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author bio and active links are intact. A email notification of how you use it would be greatly appreciated.The "Liang Xiang" chestnuts are well known. Here "Liang Xiang" refers to old "Liang Xiang" county, is equivalent to part of mountain area of "Fangshan" district of Beijing, and is not "Liang Xiang" village county. "Liang Xiang" chestnuts really are "Fangshan Chinese chestnuts".
There are many ways to eat chestnuts, but most popular one is sugar roasted chestnuts.
As soon as chestnuts are harvested in autunm, you'll see cauldrons are set up at every corner of street. Mix chestnuts with sand, sprinkle plain sugar syrup, fry till sand becomes pitch-black. The chestnuts will then look shinning and bright as if a layer of oil has been applied to shells. The burning smell flutters all over. People like me who are craving for chestnuts would come to buy by following smell wihtout sellers' calling out. People used to use shovel to fry, now process is electrically operated.
The history of Beijing sugar roasted chestnuts is quite long.
The old "Zhitang" man copies others quotes from Lu You's "Old School Notes" in "Roasted Chestnuts", talking about a chestnut roasting story: The most well-known and best-selling chestnuts in Northern Song Dynasty Kaifeng were roasted by Li, HeEr. Others were trying everything possible to imitate, but no one did at end. During Southern Song Dynasty Shaoxing years, Song's embassador was sent to Jin (an old country in China) and arrived now Beijing. Suddenly two people, who called themselves "Li, HeEr", sent in 20 bags of sugar roasted chestnuts, then left with tears.
