good to eat? should they be prepared a certain way?

Just search yahoo or Google for roasting chestnuts

If you roast them in the oven, poke a little hole in each one first. The steem that builds up in them can make them explode and make a mess. My college roomate and I made the mistake of not doing that a long time ago.

Look close for small holes. I drop them in a bowl of water and toss all that float as they are hollow, eaten out. If you leave them in a bowl inside for a few hours you will see a bunch of worms comming out around here.
We cut the hull away and toss the meats in a pan.
You can roast them, steam them, even microwave them. Get enough and you can make a dish that looks and tastes like mashed potatos.

Take a good sharp knife and cut across the tops of each one to roast. Toss them in the microwave for about ten seconds- watch them split open and then put a little oil and salt on them. They are delicious hot but not so much when they cool off. You can roast them the old way too but you still should cut acroos the tops with a good knife.

I like them raw.