Chestnuts roasting on the kitchen stove ....

Meg Prange, who lives on the farm where I grew up, planted chestnut trees several years ago --- and this year had a bumper crop.

You may remember the sad story of the American chestnut, devastated many years ago by a blight that wiped most out. Meg planted a resistant variety that, after unfortunate early encounters with hungry deer, resprouted and flourished.

So she brought me a small bag a week ago and I headed for "Google" to figure out how to prepare the nuts. There are several ways to do this --- so long as you remember to cut through the shell with a sharp knife beforehand. Otherwise, the nuts explode and that would be messy, even dangerous.

I picked what seemed the easiest and most sensible method --- after slicing into the shell, pan-roasting for about 45 minutes over low-to-medium heat in a small cast iron skillet, tossing occasionally.

Because of the slice, the shells opened as the roasting progressed and once cooled a little were fairly easy to remove. The meats were crunchy on the outside, soft and faintly sweet on the inside.

Other native nutmeats --- hickory, black walnut, hazelnut --- are more flavorful. But I liked them and now can say I've roasted chestnuts.