Here's Why You See So Many Chestnuts When Christmas Rolls Around

"The Christmas Song," most famously sung by Nat King Cole, opens with a flurry of Christmas-related imagery: yuletide carols being sung by a choir, mistletoe, and other festive details. But what's the very first line of that song? "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." Walk around any big city or special community holiday events, and you'll likely see someone standing over an open fire — roasting the sweet and nutty fruits of a chestnut tree. The tradition dates back hundreds of years to the celebration of the Feast of St. Martin, which was once an unofficial start to the winter holidays.

St. Martin's Day falls on November 11, celebrating the life of Saint Martin of Tours, a bishop from the fourth century best known for dividing his cloak with a sword so he could share it with a beggar. The day is celebrated by a number of different European nations — occasionally called "European Thanksgiving" due to its timing during the month before Christmas. There are a few different foods associated with the holiday, including roast goose, for the hilariously petty reason that a flock of geese once snitched on Saint Martin when he was in hiding. 

Chestnuts don't have a similar origin story — most likely, they're eaten because they're ready to be harvested around that time — but they're a cherished winter tradition all the same. Chestnuts were also once wildly abundant in America, with trees practically covering the entire Eastern Seaboard, so the tradition could carry on stateside.

Once abundant, America's chestnut trees experienced a terrible blight in the early 1900s. While chestnuts are no longer quite as common as they once were,  the tradition of roasting them over an open fire during December hasn't disappeared entirely. Thanks to the wonders of importation, we can source chestnuts from abroad and pick up a bag of the perfectly roasted treats in many locations, including from street vendors in New York City.

Depending on where you go, you may find a couple of different chestnut-roasting methods. In Manhattan, they'll likely be kept in a foil pan under heat, much like the honey-roasted nuts you can get at any time of year in the city. Meanwhile, in the Flushing neighborhood, chestnuts are roasted over a pit of hot pebbles, similar to how they're cooked in China. (China, and other Asian countries like South Korea, still happily consume chestnuts as a street food — if you want a taste of Asian street food, YouTube has you covered.) Perhaps one day, chestnuts will be seen as one of many old-school Christmas dishes we've forgotten about, but that day hasn't come just yet. And hey, if you want them for yourself, you can just pop the nuts in the air fryer and give them a beautiful toast.