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Dark bottle of homemade Nocino walnut liqueur next to a small cordial glass, green walnuts and cinnamon on oak table

Nocino: Homemade Italian Green Walnut Liqueur

A traditional Italian green walnut liqueur made by macerating quartered walnuts in grain alcohol with sugar and spices, then resting for at least four months.
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 12 days 1 hour
Servings: 24 servings
Calories: 95
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Maceration
  • 35 whole green walnuts (unripe) halved or quartered, soft enough to pierce with a skewer
  • 1 liter grain alcohol (95% ABV) Everclear or pure spirito di grano
  • 1 cinnamon stick broken in half
  • 5 whole cloves
  • 2 strips lemon zest from 1 unwaxed lemon, pith removed
  • half vanilla bean optional, split lengthwise
Sugar syrup
  • 500 g white granulated sugar
  • 500 ml water filtered, used to dissolve sugar and dilute alcohol

Method
 

Prepare the walnuts
  1. Put on rubber or latex gloves. Rinse the green walnuts under cold water and dry them.
  2. Pierce each walnut through with a skewer to confirm the inner shell is still soft and no hard nut has formed inside.
  3. Quarter each walnut with a sharp knife. The cut surfaces will turn dark brown immediately. That is normal.
Macerate
  1. Place the quartered walnuts into a clean 2-liter wide-mouth glass jar.
  2. Add the cinnamon stick, whole cloves, lemon zest strips, and vanilla bean if using.
  3. Pour in the full liter of grain alcohol. Seal the jar tightly.
  4. Place the jar in a sunny windowsill or outdoors in direct sunlight. Leave it for 40 to 60 days, shaking the jar gently every 3 to 4 days.
Make the sugar syrup
  1. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely, about 5 minutes. Do not let it boil hard.
  2. Remove from heat and let the syrup cool completely to room temperature before adding it to the walnut maceration.
Filter and bottle
  1. After 40 to 60 days, strain the walnut maceration through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth into a large bowl. Press the solids lightly to extract liquid. Discard the solids.
  2. Strain a second time through fresh cheesecloth for a cleaner result.
  3. Stir the cooled sugar syrup into the filtered walnut liquid. Taste and adjust sweetness if needed.
  4. Pour into clean glass bottles using a funnel. Seal tightly and label with the harvest date.
  5. Store in a cool, dark place for a minimum of 4 months before opening. The liqueur will be dark, slightly viscous, and bitter-sweet when ready.

Notes

The darker and more opaque your Nocino looks at bottling, the more tannin it has extracted. A twelve-month rest will soften that astringency into something rounder and more complex.