Homemade Hipster Walnut Liqueur: Nocino Pt. I

If you frequent the occasional cocktail bar, you already know that Amari (i.e., the plural of "Amaro") are all the rage these days. We even found Amaro Averna in a teeny tiny little liquor store in rural Maryland the other day. That seems to imply that it’s a growth industry.
 
Have you ever had fantasies of making a homemade version of this hipster cocktail staple? Do you live in North America, the UK, or Europe? Do you know where there’s a walnut tree nearby? If you answered yes to all three of these questions, you should go to the tree (literally right now, the window for this is closing), grab a bunch of the little green, unripe walnuts, and follow the easy recipe below. We prefer black walnuts for making our version, but the regular English or French varieties will work too. 

Green nuts fresh from black walnut trees in the backyard

All you need is basic caveman-level food prep skills and some patience, and in just two months you will have a complex, spicy amaro to impress all your friends and hand out as personalized presents over the next year.
 
Let’s start with some basics, though, what is this strange elixir called amaro? In a nutshell, it’s a bittersweet liqueur with complex flavors and aromas, often enjoyed as a digestif after heavy meals. The most famous amari hail from the land of the pasta waistband tightener, Italy (of course), but France and many other European countries have their own versions. Though often enjoyed neat or chilled, it can be used to great effect in cocktails. 

A quartered green walnut

Having literally just gone to the backyard and harvested three Black Walnut trees for their immature nuts, we are well on our way to making one of our favorites called Nocino (Italy) or Liqueur de Noix (France). As this is a multi-part post, we won’t go too far into the tasting notes, but suffice it to say that just a barspoon full of this homemade liqueur can elevate a Manhattan, Old Fashioned, or even standard black coffee to gourmand-level heights. It’s that good.  

Day 1 of nocino - fresh from being mixed

Recipe
-20 green nuts from a Black Walnut tree (or 30 green English/French Walnuts)
-2.5 cups sugar
-1 liter cheap 80-horsepower vodka
-2 sticks of good quality cinnamon
-1 whole vanilla bean (don’t use extract – this receipt is worth splurging on the good stuff)
 
Other spices and flavorings.
David Lebovitz uses 10 cloves and the zest of one lemon. We’ve used his recipe many times and love it, but wanted to tweek it to our tastes
https://www.davidlebovitz.com/liqueur-de-noix-green-walnut-liq/
We used:
-1 ts grains of paradise
-7 dried cubeb (an aromatic pepper from Java) berries
 
Directions
-Mix the sugar with the vodka, doing your best to make a nice solution. Don’t worry if some sugar is on the bottom. It will eventually incorporate.
-Quarter the green walnuts with a sharp paring knife. We recommend using gloves as there is a pigment in the walnuts that will turn your skin temporarily black. Place them in the vodka.
-Add in the remaining spices and vanilla bean
-Shake to incorporate
-Set in a cool, dark place and shake every day for two solid months. Yes, you need to be patient here and let the walnuts do their magic.
 

Nocino day two - not yet looking like nocino.

Nocino day three - this is when it starts to get the green-black color it's famous for.