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As we drive our country roads now in early April, we are surrounded with walnut orchards, their branches still bare, with just enough green to promise the crop to come.
Walnuts are a significant crop in Yolo County, the seventh largest in farm gate receipts, with 9,785 acres planted out. The state of California produces 99 percent of the walnuts consumed domestically and 40 percent of the world production. Most of the production is now here in Northern California, having shifted over from Southern California and later the Bay Area where the industry used to be centered.
Yolo County Agriculture Commissioner Rick Landon notes Yolo County has ideal growing conditions for the walnut. However, he warns us that walnuts are one of the crops threatened by foreign production.
Nevertheless, the world's largest independent nut processor, Mariani Nut, is in Winters, just off Highway 505, and it seems that the walnut orchard is part of our local culture.
But it isn't just the familiar brown shelled walnut crop that some people around here look forward to: It is also the green walnut. In another month to six weeks, the trees will not only be fully leafed out, they will be bearing plump green globes. These are the immature walnut or so-called green walnuts, the ones used to make walnut wine and walnut liqueur, traditions that come from the areas of Europe where the walnut thrives, such as France, Italy and Spain.
In Provence, vin de noix, or walnut wine is made in homes according to traditional recipes passed down through the families, as are other traditional drinks, and in recent years it has once again become available commercially.
Smooth and rich, like a fine port, but with a hint of something exotic, vanilla maybe, or cloves, plus a little astringency, the dark mahogany vin de noix is served as an aperitif, or before-dinner drink, either with or without ice. Nocino and Nocello, walnut liqueurs from Italy and Spain respectively, are similar to vin de noix and have the same spicy undertone, but they are sweeter and thicker than the walnut wine and more potent. Orahovica is the Croatian version.
Upon a February 2003 visit of Roberto Bechi, the leader of Slow Food Sienna (Italy), Ann opened up a bottle of her spring 2002 vin de noix for the occasion. (Readers may remember Roberto's delicious tiramisu recipe published from that visit.) Roberto brought the drink to his nose and took in the fragrance of a walnut orchard just after the rain … after the first sip a smile came across his lips.
"Ah, Nocino!" he exclaimed.
Once, homemade wines and liqueurs were part of the rhythm of the seasons in the days before supermarkets, and fruits, nuts and vegetables were used in every way possible, preserving the seasons and stocking the pantry and larder.
Today, making one's own wine and liqueur is no longer a necessity, but a pleasure, a way to taste the land around you, and those made with walnuts are easy to accomplish. Living in walnut country as we do, we are well-positioned to make them and begin serving our own version vin de noix.
It was once explained to Georgeanne thusly: "Harvest the walnuts when they are green. Push a needle into the center. If it goes through, the walnuts are ready. If the needle won't go through, it is too late.
"Take 35 green walnuts and hit them with a mallet to crack them open. Put them in a crock and cover them with 7 liters of red wine. Put it away in the cave for 40 days.
"Take it out, strain it, add a kilo of sugar and a liter of eau de vie. Stir it until the sugar melts, then bottle the wine and let it rest for at least six months. It will ready just in time for Christmas." It will also keep for several years, growing increasingly mellow with age.
Making your own
To make these recipes for traditional walnut liqueurs and wine, start with clean, dry glass jars or ceramic or enamel crocks. In them you will steep your green walnuts and the various other ingredients according to the recipe.
Once the steeping is complete, the wine or liqueur is strained through a fine-mesh sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth or paper filters, then poured into clean, dry glass bottles and corked or otherwise sealed.
Keep your bottles in a cool, dark place, and let the flavors blend for at least six months before opening. The bottles can be kept up to three or four years. Once you've opened them, store them tightly corked in the refrigerator for up to one year.
Vin de noix
Ingredients:
- 35 green walnuts
- 7 bottles (standard 750-ml. size) dry red wine such as Merlot, Zinfandel, or Cote de Rhone
- 1 quart vodka
- 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar Putting it together:
With a small mallet or hammer, strike the walnuts hard enough to crack open the green outer covering. Put them in a glass jar or crock large enough to hold them and the wine. Pour the wine over them, cover, and store in a cool, dark place. Let stand for 40 days.
Then, using a fine-mesh sieve lined with several layers of cheese cloth, strain the wine into a large, clean, dry crock or pot. Discard the walnuts.
Pour the vodka into a nonreactive pot or bowl. Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved, about 10 minutes. Pour this mixture into the wine and stir well. Using a funnel and a ladle, fill the bottles with the now-fortified wine to within 1 1/2 to 2 inches of the tops. Push in a cork or otherwise seal.
Makes approximately eight 750 ml bottles.
Orahovica
Jack Mariani offers his grandfather, Lukra Mariani's recipe for walnut liqueur, by way of his granddaughter-in-law, Georgie Mariani.
Ingredients:
- 8 green walnuts
- 1 quart vodka
- 8 lemon leaves
- 4 oranges leaves
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Putting it together:
Use walnuts that are not ripe (late spring when kernel is just starting to harden). Wash and grind the whole walnut, including the hull. Add this to the rest of the ingredients.
Let stand in the sun 40 days and nights. Decant into bottles.
Makes about 1 quart
Nocino
There are many recipes for Nocino. This is one.
Ingredients:
- 25 green walnuts
- 1 quart vodka or 1/2 quart 190 proof grain alcohol, such as Everclear plus 1/2 quart water
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- Zest of one lemon
- 4 cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon
- Syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
Putting it together:
Cut the walnuts into quarters and put them in a large, clean jar with the vodka or alcohol, the sugar, lemon zest, cloves and cinnamon. Close the jar and put it in the sun for 60 days.
Combine the 1 cup sugar with the 1 cup water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Store, covered, in the refrigerator. Use this syrup to add to the steeping nuts to ensure they are covered at all times. If necessary, make additional syrup, but not to exceed 1/2 cup total.
At the end of 60 days, add any remaining syrup, then strain the liqueur through a fine mesh sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth.
Discard the nuts, lemon, cloves and cinnamon. Bottle the liqueur and cork.
Makes about 1 quart
Copyright, 2005, The Davis Enterprise. All Rights Reserved.
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