It's Christmas time again and that means chestnut time! But what you don't know about chestnuts may surprise you.
Just like any other nut, chestnuts have a good dose of healthy fats and some protein for good measure.
They also have more fiber (3 grams per 100 grams) than pecans, pistachios, or walnuts. Potassium, copper, and magnesium are in there, too.
But there are a few unexpected aspects of chestnuts. One is their fat content.
Chestnuts don’t have the same type of fats as other nuts (polyunsaturated). Instead, they have oleic acid, the type of fat found in olives, which are technically fruits (because they have a pit).
In another cross-species twist, chestnuts have 50% water — which is not nut-like at all!
By comparison, walnuts have just 3% water.
That makes chestnuts more like a vegetable than a nut. And that’s why chestnuts need to be refrigerated, while other nuts do not.
Chestnuts are also high in vitamin C. That’s weird for a nut, too.
Most other nuts barely tip the vitamin C scale, registering less than a milligram per serving (some don’t have any all).
Chestnuts, however, offer a whopping 21.8 milligrams of vitamin C per serving.
And if that wasn’t curious enough, chestnuts can also be ground into a flour for baking.
Though they’re not in every grocery store, chestnuts are the un-nut worth looking for!
What's your favorite nut?
