# OLd World Nocino Recipe



## Dugger (Mar 1, 2012)

The latest news letter from Grapestompers had this interesting recipe that some of you may wish to try - it sounds rather intriguing! OK, so who's got walnut trees?!

Stomper Guest Column
Old World Italian Nocino Recipe
By Frank Catanzarite, Lakeland, FL
From a posting in r e c . f o o d . d r i n k from Luca Roncadi :
In the Italian province of Modena, a very popular homemade liqueur is named Nocino.
Nocino is sweet-bitter, thick and syrupy, with a dark color like ink. In Modena Land
there are a lot of recipes to prepare Nocino, every family has his secret in composition,
time and handling. In Spilamberto, a small town near Modena, an Association for
Nocino was founded, the members being all women, and yearly they organize contest
where a prize is give to the best Nocino of the year.
To infuse Nocino, the tradition is to use an odd number of nuts (normally
29) and cut in quarters. The nut bowl must be in a very sunny place and very often it is
better to control the level of the liquid inside and fill with a syrup of sugar and water
prepared beforehand.
What you must know:
The walnuts for Nocino must be collected at night between June 24th and 25th
because in these days the nut-husk is rich with substance, but also because we
consider these nights magic, especially the dew, as it is known as "St. John dewy"
Nocino must be served very cold at the end of the meal as a digestive.
In the past, after filtering the Nocino, the nuts remained inside the bowl and was
infused again with white wine to obtain a special vermouth.
Ingredients
. 30 walnuts
. 1 1/2 liters of pure Alcohol [grain alcohol]
. 750 g sugar
. 10 g cinnamon
. 10 g cloves
. rind of 1 lemon, sliced and scraped
. 400 ml water
Cut the 30 green walnuts with the kernel into 4 parts and put them in a 3
liter jar, add the alcohol and half of the sugar along with the spices and
lemon rind. Tightly seal the jar and place the infusion in a sunny place in
direct sunlight. With the water and the other half of the sugar, a water and sugar syrup
will be prepared, by melting the sugar in lukewarm water on a low heat.
During the time that the infusion remains in the sun, ensure that the
walnuts are covered at all times by syrup prepared previously. After 2
months the infusion of walnuts, alcohol and other ingredients will have a
mauvish-black color - at this point add the remaining syrup and remove from
the sunlight. The infusion should be bottled during Autumn equinox; it should be filtered
with special paper cones or with layers of gauze in the funnel.
Store the bottle in the cellar and consume after one year.
Serve ice cold; ideal as digestive after a meal.
Units of measurement (unless stated otherwise)
1 cup = 8 ounces = 236ml 1 quart = 32 ounces = 944ml
1 tbsp (tablespoon) = 1/2 ounce = 15ml 1 fifth = 25.6 ounces = 750ml
1 tsp (teaspoon) = 1/6 ounce = 5ml 1 pint = 16 ounces = 472ml


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## bob1 (Mar 1, 2012)

I dont know about this. i love black walnut but this sounds something like oregan grapes. It needs to taste good young to make a good wine I think.


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## Dugger (Mar 1, 2012)

I have no idea what this would taste like and I suspect it is more of a liquor than a wine ... probably shouldn't have posted it under a wine!
I just found the whole story/legend thing interesting and thought I would share it with you.


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## Jinhua (Jun 30, 2012)

I am drinking the nocino I bottled three years ago, and it is delicious. One tip I read: instead of slicing the walnuts, which is tedious, put them in a thick food bag and smash them with a mallet. Fast, easy, neat and releases all the fruit for the maceration.


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## ccrosson (Jul 1, 2012)

If you're looking for the Green Walnuts, I ordered mine here ~ they're beautiful, and so aromatic!

http://www.localharvest.org/green-walnuts-C19993


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