Nocino 2009

I dream of one day having a little alcove of my home devoted to beverages -- an apothecary of mismatched bottles of home-made alcoholic infusions, custom tisane blends, and unique glassware. With this dream in mind, one of my summer projects this year was making nocino, a green-walnut liqueur.

I was quite pleased with the results -- it has a dark medicinal flavor highlighted by a sublte pine-ness that gently brightens up the flavor. It reminds me of some combination of Moxie, root beer, and cola. The recipe I used is an amalgamation of my research of nocino recipes. Next year I may tweak it a bit. Enjoy.


Recipe
30 green walnuts (I picked them around July 6) split in half or in quarters
5 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks (about 3 inches each)
zest from one lemon
1 L Absolut Vodka
1 star anise
about 2 inches of a juniper branch
2.5 cups real maple syrup (i.e., NOT Mrs. Butterworth)

I mixed everything except the maple syrup and let it sit in a glass jar for about a month, shaking it every couple of days. After about 1 week, I removed the star anise (its flavor was starting to dominate too much). I secured a layer of paper towel instead of a lid because I read somewhere that this mixture needs oxygen. After about a month, I strained out the walnuts and spices. At this point, the liquid was very bitter. I added the maple syrup to balance out the bitterness.

By mid-August, the bitterness of the liqueur has mellowed, and I feared the maple syrup was overpowering everything when I tasted it at room temperature. But served with ice, it was perfect.