C is for Chestnuts

This ingenious device is designed to remove pips from tomatoes. But you can use it for removing the two skins from chestnuts as well. This has caused us a lot of problems over the years. And led to a lot of burnt fingers! Now it’s a doddle.

For the technically minded, it’s a motorised Archimedes’ screw with an asymmetric helix ! You boil the chestnuts for 45 mins then throw them in the top. The two skins get pushed down the screw and out the other end; the flesh drops out of the screw into a catching dish. Genius!