"There were great, round, potbellied baskets of chestnuts..tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence." What does this quote mean?is...

The other answers given are great.  The last time I read a Christmas Carol was in the summer of 1968 -- I was in seventh grade and really couldn't make heads or tails of much of Dickens, but have the story engaged me so that I have never let a Season pass without watching productions of the novel and its five staves.  Somehow over the years, the copy I read disapparated between colleges, wives, and travels.

Then this year, a friend gave me her old paperback copy of Carol for Christmas.  Now, some 42 years later, I began reading it as a cross reference for all the different movie versions of the Dickens original.  I made time to read the entire novel, and as you might expect, was rewarded many times over by Dickens' insight and foresight of a world of Ignorance and Wont. 

Fascinating as this Christmas pasttime was I kept coming back to the turn of phrase that has raised the question and answers about apoplectic chestnuts.  So today I found my way to this site!

I found the posted answers to be very insightful and they lead me to another observation -- the genius of Dickens and his command of the language.  For not only does he conjugate stroke (apoplexy) with visible wealth (opulence) in what seems to be a paradox, but he engages onomatopoeia by emulating the sound of chestnuts as they roast and pop on the fire!

So to you all, great and small, God Bless Us Down to Our Chestnuts!