In chestnut-growing areas like the Châtaigneraie, there used to be only three ways of preserving the bounty of the chestnut crop: drying the chestnuts in sécadous and then sometimes turning them into flour, sterilizing them in jars, or making chestnut jam or, in its puréed form, crème de marrons. Nowadays, of course, there is a fourth possibility - freezing — which best preserves the flavour of the fresh chestnut.

But chestnut jam can