Nocino Pt. II

Even the King of the Monsters loves homemade nocino.

Just a few months ago, we started our homemade, just south of the Mason-Dixon Line version of that trendy, hipster-beloved beverage called amaro. Ours was inspired by Italian Nocino (or French liqueur de noix). The original post can be found here. We make this liqueur every year. However, instead of using English walnuts (juglans regia – which strangely enough originated in Iran), though, we use eastern American black walnuts (juglans nigra). They are far easier for us to harvest, as we have three  trees in the backyard. However, there is another important reason beyond laziness that we prefer the New World nuts to the Old: the flavor is VERY different.  ​

Nocino originated in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. We visited this region two years ago and, as you can see, it isn't hideous.

English walnuts are mildly sweet, have lots of healthy fats in them, and are a wee bit bitter. They are extremely healthy snacks and can be used in savory and sweet dishes. We love them on pasta and stuffed into Mediterranean pastries. The English type is far more versatile and less polarizing than black walnuts.  ​

The black ones have even more protein than the English type, but less fat. They are also MUCH stronger in flavor. Let’s say a dish calls for a cup of English walnuts. If you even substituted ½ a cup of black walnuts, you would completely overpower it. If English walnuts are button mushrooms, black walnuts are truffles. A little goes a long way. A very popular ice cream flavor on the East coast of the US is black walnut, and it is for this reason. 

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But back to the amaro. After two months of patient waiting, daily stirring, and the occasional taste test, our homemade nocino was ready to be decanted. This process took about 45 minutes. We first used a kitchen strainer to filter out the sad black walnut corpses as well as the vanilla bean and remaining spices. Then, we filtered the remaining liquid through everyday coffee filters.  This is what took the most time. You can probably skip this step if you don’t mind a lot of walnut debris at the bottom of your bottle, but we wouldn’t recommend it. There was a LOT of debris. As we can be impatient people, we changed filters about every ¾ cup or so to speed the process along. We might have also put on a fun podcast on serial killers to help pass the tedious time. ​

After our alcoholic nut juice was all nicely filtered, we blended about 1/3 of the mix into our “master blend” bottle. This contains some of every nocino we’ve made for the past four consecutive years. We only break this stuff out on special occasions, as it is amazingly delicious. The remaining nocino was put into repurposed (and assiduously cleaned) liqueur bottles and labelled so we don't forget the contents. It’s technically ready to drink at this point, but for the first few months after decanting we tend to mostly use it in cocktails as opposed to serving it “neat”. This is because it become much smoother and “softer” with a bit of age and with a little oxidation. After about three months, try it chilled with a splash of lemon juice and your mind will be blown by this cheap backyard tipple. Please feel free to send us thank you emails after you try it. 

If you can't or don't want to make your own nocino, it is carried in many liquor stores. If you live in Ohio you might find this local take on the sprit from Watershed Distillery.

Croatians make a large variety of liqours including Maraska Orahovac (far right) - a mixture made from green walnuts using centuries old recipes.

Tasting notes:

• Spicy, fresh flavors 
• Sweet, cinnamon-y, clove-y black pepper – the best part of pumpkin pie spices 
• Strong, thick, long, and pleasant bitter aftertaste 
• Bitter orange rind 
• Soft vanilla 
• Dr. Pepper 
• Caramelized sugar 

Adjustments:

• A couple drops of lemon juice tightens up the amaro and concentrates some flavors more than others
• One of our mothers LOVES a shot of nocino in her coffee. You may need to hide it from your guests in the morning 

 
Another recipe:

• As discussed in our previous post, we used the great David Lebovitz's recipe as our starting point. However, his uses English walnuts (and more of them), some more cloves, and the zest of one lemon. We’ve used his recipe many times and love it, but wanted to tweak it to our tastes. You can find our recipe here.

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Of course, it would be a shame not to give an example of how to use it in a cocktail. We call this recipe The DC Noir, our version of a Black Manhattan  

• 2.5 oz good rye whiskey (we really like Willett, Michter’s, or Sazerac) 
• 1/2 oz homemade nocino 
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth 
• 1 dash angostura bitters 
• 1 dash orange bitters 
• 1 dash absinthe (if you’re feeling saucy) 

 
Stir with ice (about 60 revolutions), strain, and garnish with a cherry and enjoy the taste of Autumn.

The DC Noir with homemade nocino is a perfect fall or winter cocktail