Mmm… spent days making Marron Glacé the other year. Now I’m wondering if I was actually brewing up a “deadly potion” 
Perhaps just as well I was disappointed with the result and chucked the lot away… 
Seems that “conkers have no tassel” is the easiest way to tell the difference. So I shall keep my eyes peeled and be very discerning when out scavenging. 
I can’t believe people would mix them up, they’re different, as are the trees! I suppose it’s easier if you’ve grown up in the country collecting them as kids and in an area where there are both. The châtaigneraies around here for instance. 
Is this a damning indictment of the knowledge/intelligence of the population?
not sure and surprised at the lack of knowledge/problems bought up in the article. We use chestnuts in cooking no problem but OH and I have grown up in horse and sweet chestnut areas (albeit it in different countries)
I grew up in the inner city, and I know the difference. So rather amazed as it’s not hard to tell them apart.
As the article says… one of the frequently made “mistakes”
Frankly, I can understand confusion, when the French is flowing much too fast. (I’ve been there, done that…)
Marrons can be delicious - and come from the Châtaigne tree. (chestnut)
Conkers/horse chestnuts are poisonous and come from the Marrons d’Inde tree. (marrons???)
Seems like many get caught out : https://www.bienpublic.com/france-monde/2019/09/24/marrons-et-chataignes-gare-a-la-confusion 
But when talking about the raw fruit we always use châtaigne for sweetchestnuts and marron for conkers. Once cooked you can call them what you like!
Whatever… I’m looking forward to the cêpes which today’s rain will surely bring forth in the woodlands…
another opportunity to brew up a lethal potion ?.. mmm… nope.
I have not found a way of cooking cepes that make them palatable?
I will only use the ‘stalks’ if they are very firm.
Always preferable to have a firm stalk Lily !
Every time Peter!
I love cèpes but you have to pick and eat them young: chop them into bits as big as the last joint of your thumb and then fry them quickly in a hot pan with a bit of salt, parsley and garlic.
The mistake is waiting for them to be huge and old - the underneath shouldn’t be khaki and slimy. Once they are like that personally I dislike them, yet lots and lots of people around here LOVE them like that…
This is how we receive them from our neighbours, size of a side plate! They pick so many like this, but I usually find someone that likes them. Maybe It’s time to say, pas pour moi merci 
Dry them…and then they are great crumbled up and popped into sauces and the like adding a deep mushroomy flavour.
You can freeze them as well but everything in the freezer will taste of cèpe. I had cèpe and vanilla, cèpe and white chocolate, cèpe and crème brûlée ice cream that way…
Have you tried drying the really big ones (chopped into slices )?
The flavour intensifies tremendously. Dried ceps are really useful in a mushroom risotto 're hydrated and added to the stock, ground to a powder they add a lot of flavour to any stew…
I can’t resist posting a link here to another website about chataigne vs marron; it gave a lot of good info.
Great to learn about how to use cepes, by the way. We went out to look for field mushrooms today, found a few beauties but so far no cepes. Will keep looking, might be too early, though from what folks are saying it’s good to get them when smaller…
Cheers.