Comments on: Nocino da Napa

By: paulL

paulL — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:15:30 +0000

Our walnuts come in a little later than some of the other locations mentioned. It’s probably to do with the latitude and elevation. Southern NH and at about 1100 feet above sea level.

We just picked yesterday July 25th, to make a batch and they are just perfect for Vin de Noix.

By: Nocino and Vin de Noix | Memory & Desire

Nocino and Vin de Noix | Memory & Desire — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:14:15 +0000

[...] Hoffman Farms, per Married with Dinner [...]

By: A

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:15:36 +0000

I have a black walnut tree in my yard in the SF Bay Area and just picked the nuts for my first-ever batch of nocino. The small nuts were still soft enough to cut through, but the larger ones were too far gone. I look forward to the results of this experiment as I’ve never tried nocino before. Cheers!

By: Anita

Anita — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:36:45 +0000

Kate: I’m not entirely sure. We once lived in a house with a black walnut tree, and I seem to recall that we looked into this, and there was some reason that it wasn’t recommended (not sure if it was a toxicity issue, or simply that they’re too bitter). Sorry I can’t be more helpful on this point! If you find out definitively, I’d love it if you could let us know!

If it makes you feel any better, it’s almost certainly too late to make nocino this year; once the shell hardens, you won’t be able to quarter the nuts enough. Ours are usually nearly impenetrable by the third week of June — by now they’re almost fully ripe.

By: kate springer

kate springer — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:02:39 +0000

hi, just came across this post. i am wondering can i use black walnuts? i have a farm in upstate ny and have many black walnut trees. i would love to try this. thanks

By: Nina

Nina — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:54:44 +0000

I made vin de noix two years ago with my boyfriend using nuts off of a coworker’s tree; many of them were already infested with little worms, but we disposed of the unusable ones and thoroughly cleaned the rest. It was a little past green stage, about halfway to being ripe, and the little buggers were present on basically every nut. Despite this, we threw together a few bottles of the concoction, and we’ve enjoyed it tremendously over the last two years. We finished our last bottle a few weeks ago, and are prepared to make another batch this summer. Vin de noix is delicious, delicious stuff; it’s better one year in, and even better two years in. I suspect it will continue to improve for a few years.

Even though handling worm-covered walnuts that stain your hands permanently is a huge pain…the payoff is so, so worth it. Subtle nutty, fruity notes, perfectly mellowed out, so awesome. It’s what I serve when I want to knock someone off their feet.

By: Anita

Anita — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:38:55 +0000

Curmudgeon: We actually picked our walnuts for this batch the first weekend in June, and they were perfect. But I’ve also gotten nuts a few weeks later, and they worked just fine, although they need a little more elbow grease to chop.

By: Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:36:14 +0000

I lived in the Napa Valley for 23 years,and made Nocino from a recipe I got from a friend who lives near Parma. It is my considered opinion that that while June 24 is associated with picking the green walnuts for Nocino in Italy, that is too late for the Napa Valley as the shell inside the green husk has already started to become hard. I did it on May 24, because Mama Emilia also said when they are about the size of a home grown apricot.

By: erik_flannestad

erik_flannestad — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:57:41 +0000

Cool!

Next year I’ll have to try to hook up with Hoffman Farms.

Mine should arrive from Mount Lassen tomorrow. Can’t wait to hear how your various batches turn out. I’ve got at least one experimental version up my sleeve this year.

By: Kalyn

Kalyn — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:44:42 +0000

Hi Anita and Cameron,
Hope you had a great time for the Anniversary dinner. It was great meeting you both in San Francisco. Look forward to hearing about how the walnut liqueur turns out! (Very impressed! I’ve never tried making anything like this.)