In short i brown they are the fruit of wisdom agricultural man.

The lands of the chestnuts
This difference between trees of chestnuts and marroni explains why the geography of these two fruits does not coincide. The chestnut it was taken by the Romans in Asia Minor and cultivated in all the lands of the empire, so massif, because it gave a precious, hard and resistant wood. In origin therefore, the alimentary aspect of the chestnut tree was secondary. Instead, it became central in the Middle Ages, when its fruits, desserts and nutrients, became an important component of nutrition popular, so much to be called "the bread of the poor" or "cereals that grow on trees", Because in addition to being roasted or boiled if it was one flour very nutritious. In Italy i chestnut stretch out from the slopes of the Alps up to the mountains of Calabria e Sicily, where, in the park ofEtna, a sample is preserved millenary, considered the oldest and largest tree ofEurope. Instead the browns are less widespread. The region where they produce more is the Campania, but also Tuscany (and the area of ​​the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines), the Piedmont and Veneto.

bread, pasta and polenta, and we cook the typical chestnut soup. It grows in the Bolognese the Brown of Castel del Rio Igp, very fragrant and pulpy, and very easy to peel, which comes in many traditional culinary preparations, including the pheasant, tagliolini, fritters, castagnaccio and meringues. Typical browns boiled, served with moscato or passito wines or with new wine. Tuscany has two types protected by the EU. The Brown of Caprese Michelangelo Dop it grows in part of the province of Arezzo and is characterized by the aroma that recalls almond and vanilla. Excellent cooked roasted, glazed, or peeled and boiled, it is used in many recipes such as pancakes and castagnaccio. Instead the Mugello brown Igp, which comes from a particular variety of chestnut, the Florentine brown, and is characterized by medium-large size and white pulp and crisp, pleasantly sugary. Going down in the province of Salerno it turns out the Roccadaspide brown Igp, very large and distinctly sweet, which is consumed fresh, in the form of flour with which you make pasta dishes and desserts, as roast chestnut or as a side dish for game seconds. It is also in great demand from the confectionery industry to achieve Marron glace, jams, chestnuts with rhum and puree.