The main ingredients are only three and very simple: chestnuts, water and sugar, to which in most cases vanilla is added; however, the long and complex preparation and quality of the raw material makes marron glacé a valuable and also quite expensive product.

For the success of marron glacé, in fact, it is not enough to use any type of chestnut ; they are usually prepared with chestnuts, precious cultivated chestnuts that have the characteristic of being bigger, rounder, lighter and sweeter than the common wild chestnuts; moreover they peel more easily.

The preparation times for these delicious chestnut-based cakes are quite long and the gestures to make are only apparently simple. To make marron glacé at home it takes, in fact, several days and lots of patience, to peel the chestnuts without breaking them and to follow carefully all the long preparation process, until the complete glaze.

However, trying the recipe is not necessary because the marron glacé can be bought in pastry shops and can also be found in large-scale distribution and on specialized websites on the Web. They are not cheap, but all quality products are known to have a cost.

Read also The properties of chestnut flour >>

How to taste marron glacé

The best way is to eat them as they are, as you would do with the most delicious of pastries. They can be served at the end of a meal and are also suitable for special occasions: Christmas, New Year, birthdays ... They are excellent served with tea or, for a more alcoholic combination, with rum.

A handful of marron glacé is enough to decorate a cake or make a simple vanilla ice cream cup more interesting . For example, a common chestnut cake becomes more interesting and sumptuous if we decorate it with marron glacé alternating with tufts of whipped cream.

Whole are beautiful and almost sorry to break them, but another way to use marron glacé is to crumble them before adding them to creams, ice creams or other sweet recipes .

For example, a very simple and effective dessert can be obtained by preparing single-portion glasses, to be filled with crumbled marron glacé, crumbled meringue and chantilly cream, proceeding in layers and alternating the ingredients.

Another quick and effective idea is to cover them with dark chocolate . Finally, the c repes stuffed with marron glacé and whipped cream are perfect, perfect for breakfast, on days when you expect to have to waste so much energy.

Marron glacé can also be used for unusual salty combinations. An idea? A simple bread crouton becomes more interesting if filled with cream cheese and a marron glacé.