Were the nuts 'cured' at ambient temp before being refrigerated? IME, a curing time of 2-3 weeks where the nuts dry out some and gives any weevils time to bore out is important.

We have bookoo chestnuts every year but mostly they're for the wildlife. We eat some 'in season' like pawpaws or persimmons after curing and sweetening them, but have never actually intentionally tried to preserve them. Too lazy, too much work to hull and freeze them (which is what I think would have to be done to preserve for an extended period).

However, I know we've had them at Christmas in the past simply by digging into 'caches' (intended for seed for promulgating) covered over thick with leaves, still fresh and good to eat.

I'm not certain about this, but I believe the American strain of chestnut (what we have is 15/16th American) stores better than the European and Asian varieties.

Anyway, I think it is important for the chestnuts to go through a drying/curing period prior to being refrigerated.

[edit to add]

The curing time also gives an inner skin, or peeling, time to dry out and separate from the meat, otherwise it can be tedious to get this skin off the meat of the nut.

This post was edited by sidhartha0209 on Mon, Oct 21, 13 at 16:11