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SHORTLY thereafter, we were interrupted by a rustling sound. A young man—specifically, a brown-haired, brown-eyed beastman of the chipmunk-y variety—stepped out of the forest.
“Hey, Tokatechi! You taking proper care of the little scrubs?” he asked.
Techi was unmoved.
“I should hope so, considering that, as a preschool teacher, it’s my job,” she replied. “Shouldn’t you be at work too, bro? What’re you doing out here?”
The young beastman was wearing a shirt and jeans beneath a white apron. He bore a strong resemblance to Techi, so they definitely seemed to be siblings. He carried a large shopping bag in his hand, which he lifted over his head with a rustle, as if to answer her question.
“Just a little treat for the kids,” said the young beastman. Then he turned to me. “I see Mr. Moriya’s replacement has arrived, and it seems the pact has been made. So I can also use this visit to congratulate my little sister. Of course, it’s also the perfect opportunity to introduce myself to Mr. Moriya the Younger. The name’s Arurei Kurikara, older brother of Tokatechi over there. You can call me Rei if you like! Pleased to meetcha!
“I’ve got to thank you, buddy—working on Mr. Moriya’s orchard has become an important source of income for our household. So, I’m very relieved, from the bottom of my heart, that we can continue helping each other going forward,” Rei finished, flashing a broad grin.
I politely returned the sentiment and his grin only widened. He placed the shopping bag down on the table and started taking out plastic food containers from inside. He placed one of them before me.
“These are candied chestnuts and glazed walnuts, originally picked right here in Mr. Moriya’s orchard. Some people call chestnuts prepared this way marron glacé—did you know that?” asked Rei—rhetorically, of course. “My French isn’t so great, but I believe that marron is the French word for a special kind of chestnut that grows on a marronnier tree. They aren’t regular chestnuts, though! The French call those châtaigne and they grow on a châtaignier, if I’m not mistaken.
“The problem with marrons is that they need a huge amount of prep work before they’re even edible. As a result, they were often substituted with regular chestnuts in recipes, and eventually, those became the norm. So, by the time these recipes got to Japan, there was plenty of confusion around the word marron.
“You know that famous dessert, the Mont Blanc? Its original full name is Mont-Blanc aux marrons. Seems that it used to be made using marrons rather than regular chestnuts.”
It seemed that Rei liked distributing facts as well as desserts. He took the lids off two containers and rummaged around in his bag for utensils. He handed Techi and me a fork each and clearly wanted us to dig in right away, judging by the big smile plastered across his face.
I peered into the plastic box and selected a chestnut to start with. I pierced it with my fork and popped it into my mouth. Almost immediately, the refreshing sweetness and aroma filled my whole mouth. There was so much flavor I couldn’t even put it into words. All I could do was keep chewing. I was blown away.
“Ha ha ha! Pretty good, right?” laughed Rei. “The nuts that grow in this orchard are the best you can get. Second to none.”
He took a break from watching me eat to call out to the kids in the treetops. “All right, worker bees! Time for a snack! First one to wash their paws and rinse their mouth out gets the first helping!”
This was greeted by a tremendous cheer, and the children were back on the ground in an instant, like little lightning bolts. A moment later, they were lined up at the faucet, scrubbing away thoroughly like they’d been told. Turning on the faucet proved no obstacle, despite their little chipmunk paws.
Once a child’s paws were clean, Rei reached into his bag and handed them a small hand towel, then a fork. Then, he removed the lid from a child-sized plastic food container and handed that over too. Once everyone had their share, he started chatting idly with Techi. I listened to their conversation with some interest, while keeping most of my attention on the glacé treasures in the box before me.
With each bite, the chestnuts gently released more of their incredible flavor. These were without a doubt the best I’d ever eaten, by a longshot. It was hard to believe a humble chestnut could taste so amazing. Great-Grandpa’s ban made a lot more sense now. The chestnuts and walnuts that grew in the orchard had always been off-limits. They were only for the customers, he’d always said. Not once had he let me try one. Now I knew why. Their flavor was mind-blowing.
The glazed walnuts were almost as good. Again, they made you doubt what you knew about walnuts, bursting with flavor and offering a very satisfying mouth crunch. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of walnuts. Usually, when you buy them, they taste pretty indistinct. You just get this vague nutty flavor—you’re not really sure what you’re eating. But these were completely different. You’d no doubt in your mind that this was the taste of pure, delicious walnuts.
I kept shoveling them into my mouth, one after another, until they were all gone.
That little box of candied nuts had quite possibly been the most delicious thing I had eaten in my entire life. I let out a long, contented sigh. Seeing this, Rei couldn’t help himself, and he broke into a wide smile, his face glowing with self-satisfaction.
“So, you liked it, huh? Glad to hear it! There’s a lot more where that came from, I’ll have you know. I run a shop over that way, deeper in the forest. So, when you’ve got some time on your hands, make sure you come and visit. Of course, don’t forget to bring some money with you—I only do freebies the first time I meet someone, yeah?”
I finally understood how this absurdly delicious dessert had come about. It seemed that Rei was a professional pastry chef—or pâtissier, to stick to his French theme—and he ran his own shop at that. I was very impressed.
“By the way, Mikura,” he continued, “Tokatechi told me just now that you’re interested in food preservation. Now, I’m not saying you have to start with nuts just because you own an orchard. This is a free forest, after all! But you’ve got some great options open to you. Dried walnuts are a very simple way to get started, as are boiled chestnuts which can be refrigerated or frozen for long-term storage. Some people will also boil walnuts with the inner shells still on. And there’s a traditional method for making dried chestnuts known as kachiguri that’s still popular to this day. That last one’s a real classic. Definitely give it a go!
“It’s a shame that the harvest’s so far off. Otherwise, you could use your own produce. But these days, you can easily buy stuff regardless of the season, so make sure you try a bunch of different methods, yeah? If you ever want to learn how to glacé stuff, just come by the shop. I’ll be happy to walk you through it.”