Divina Cucina

Your Best Friend in Italy

San Giovanni- St. Jean

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June 24 is St. John the Baptist’s day. Patron Saint of Florence.

We make a sweet green walnut liquor, Nocino or Nocilllo, to celebrate.  Walnuts picked now have not yet started to form their shells and you can cut through them to flavor the alcohol.
In Gascony, they make a version which also has red wine, Vin de Noix, which is served as an aperitif.
                        

I came to France to celebrate with my friend Kate in Gascony. We have been cooking away creating a new series which we will be sharing with you soon, called baSIX. More than just the traditional recipes.

Nocino or Nocillo
Italian Walnut Liquor
Part 1
30 walnuts, green & unripe
1 liter of 95% alcohol, Everclear
Part 2
the zest of 1 large lemon, in large pieces
use a potato peeler to zest the lemon.
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
( 13 coffee beans, a new addition I got from Naples)

Part 3
Make a simple syrup by boiling together water and sugar

3-4 cups sugar ( I like mine less sweet so use 3 cups of sugar)
4 cups water

Clean the walnuts with a damp towel and cut in quarters.
(Be careful; they will stain your hands!)

Place in a large jar, with the alcohol and let sit for 24 hours in the sun, and cover with a lid.

Add the the ingredients of part 2.
Shake the jar once a day for 40 days, leaving it in the sun!

Filter and add the simple syrup, cooled, part 3.

Let age for another month.

Serve in tiny glasses at the end of a meal.

I love to drizzle the liqueur over vanilla ice cream. Some people save the walnut pieces, cover them with sherry, and serve them chopped as dessert.

* Everclear in Italy is 95% alcohol which is 190 proof and not for drinking straight.
When I was in California, I found whole grain alcohol, but it was 75% alcohol( 150 proof), not 95%.

This is why you learned fractions in school!
With the 95% alcohol, if you cut the infusion in half by adding an equal part of the simple syrup,
you create a 47% nocino which is 95 proof and drinkable, like a 100 proof vodka.

Using the California whole grain, if I do equal parts infusion and simple syrup,
I get a 33% nocino, which is much lighter.

If you want to make it less alcoholic, increase the amount of simple syrup.

2 parts of simple syrup to one part infusion gives you a 33% alcohol nocino with the 95%
but with the Californian version would be 25%, very light.

Often recipes suggest using 100 proof Vodka in the states.
That only needs sugar added.

In doing my research I also found recipes that included: quinine bark, dried rose buds and orange rind.

Everyone has a version. I hope you enjoy creating your own.

Let me hear about your results.

My husband says I am a bit of a strega, witch, when I start making my potions,
but I adore the alchemy that has been passed on through the ages.

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