Green walnut liqueur

If you have never had green walnut liqueur before, you have a treat coming.
This is a delicious and unforgettable drink-and a French recipe so it's absolutely terrific. It's still early enough to pick green walnuts- but you have to hurry!
The recipe is a piece of cake- just putting all the ingredients together .Then .. wait.. and that is the only hard part!!
First you need to be able to get hold of some green walnuts- if you are lucky, from your own tree, or from your greengrocer, or , foraging in the countryside .

This is what the leaf, the outside of a green walnut, and the inside of a green walnut looks like, next to a brown walnut.
First , pick yourself a platter full of green walnuts.You will need 30 or so for this recipe.Of course,  you can double the amount if you double all the ingredients.

The ingredients are:
25 to 30 green walnuts
3/4 liter brandy
600 g sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 gloves
the zest of 1 lemon

First, get a clean and sterile jar- medium size.Sterilize by running it through the dishwasher cycle and use it while it is still hot( or wash it with boiling water).

Then wash your green walnuts.

Then , put some household gloves on, as the green walnuts stain your hands terribly, and a big knife and cut the green walnuts in quarters,You may have to give the knife quite a whack to get the walnuts cut so do be careful. Better no walnuts and no walnut liqueur then no fingers!

Place all the ingredients, ( apart from the green walnut quarters) -so the brandy, sugar, cinnamon, gloves and lemon zest, in a big bowl with a pouring spout .

Mix the brandy and sugar so it more or less dissolves.This may be quite heavy going.Then put the green walnut quarters in as well.
Mix and pour in your jar.

And you're done!For a pretty label for your pot,you can download   from The Wedding Style Blog  for free. 
I used this , called " Pretty Parisian"

Print it off, stick it on your jar , write date and what kind of liqueur it is , and you're done !

Leave the pot for at least a month, and stir from time to time.

Then pour through some muslin or coffee-filters into bottles and leave for 6 weeks.
Just in time for a festive aperitif for Christmas!!
(You can also leave it for a year or longer but you may find this hard to do.....  )
Enjoy your liqueur!
Have a great rest of the week!
XOXO
Bea

P.S.
If you have no access to green walnuts, but only to pecan nuts, you could try the recipe below which is very similar to the green walnut liqeur recipe as far as ingredients are concerned!

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
750ml good brandy
1 cup lightly chopped and well toasted pecans
1 1/2tsp vanilla
1/4tsp cinnamon

Heat sugar and water until sugar is dissolved and let cool. Add all other ingredients and let seep for 6weeks then strain into appropriate container. 

P.P.S.

I must let you know, there is also another green walnut liqueur recipe on a fabulous foodblog I just discovered.
This is written by David Lebovitz , a chef who lives in Paris and worked or works at Chez Panisse.
This is the blog : http://www.davidlebovitz.com/
David uses wodka instead of brandy, and the ratio wodka to walnuts is different plus he has some other ingredients.It sounds delicious too!Of course, for those withoput walnuts, again, I would recommend trying the roasted pecan nuts!  The recipe can be found here .
So of course, today, I have made his recipe as well, and I am going to see which liqueur I like best in a couple of weeks time!

Have a go and if you want, check out David's blog !
XOXO