Late August is traditionally much too late to make Nocino. In principle, you have to be able to cut the green nuts in four, and at the end of August that is no longer so easy. The woody outside of the walnut is already much too hard inside the green shell to be able to cut the nut.
But… I didn’t want to wait a year to finally make nocino, so voila, in a not-so-traditional way.
Nocino? Che?
Nocino is the Italian name for walnut liqueur. It is made by letting green walnuts soak in alcohol, with sugar and possibly some flavourings such as lemon or orange peel, vanilla, cinnamon, … . The result is a very dark brown liqueur, with a taste that, if I remember correctly, tends towards port.
Either you use 96% alcohol, to which you then sieve the walnuts and herbs after about 2 months and add sugar water, or you use 40% alcohol (vodka), to which you add the sugar all at once.
My version
Instead of cutting the walnuts in quarters, I peeled them. Then I used a nutcracker to crack them. Since it is an experiment, I did not add any more flavorings, first see how the taste evolves. I can't find much about experiences with 'late' nocino, but it could become quite bitter.
i used:
- 15 green walnuts
- 750 ml 40% alcohol
- 200g raw cane sugar
Tip: use an old cutting board and plastic gloves, otherwise you will notice why walnut was used as a dark brown dye in the past. You don't notice it right away, but after half an hour your fingers are dark brown, and you can't get that off right away... :) .
And now the waiting can begin. Shake occasionally and filter in about a month and a half. Then let it mature for another 2 months.
I'll keep you posted!
Update: this year I made Nocino again, on time this time :) , you can read all about it here .