One of the traditions, which mark a real Italian dinner, is the offering of a digestive at the end of the meal. Grappa and bitters (amari in Italian) might be common on most tables but the after-dinner drink that really make you understand you landed in an Italian home are the rosoli. Rosoli are usually alcoholic drinks made by mixing an alcoholic extract with syrup and letting the resulting drink age for a period of time. I always thought the name came from rose oil but doing a bit of etymological research I found the origin of the name to go back to the medieval Latin ros solis, sun dew.
Theres plenty of good ones made commercially but the best (and admittedly the worst) are the homemade ones. Rosoli went out of fashion for a while to come back in the early 90s. One of the rosoli that has had a lot of success abroad and at home in the last two decades is Limoncello, made with lemons coming from Sorrento or Capri. As much as I'd like to spend a few good words on this drink, since it comes from my neighbourhood, I really cant say I like it. I find it always way too sweet, tasting more like a cheap lemon candy than of fragrant Sorrento lemons. I like something with a bit more taste contrast like the Sardinian mirto, made with myrtle berries, or nocino. Nocino is a drink made with green walnuts and spices, which has a nice balance between the sweetness of the syrup and the bitterness of the nuts. Having found a more or less wild-growing walnut tree in a park nearby I decided to keep up this Italian tradition and have a go at Nocino.
Theres a few mystical ideas connected to the making of Nocino. Those believing in the magic of nature pick their walnuts on the 24th of June, ageing then their extract and the finished nocino each for exactly 48 days. Supposedly that should make your nocino taste better. Hum. Given that there are thousand of recipes for this drink I really suspect the ingredients, and not the date of picking or the exact 48 days aging, are what determines the quality.
So, to come up with my own version, I've taken inspiration from four different recipes I've found in Neapolitan cookbooks, matched them and changed what I didn't like. Apart the amount of nuts used what makes all these recipes different is the spices used. Cinnamon and cloves are a constant. Many use vanilla, as extract, lemon rind and nutmeg. I left out the lemon rind, from experience I find it doesn't really fit, and substituted the vanilla extract with a real pod. I also decided to use mace instead of nutmeg since it is supposed to have a finer aroma particularly indicated for sweets and liqueurs. Below you'll find the recipe I'm using to make the alcoholic walnut extract. If you're interested in the end of the recipe check back in 40 days :-). I'll be waiting in anticipation and hopefully soon I'll stop looking at the bottle every 30 minutes.
Nocino, part I
1 litre 80-90% alcohol
10 green walnuts (picked end of June or beginning of July. While the exact date is not too important, it's better not to use walnuts that are too old. The flavour of the outside sheath would be too bitter.)
10 cloves
1 vanilla pod, split along the middle
2-3 mace blades, depending on size
1 litre bottle with a wide opening, very clean or better sterilised by boiling.
With a cleaver quarter the walnuts. Wear gloves and once finished wash both working surface and gloves. The juice that comes out of the walnuts stains badly, though it takes a few hours to go from transparent to dark brown. Put the chopped walnuts in the bottle together with the spices. Fill up with alcohol, close the bottle and leave on a sunny windowsill. Let age for 40 days, shaking every 2-3 days.
What is the flavor of green walnuts like? Do they taste like nuts?
Posted by: josh | July 02, 2004 at 09:25 PM
It's a bit hard to describe. The taste reminds of walnuts but in a more green, unripe way. There's also a definite bitter note. During the alcohol extraction the flavour changes a bit as the unripe flavour/aroma melds with the spices.
Posted by: Alberto | July 03, 2004 at 01:40 PM
Wow, I've never come across Nocino before. (I'm a big fan of Limoncello though.) Is the flavour of the green walnuts more prominent than the spices? It looks to be quite a lot of spices in the jar....
Posted by: Angela | July 03, 2004 at 04:40 PM
What type of alcohol do you use? I mean, 90%? That's rather on the high end...
Posted by: redbeard | July 03, 2004 at 08:54 PM
Alberto,
While I can't normally take any form of alcoholic beverage, I'm very curious to see how this will turn out. It seems to be quite interesting.
By chance where did you find green walnuts? I've never seen them in the shops here.
Posted by: Reid | July 04, 2004 at 12:33 AM
Angela: yes, the walnuts have a more prominent taste. The spices, at the end of the extraction and ageing should blend with the walnuts to round up the flavour. Hopefully :-).
redbeard: 80-90% alcohol is not too difficult to find in Italy since people use it to make this kind of liqueurs. Here in Germany it's a bit harder to find (and a lot more expensive) but it's also availeable.
Reid: I picked the walnuts myself off a tree. I've never seen them on sale.
