Thursday, October 11, 2012

Juglans regia

Small batch Nocino from Zürich, Switzerland
You can’t have any of this. You can’t buy it, and I’m not going to give you any. Sure, you might be able to buy that overpriced stuff from Napa. Or you might be able to find some Nocello and tell yourself that it’s close enough. It’s very good and it does come from Emilia-Romagna, but it’s not real Nocino. It has hazelnuts and vanilla, and that just isn't proper Nocino.

This particular Nocino was made lovingly by hand by a friend of mine in Switzerland and it is precious. So you can't have any of it. But you can make some for yourself if you want. Here’s a recipe. Not THE recipe, mind you – that too is not something I’m going to give you, and you couldn't get the ingredients if you wanted to anyway – but this will probably produce something palatable, and if you do it right, you won't go blind.   

All you need is about 30 green walnuts (preferably collected on St. John the Babtist Day – right around June 24), a fifth of your favorite neutral alcoholic beverage (think grappa, vodka, or grain alcohol), some sugar and spice, and lots of time. It takes a month or two to soak the walnuts and then ideally a year in the bottle before the sweet, black elixir reaches its final maturity. For your edification, here's a video of the process featuring the strangest Italian accent I've ever heard.

If you ever find yourself in Brisighella, make sure to stop by the Terra di Brisighella and pick up a couple of bottles. The olive oil and Grappa there are also quite good.

No comments:

Post a Comment