Marron Glacé

The candying of chestnuts is old: the first known recipe appeared in Lyon in the 16th century, and François Pierre La Varenne's 1667 confectionery manual 'Le parfaict confiturier' describes drying chestnuts in sugar, with the sweet gaining standing at the late-17th-century court of Louis XIV. Authorship has long been disputed between French and Piedmontese makers, so any single 'first' is best treated cautiously. The solid anchor is industrial: in 1882 the engineer Clément Faugier set up production at Privas in the Ardèche — long the heart of French chestnut country — and in 1885 used the broken pieces to create crème de marrons.

Yielding and tender, almost dissolving on the tongue rather than needing a chew; very sweet, with a thin glossy sugar glaze giving way to a soft, moist, faintly grainy chestnut interior. The flavour stays unmistakably chestnut — nutty, warm, mildly earthy — under the sugar, often lifted by a trace of vanilla.

Candying works by osmotic dehydration. The chestnut is steeped in syrup whose sugar concentration is raised a little each day over several days; sugar gradually moves into the kernel while water moves out, so dissolved sugar slowly replaces the cell water without collapsing the flesh. Done slowly the chestnut stays whole and tender; rushed with too strong a syrup too fast, it shrinks, toughens or disintegrates. A final dip in a thin syrup and a brief drying set the glossy glaze. The fragile sweet marron variety must be handled gently throughout, which is why so much of the work is patient soaking rather than active cooking.