Fatto il Nocino

Since my last post about all things edible here in our garden, I realized the walnut tree I had not noticed until now is hanging full of green, unripe nuts that in their hulls look more like small pears than the shell nuts we start seeing around the holidays. I noticed Antonio had cut one in half to check the progress of the nut inside, or so I thought. What he may have been doing was seeing how soft the shells still were. In many regions, Italians make an cordial from the unripe walnuts called nocino (walnuts are called noce). I have never been offered nocino here around Naples, but I read that it is the after-dinner drink of choice in Florence.

At any rate, I decided to try my hand at making some even through I admittedly got a late start. Traditional lore holds that you make nocino with the green walnuts picked on the Feast of St. John the Baptist, which I believe is June 24. Over two weeks late and with no experience, I made a half-batch just to see how it would go. The nuts are a little dicey to quarter at this stage, so a good knife is essential. I used one given to us by Lois Ricci, a friend from Atlanta and an excellent cook and caterer, especially of Italian food. It seemed like I was finally using the knife for its destined purpose.

To these, you add spices like cinnamon sticks, cloves, and lemon peel, and sugar to counter the coming bitterness from the walnuts. This all sits around in your distillate of choice for 40 days. You shake it once or twice a day and watch the neon green colored jar start turning toward the brown-black it will eventually become. I'll spare you a photo of the latter, but Ben described it as a science fair experiment gone horribly wrong. We'll know for sure in another few weeks when I will strain and decant it. Most people recommend mellowing it until Christmas, so we may never even get to taste it if I can't bring it back with us. That may not be a bad thing, though, if you could see the state it is in now.