Silly Question about Chestnuts

[WigWamBam]

Is it safe to give chestnuts to my daughter? She's 3y5m old, and has really enjoyed gathering chestnuts, and if I could I'd like to let her try eating some of the ones she's picked. I know they don't recommend nuts before the age of five, and she's never had any before, but does anyone know if cooked chestnuts are OK?

Just bumping this up

Thanks for the bump Soupy!

Does anyone know?

I am not sure, but my ds, who is 4, has a severe nut allergy and we did not even know this until few months ago, when he went in for allergy testing because of severe asthma. Sorry, thats not meant to scare you, how about opening a cooked one and letting her touch it first to see if there is any kind of reation?

Obviously they are sweet chestnuts?
Haven't heard about the nuts before 5 rule - I thought it was a year (DS2 eats peanut butter quite often) I can't see that there would be a problem - they're only the same as other nuts surely? It would be good for her to cook and eat something she's picked herself IMO

Yes but lots of children are allergic to nuts, I personally wouldn't allow mine to try peanuts before school age.

Yes - sweet chestnuts! It's whole, fresh nuts that they recommend no to give before 5, because they can choke and bits can become lodged in their lungs, but I wasn't sure whether the same would apply because I've never eaten cooked chestnuts so don't know whether they soften enough to make it safe! I think I'm going to give it a go, cook them to within an inch of their lives to soften them well and let her try. I think it would be great for her to eat something she's had so much enjoyment from gathering. Thanks both of you!

I thought the nuts rule was before 3 and only peanuts

cooked chestnuts are quite soft though (and very yummy) .. personally I would .. but be careful cos they get very hot

I only meant incase of allergy with peanuts.

i love them in buttery sprouts

WTF?

cooked sprouts
then get some chestnuts freind in butter ad mix up

sprouts?

and chestnuts????

uck

yum

My husband likes them buttered with sprouts too. I don't fancy them cooked but they're gorgeous raw, straight from the tree.

The advice about nuts at the moment seems to be not to give whole nuts of any kind to children under 5 in case of choking. If there is a family history of allergy avoid nuts in any form until the age of 3, otherwise ground nuts, peanut butters and so on can be given from around 9 - 12 months.

Think the chestnuts you get from the market are totally different to the ones you can collect on trees. Horse chestnuts/Beech chestnuts. I only know cos dds collected loads that I knew we couldn't roast

There are two different sorts of chestnut trees, Carla - horse chestnuts (conkers) which you can't eat, and sweet chestnuts which you can. Nutting was one of my favourite activities when I was a kid and nothing beats a fresh sweet chestnut straight from the tree!

There's no family history of allergies to nuts in our family yet my ds age4 has a severe allergy.