From ancient times through the modern age, the chestnut was a staple food of the impoverished, providing nutrition and energy to the poorest segment of society for centuries. Consequently, the chestnut was used in all forms, boiled, roasted, and ground into chestnut flour. Though the chestnut is no longer a food necessary for survival, it still carries significant cultural importance throughout Italy to this day. Festivals celebrate the chestnut harvest in Italian villages, and in Liguria, chestnut flour is used to make savory pastas and gnocchi as well as in sweets.

Falling somewhere in between the savory and the sweet is castagnaccio, or chestnut cake. Thin, uniquely flavored and textured, castagnaccio likely derived from the chestnut cakes carried by Roman soldiers on long journeys to the far reaches of the Roman Empire. These primitive cakes were little more than ground chestnuts, combined with water to form a thick paste and baked into a disc for easy transport. Over time, castagnaccio evolved, enriched with pine nuts, rosemary and raisins. castagnaccio, like chestnuts themselves, is in no way exclusive to Liguria; yet it is one of those dishes that each region gives its own unique twist. On the family table or in a bake shop in and around Imperia, you will find castagnaccio flavored with wild fennel seeds.

In that spirit, I set about to put my own particular spin on castagnaccio, which I serve at Babbo every year when chestnuts are in season. My take on this classic cake is decidedly on the side of the sweet, but then again, I am a pastry chef. I like to spike my castagnaccio with dried tart cherries; brushing it with a glaze of warm chestnut honey gives it a glossy sheen and keeps it moist and flavorful. You can purchase chestnut flour in some Italian import shops; otherwise there are a number of online sources such as Todaro Brothers, here in New York, http://www.todarobros.com/ and Dowd & Rogers, http://dowdandrogers.com