Serve the nocino in small liquor glasses
Nocino is a walnut liquor found all over Italy but originating in Emilia Romagna, where so many good Italian foods and wines originate. Used as a digestive after a meal, it’s spicy, slightly bitter and sweet: the spiciness comes naturally from the green nuts, the bitterness of the walnuts is what aids digestion and the sweetness from added sugar makes it all palatable. These contradictory flavors work together to intrique the tastebuds and make it one of the most popular homemade liquors in Italy.
Traditionally, Italians say you must pick the green walnuts on June 24, the feast of St John the Baptist;
but my friend, Davide, who acts as one of the local judges at the yearly nocino contest in Modena, tells me otherwise. As with everything Italian, the rules depend on the region and who you’re talking to and are, of course, numerous and occasionally contradictory.
Davide makes excellent, award-winning nocino, and he also has an acetaia outside of Modena in Emilia Romagna making traditional balsamic vinegar. He’s quick to point out that nocino originated in his region and that it must be made with only green walnuts, sugar and alcohol, and if possible aged in a small wood barrel. Many recipes have you add large quantities of cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel, and other spices, but according to Davide when nocino is made correctly it has its own spice and anything else should be added in the smallest of quantities.
The main ingredients are green walnuts and it’s most important when you pick them. You can use June 24th as a guideline, but some years everything ripens early, and some years everything is late. It’s necessary to cut open the walnut and test the consistency of the liquid that oozes out to see if the walnut is ready. It should be a little gelatinous, not too watery, which also means the walnut is starting to harden its shell and will be more difficult to cut.
Oh and you must use exactly 33 walnuts. Or at least an odd number. He doesn’t know the reason for that rule, just that it’s important to follow.
So when you’ve determined your walnuts are ready and you’ve picked exactly 33 of them, cut them into quarters. You need a large jar, big enough to hold them and with a mouth wide enough to allow you to stir occastionally. You will need to either use a dark jar or wrap the jar in paper as it will sit in the sun for a month. You want the heat of the sun, but not too much direct sunlight. Add the walnuts and 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) of sugar and stir well. Put them outside in the sun and stir them every few days.
After a month you are going to add 1 liter of high quality grain spirits, like everclear. In Italy 95% alcohol is sold in the grocery stores as everyone is always making some kind of digestive or fruit liquor. At this point if you’d like to add other spices, you can. I made nocino once with 10 cloves and it tasted like clove liquor, so if you’re going to use them, one or two will suffice. Maybe one small piece of cinnamon. That’s all. Stir well and leave to macerate another month, tightly covered so the alcohol doesn’t evaporate.
Before I learned to make nocino from Davide, I made it the traditional Tuscan way, which is the same method for making limoncello. The method differs in that the walnuts are soaked in alcohol for a month or two in the sun, after which the nuts are strained out and a simple sugar syrup is added. While the nocino made in this way is good, the results are much better when you macerate the nuts in the sugar and then add the alcohol later.
Sometime around the beginning of September the nocino is strained and put into a wooden barrel, if you’re lucky to have one. If not, just put it into bottles. Nocino needs time to mellow and age and won’t be ready for at least several months and is best after a year. Then serve it after dinner; it is great for digestion and a fun way to preserve memories of the previous summer!