Nocino: Italian Walnut Liqueur

Jan 6, 2012
Glynis Macri

Nocino fermenting in a cask - CS

A smooth drink to sip at the end of a meal or late in the afternoon.

Nocino is a very drinkable walnut liqueur that comes from Modena in Emilia Romagna. It is sweet while at the same time finishes clean with a bitter aftertaste, thick and syrupy in the mouth, it is dark in colour like ink.

Nocino has been made in Italy for centuries and in Spilamberto, a small town near Modena, there is an association ‘The Ordine del Nocino Modenese’, which was formed in October 1978. All of its members, surprisingly, are women and they organise the annual Nocino contest where a prize is given for the best Nocino each year. Using a standard recipe, that is freely available, I suspect each lady has certain secrets to make her Nocino stand out.

Facts about Nocino worth knowing

You need 29 green walnuts to make Nocino. Apparently an uneven number makes a better liqueur – don’t ask why.
The nuts for Nocino must collected the night between June 24th and 25th (in Italy) because not only on this day is the husk substantially richer but also because it is considered to be a magical night with a special dew known as ‘St. John dew’.
Nocino must be served very cold at the end of the meal as a digestive.
In the past, after the nuts had been filtered for the Nocino, those remaining inside the bowl are infused again with white vine to obtain a special vermouth.

Ingredients

29 green walnuts (traditionally an odd number)
1 litre of pure alcohol
750 g sugar
10 g cinnamon
10 g cloves
zest of 1 lemon
400 ml water

Cut the 29 green walnuts into four pieces and put them in a 3 litre 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, prepare a sugar syrup (melt 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 the syrup prepared previously. After two months the infusion of walnuts, alcohol and other ingredients will have a mauve-black colour – at this point add the remaining syrup and remove from the sunlight.
The infusion should be bottled during the autumn equinox; it should be filtered using paper coffee filters or with layers of gauze. Store the bottle in the cellar and consume after a year.