This black walnut liqueur recipe will teach you how to make your own walnut liqueur from immature, green walnuts! Perfect for sipping, or gifting.
Our homestead is blessed with a number of mature black walnut trees, from which we make cutting boards for our Etsy shop, dye fibers, make syrup, make ink, and eat the nut meats.
Last year we added another black walnut product to our growing list – a homemade black walnut liqueur (also known as nocino). Made from immature, green walnuts, nocino hasa dark, nutty flavorthat is perfect for sipping, or gifting. This black walnut liqueur recipe will teach you how to make your own!
According to the book Preserving Wild Foods byMatthew Weingarten andRaquel Pelzel, green walnuts are traditionally harvested on June 24th, to be enjoyed six months later as a Christmastime ritual.
With that date right around the corner, let me share with you the process by which we make this Black Walnut Liqueur recipe.
The photo above shows the immature (green) black walnuts. We did indeed harvest the green walnuts on June 24th, but you may need to adjust the date for your location and climate.
Simply look for walnuts that are about the size of a small lemon. You will need about 25 walnuts for this walnut liqueur recipe.
We loosely followed the nocino recipe in Preserving Wild Foods, which calls for the addition of lemon rind, cinnamon sticks, and star anise, but you could also omit the spices for a purerblack walnut flavor.
Homemade Black Walnut Liqueur Recipe
To begin making your homemade black walnut liqueur, slice approximately 25green walnutsinto quarters and place them in a half gallon or gallon sized mason jar.
Add 1 cinnamon stick and afew star anise pieces.
Add the zestof one lemon, peeled into large strips.
Cover the ingredients with vodka. We used about 3 cups ofvodka – no need to purchase quality vodka, the cheap stuff will do just fine! Place a lid on your mason jar and shake. Set the jarin your pantry, or another cool place, to steep.
After two or three months, strain the contents and add a sugar syrup, made by dissolving 1-2 cups of sugar in 1/2 to 1 cup of water. (You can adjust the proportions to make a stronger or sweeter end result.)
Placethe resulting liqueur into a jar or bottle, again covering and storing in a cool place for another 3-4 months.
It’s hard to describe this unique dark, sweet, slightly nutty flavor. It’s lovely sipped, it’s very nice mixed in cold milk (think Baileys and cream or Kahlua and milk), and a friend of ours creatively crafted a new nocino-inspired co*cktail. Cheers!
Collect immature walnuts in May or June and make nocino, or black walnut liqueur to enjoy at the holidays! Give this simple and delicious recipe a try!
Prep Time20 minutes
Resting 3 months2 seconds
Total Time3 months20 minutes2 seconds
Ingredients
25 green walnuts
1 cinnamon stick
a few star anise pieces
1 lemon
3 cups vodka
sugar syrup (dissolve 1-2 cups of sugar in 1/2 to 1 cup of water)
Instructions
To begin making your homemade black walnut liqueur, slice approximately25green walnutsinto quarters and place them in a half gallon or gallon sized mason jar.
Add1 cinnamon stick and afew star anise pieces.
Add thezestof one lemon, peeled into large strips.
Cover the ingredients with vodka(we used about 3 cups ofvodka – no need to purchase quality vodka, the cheap stuff will do just fine!), place a lid on and shake.Then set the jarin your pantry, or another cool placeto steep.
After two or three months,strain the contents and add a sugar syrup, made by dissolving 1-2 cups of sugar in 1/2 to 1 cup of water. (Adjust the proportions to make a stronger or sweeter end result.)
Placethe resulting liqueur into a jar or bottle, again covering and storing in a cool place for another 3-4 months.
Notes
It’s hard to describe this unique dark, sweet, slightly nutty flavor. It’s lovely sipped, it’s very nice mixed in cold milk (think Baileys and cream or Kahlua and milk), and a friend of ours creatively crafted a new nocino-inspired co*cktail.Cheers!
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Traditionally, Nocino is sipped on its own as a digestif (an after-dinner drink) - just a little pour of something special that warms you from head to toe. But it's great in co*cktails too. We recommend using it in a Milk Punch, Walnut Manhattan, and Nocino Sour.
What it is: Nocino is a more bitter digestivo made from not-fully-ripened green walnuts, not to be confused with its sweeter cousin nocello. Of note, nocino also has ties to when the Roman Empire converted to Christianity under Emperor Constantine. Traditionally, the green walnuts are harvested on June 24th (St.
Green walnuts – Nocino, the diminutive of noce (walnut in Italian) gets it flavor from macerated green walnuts. Grappa, a brandy made from grapes, serves as its base ingredient. Picked early in the season, sliced walnuts still in their husks soak in the grappa to develop its flavor.
Nocino may be stored unrefrigerated, out of the sun now, for several years. The flavor improves with age, so let it rest for a couple months, if you can, before enjoying it.
Nocino is not only delicious (after proper aging) and easy to make, unripe walnuts are high in polyphenols and have many medicinal benefits, most historically noted among them as a digestive and anti-parasitic. Vin de noix, walnut wine, is nocino's near relation traditionally made in France.
Nocino has an aromatic but bittersweet flavor. It may be homemade; villages and even individual families often have their own (oftentimes secret) recipes, including different additions like cinnamon, juniper berries, lemon or orange zest, vanilla pods, coffee beans, or clove.
Instructions: In a co*cktail shaker with ice, combine 1.5 ounces of Cognac (we're using Courvoisier VSOP), 1 ounce of walnut liqueur, 3/4 ounce of lemon juice, and 1/4 ounce of simple syrup. Add a dash of Angostura bitters. Shake all that up, strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice, and garnish with a thin lemon wheel.
A Note on Green Walnut Harvesting & Cutting for Nocino
It's time to harvest them when the green walnuts are about the size of a small lime. This falls between mid-May and early July, depending on how hot your spring is. If it's a warm Mediterranean-like spring, you'll be harvesting sometime between mid-May to mid-June.
The Italian green walnut liqueur Nocino is the winter variant of the Limoncello. It has a rich flavor made with unripe green walnuts, infused with orange peel, coffee beans, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and cloves.
Once you have a bottle of nocino at home, using it in co*cktail is a great way to enjoy its complex flavors. Nocico pairs very nicely with brown spirits like whiskey, Scotch or brandy, and it can be used as a creative substitute for sweet vermouths like Carpano Antica.
Green walnuts are just unripe walnuts harvested before the shells form on the inside, like these black walnuts. Green walnuts (young, unripe walnuts harvested before the shells have formed) are a traditional food in a number of places around the world and one of the most interesting things I've cooked with.
Anisette. It's easy to confuse anisette with, say, pastis or other anise-centered spirits, but it is indeed its own type of liqueur. In contrast to pastis, which can range from 40% to 45% ABV, anisette has a lighter touch, clocking in at a mild 25% ABV.
Hobby: Flower arranging, Yo-yoing, Tai chi, Rowing, Macrame, Urban exploration, Knife making
Introduction: My name is Madonna Wisozk, I am a attractive, healthy, thoughtful, faithful, open, vivacious, zany person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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