Cuevas Marron Glaces

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

Chest­nuts roast­ing on an open fire, that’s the tra­di­tion­al image of a treat on a snowy day. Mar­ron glaces — can­died chest­nuts — are the quin­tes­sen­tial hol­i­day treat. The nuts are cooked in syrup to about 73 – 75ºC, giv­ing them tex­ture sim­i­lar to a dried apri­cot or prune, with a mild sweet­ness and nut­ti­ness sim­i­lar to sweet potatoes. 

PREPA­RA­TION OR PAIRINGS

The tra­di­tion­al way to eat mar­ron glaces is straight out of the box, with a warm cup of medi­um-bod­ied black tea at your side, like Dar­jeel­ing or our Gryphon Earl Grey Loose Leaf Tea.

Mar­ron glaces can be used in dif­fer­ent desserts, too. Chop mar­ron glaces into your sug­ar cook­ie dough or add them to your banana bread bat­ter. If you’d pre­fer some­thing sim­pler after a deca­dent din­ner, place a few pieces on your vanil­la ice cream. Up your cream cheese game with hon­ey and can­died chest­nuts on top, with crack­ers or toast­ed pita bread on the side. For canapes, load a crack­er with Brie, a bit of pancetta or bacon, and place one mar­ron glacé right on top. Fan­cy a Christ­mas morn­ing treat? Chop up some can­died chest­nuts and sprin­kle a bit of cin­na­mon into your break­fast oatmeal.

A VER­SAILLES TREAT

When cru­saders returned from the Holy Lands, they brought sug­ar back with them. Once they returned to south­ern France, cooks start­ed incor­po­rat­ing sug­ar into their desserts — par­tic­u­lar­ly the local chest­nuts. One of the ear­li­est men­tions of mar­ron glaces comes from the court of Louis XIV in 16^th-cen­tu­ry France. The treat was pop­u­lar­ized by the opu­lent monarch and all his courtiers. They fell out of fash­ion short­ly after the French Rev­o­lu­tion but by the 1800s, mar­ron glaces had reemerged as a com­mer­cial­ly avail­able treat.

Storage Instructions

Store your can­died treat in a cool, dry place. Do not allow the fruit to become frozen. If you must trans­fer it out of its orig­i­nal pack­ag­ing, place it in an air­tight tin.