Fire up that roaster…for chestnuts?

Pamela shows you how to use a drum roaster typically used for chili peppers to roast chestnuts for promotions.

By Pamela Riemenschneider
December 3, 2018
2 minute read

How many retailers are out there roasting chestnuts over an open fire for a fun holiday promotion? I’m guessing there aren’t many.

Contrast that to the number of retailers that drag out a drum roaster to roast chili peppers in August and September. The number of those has increased steadily over the past several years.

What if I told you … you can use that drum roaster for all kinds of things, including chestnuts!
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I spoke with the folks at Arizona Chile Roasters at the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit in Orlando back in October about all of the possibilities for drum roasters. I happened to already own a table top model, which is more appropriate for restaurant or home use, but these guys are the ones who make the big ones for live roasting events at grocery stores.

They told me you can roast just about anything, so I’ve tried (in addition to the standard Hatch chili), corn, eggplant, onions, tomatillos, garlic and, now, chestnuts.

And let me tell you, it was fun, and it worked really well.

Any retailer wanting to have a fun weekend event should break out their drum roaster, fire up the Nat King Cole and get roasting.

Pamela Riemenschneider is the Retail Editor for Blue Book Services.

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