Huge Chestnuts from China

I am obsessed with anything that is big or super small because size matters for photos.
Word is around that these huge chestnuts exist so managed to get them.

Although they were nice and big, the texture was too starchy and crumbly for my liking and they were hard to peel.

Sadly, the ones in the photos were not the biggest ones because someone demolished them.

Chestnut foraging

This year, decided to go chestnut foraging in the woods.

There are chestnuts at Greenwich park, Deer Park (Sevenoaks), Greenwich and many more.

It is hard to find describe the exactly location but ask any Chinese person in the UK and they should hopefully tell you.

You will know that you are in the right place when you see lots of Chinese people just as described in the forum posted at the bottom. 

If you are lucky you will find lots of chestnuts under the chestnut tree.

All you do is use a screwdriver to help open up the shell or pick the ripe chestnuts on the ground.

What do you do with chestnuts:

As a foodie, I have eaten so many dishes with chestnuts.

My favourite is roasted chestnuts especially during Christmas from traditional chestnut stalls in London which is now a nostalgic thing but can be found at Winter Wonderland or possibly Borough Market.

Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong gives out chestnuts during the festive season.

Others include chestnut cakes, green tea chestnut loaf from Starbucks, candied chestnut and Brussel sprouts, chestnut butternut squash soup, chestnut stuffing with roast, braised duck with chestnuts.

Hokkaido-Yo Chestnut

After trying some chestnut yoghurt yesterday, I was surprised to see Chestnut Hokkaido-Yo from Circle K, now shortened to Ho-Yo according to the poster!!

Finally tried it and I felt that it lacked chestnut taste and it just tasted like Tiramisu/Coffee.

Other flavours in the Hokkaido-Yo series.
Circle K Hokkaido-Yo Peach flavour
http://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.com/2012/07/circle-k-hokkaido-yo-peach-flavour.html
Circle K Hokkaido-Yo Original, Grape and Fuji apple flavours
http://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.hk/2012/05/circle-k-exclusive-hokkaido-yo.html
Circle K Hokkaido-Yo Sweet Purple potato
http://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.com/2013/03/hokkaidoyopurplepotato.html

La Fermière marron

The chestnut yoghurt was contained in a pretty glass jar and at the bottom there was a thin layer of chestnut puree.

The yoghurt had a lovely tart taste while the sweet starchy chestnut puree at the bottom balanced the tartness of the yoghurt.
It had nice tones of vanilla with visible vanilla seeds in it.

http://www.lafermiere.com/html/gb-moments-plaisir-marron.html

Some of the desserts in the range are contained in pretty ceramic jars such as the creme delice series.
http://www.lafermiere.com/html/gb-cremes-delice-chocolat.html

Kowloon dairy Mochi Ice Chestnut Flavour

This is the new Chestnut flavour from Kowloon dairy, it is chestnut flavoured icecream wrapped inside a thin mochi.

I felt that it was a bit starchy for my liking but then I do not really like artificial tasting chestnut products.

Kowloon dairy Mochi Ice Almond Flavour
http://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.hk/2013/04/kowloon-dairy-mochi-ice-almond-flavour.html

Japanese octopus flavoured soda

Shame this drink doesnt have a website, but the Japanese have come up with these weird fizzy drinks that have a marble at the bottleneck, and you need to push the marble down into the bottle in order to drink it, the bottle neck is obviously smaller than the marble so the marble stays safely in the bottle when you drink it.

Anyway the cool thing about the drink is its unusual flavour, "grilled octopus"

There are nine flavours in total:

1)Original
2)Strawberry
3)Grapefruit
4)Apple
5)Melon
6)Kimchi
7)Chestnut
8)Grilled Octopus
9)Peach

I wish I got the Chestnut one too, maybe next time!!
After trying the grilled octopus flavour, I felt it tasted weird, there was a slight sweetness to it, and it somehow tasted like beer.
The aftertaste was horrible, it was like a mix of wine and old oil.


Octopus drawing


Marble stopper

Marble taken out