Posted by: Alberto | July 04, 2004 at 12:56 AM
I bought a bottle of Nocino in Modena while on vacation last year. It's a very unique taste.
Would it matter if you used green English walnuts or green black walnuts to make Nocino? Would the taste be different?
Posted by: Karyn | August 01, 2004 at 10:42 PM
Karyn, I think any of the walnuts you mention would be fine as long as they're still green and no sign of the walnut "shell" is visible, if they're too advanced in the ripening they'll taste very bitter. I don't think there would be a big taste difference, maybe only slight ones.
Posted by: Alberto | August 02, 2004 at 11:24 AM
looking for green walnuts in the shell where can i purchase them if i do not have access to a tree?
melissa
Posted by: mellissa | October 07, 2004 at 09:29 PM
Melissa, I have no clue how things are in other countries but in Italy you can order green walnuts from your greengrocer in season, i.e. middle June to middle July, given that quite a few people make their own nocino at home.
Posted by: Alberto | October 08, 2004 at 10:03 PM
How did the nocino come out? I had some the other night at an Italian restaurant...brand name was Aggurzzato or some such... it was lovely. Hope yours was too!
Posted by: su-z-q | January 10, 2005 at 10:45 PM
su-z-q, you're right! I never wrote a follow up to this. Stay tuned, the conclusion of the nocino story is coming up soon.
Posted by: Alberto | January 11, 2005 at 09:48 AM
any idea where I can buy green walnuts in the US?
Posted by: dana | May 19, 2005 at 01:02 AM
At home in Dalmatia my Granny used to make this and she used only walnuts, sugar and grappa. Years later when my Mum tried to make some, she was advised by couple of elderly aunts to put few whole coffee grains (don't ask me why!). She decided to stick to my Granny's recipe and it worked. My Gran also used sour cherries instead of walnuts - I'm sure you've tasted maraschino before! Finally, my best friend uses some rose petals and that works a treat!
Posted by: lunarossa | May 21, 2005 at 06:26 PM
Hi lunarossa, the cofegrain addition is intriguing, maybe I'll try that next time. There's quite a number of recipes like the ones you mention, limoncello probably being the most known. All these "rosoli" (the way they're called in Italian) were very popular at the beginning of the XX century but their popularity seemed to go down after that. In the last few years there has been a return to rosoli, mainly because of the interest home cooks are showing in them. Thogh I often find these too sweet for my taste I think it is great thzat people bring those old recipes back to life again.
Posted by: Alberto | May 23, 2005 at 09:58 AM
Did you ever post the results of the nocino you made last year? I'm preparing to make it this week and am curious to see how yours came out.
Posted by: Tracy | June 20, 2005 at 07:04 PM
Tracy, I never got around posting the results of my nocino experiment so I will do so now here. The Nocino was a success and of the two bottles I made, only a couple of ml are left. Everyone who tasted it enjoyed it.
Being the hairsplitting pain that I am, I thing it could have been improved. I found the alcohol content slightly too high, but then also the sugar, so I would slightly reduce both next time. I also think that a wee bit less spices and the additon of the lemon pill I left out are worth a try.
Posted by: Alberto | June 22, 2005 at 10:56 AM
Wow this reminds me of the time I lived in Italy (Gaeta). Our good friends made their own Nocino, after a great feast we would sit down and have drink. Oh the memories!!!
Posted by: David | July 19, 2005 at 07:37 AM
Does it have to stay on sun from dawn to dusk ? I have enough sun on my windowsill up to midday.
By the way, after putting quartered walnuts in alcohol, the concotion got totay black after a bit more than 24 hours. Is it normal ?
Posted by: Ferania | July 31, 2005 at 01:31 AM
Ferania, just keep the alcoholic infusion where it is. I think it is plenty of sun as it is. There's also recipes that will tell you to keep the infusion in the dark at all times, but since I've always seen it done this way (in the sun) I have no reason to test this.
The alcohol will indeed turn deep brown rather quickly.
Posted by: Alberto | August 01, 2005 at 01:33 AM
Hi
I have followed the instructions for nocino and, after 40 days,I'm now ready to finish it.What comes next?
Regards
Barrie
Posted by: Barrie | August 14, 2006 at 08:11 PM
I love making Nocino. I have even made it as late as July/August in California. In regards to Barrie, I like to turn mine into ice cream. David Liebovitz, and ex pastry chef at Chez Panisse has a good recipe for a custard like a pot de creme made with Nocino.
Also I have always made mine in a cool dark place, so i don't think it matters much.
Your photos are lovely.
Posted by: shuna fish lydon | August 24, 2006 at 07:28 AM