Nocino

Unripe walnuts steeped whole in spirit, picked while the shell has not formed.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 30 green walnuts, picked in late June
• 1 litre neutral spirit, 95 per cent, or vodka
• 700 g caster sugar
• 300 ml water
• 6 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• zest of 1 lemon

Method

1. PICK THE WALNUTS WHILE A KNIFE STILL GOES STRAIGHT THROUGH THEM, husk, shell and all. Late June in England. Once the inner shell has begun to harden — a week or two later — they are no use for this, and nothing will tell you from the outside.
2. Wear gloves. The juice stains hands brown for a fortnight.
3. Quarter them and put them in a large jar with the spirit, cloves, cinnamon and lemon zest.
4. Leave the jar in the sun for 40 days, shaking it when you pass. The liquid goes from green to black.
5. Strain through muslin, pressing the solids, and discard them.
6. Dissolve the sugar in the water, cool it completely, and mix it into the strained spirit. Cold, not warm — warm syrup drives off the alcohol that carries the aroma.
7. Bottle it and LEAVE IT A YEAR before drinking. At six months it is harsh and tastes mostly of cloves; the walnut only comes forward with time.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes