There are many recipes in Italian cuisine related to ancient traditions, popular beliefs and even magic rituals. One of the most fascinating is linked to the preparation of Nocino, a dark brown liqueur from the Emilia-Romagna region, made from unripe green walnuts. Nocino is less well known than Limoncello. While Limoncello is perfect as a Summer after-dinner digestive, Nocino is its winter equivalent.
Nocino is not easy to find in the store and can be expensive, so the best option is to make it at home. The challenge is to find the ingredients as most stores do not sell green walnuts still in their husks. The walnuts have to be picked before they mature on the tree because, once they mature, they become too hard to cut and also lose the essential oils. Accordingly, the Night of San Giovanni (June 24th) which celebrates the date of his birth 6 months before Christ is the last day one should harvest the walnuts.
The walnut hull contains a certain percentage of hydrojuglone. When you cut the walnut the hydrojuglone reacts with the oxygen and forms the juglone which has a reddish color. The juglone has antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic effects. It is used as a fungicide for skin and for natural hair colouring. It does stain, so you have to be careful and might want to wear disposable gloves when you cut them on non-porous surfaces. Two days after cutting, the liquid holding the walnuts will no longer be green or red, but brown.
The preparation of Nocino is shrouded in an aura of mystery (as is the walnut tree), linked to witches and nighttime and even the harvesting of the walnuts is steeped in superstition. Some traditions even require the walnuts to be picked by barefoot virgins, while no metal is supposed to touch the walnuts in the preparation process, so ceramic knives are used. In addition, only an odd number of walnuts can be used to make Nocino – 33 or 35, but never 34.
Come join Sam Ciapanna as he shares his secret Nocino recipe with you in this special class. Once registered, you will receive a list of all the other potential ingredients and a step by step series of instructions to begin the process as well as the final steps necessary to complete it. You will need to get some untreated (organic, not exposed to pesticides) green walnuts which do not grow readily in Western Washington. Order them right after registering for this class from Corky’s Nuts in California (https://corkysnuts.com/) but there are sure to be other other purveyors of green walnuts if you search the internet for them or maybe you know somebody with a walnut tree....
$10 for members, $20 for non-members, Special COVID-19 hardship waiver available. All proceeds benefit The Italian Cultural Center- Il Punto.