Okay, so here is my first attempt to publish a picture on this blog! These are just a few of the alleged tomatoes I have raved about in the last two posts! Pretty nice, eh?
Very sunny here now, but it's rained off and on all day. This morning we went to a Vide Grenier in Naihlac...a very nice little village near here in a valley.. It was the Fete de la Noix! Walnut festival! That is one of the main cash crops in this region. There are walnut trees everywhere. I make Vin de noix...an aperatif using red wine, sugar, fruit alcohol and either liittle green walnuts or the new walnut leaves in the spring.
The recipe...? sure, it's simple. Pick a lot of little green walnuts about the 21st of June and pierce them with a needle. Put them in a liter of Eau de vie or fruit alcohol and let them sit for a month at least. The alcohol turns black. Then I get 5 liters of good cheap red wine, like Corbieres, but a cheap Bergerac would do. I mix the wine with one kilo of sugar and the liter of walnut infused eau de vie. Mix it well and bottle it up and let it set for at least a month before drinking. It gets better with time.. I have bottles that are 4 years old in the cave. In America, I suppose I would use any dry red wine that wasn't too expensive.
I make a version using sweet white dessert wine, such as a Monbazillac, but you can't get that in America cheaply, I'm sure! You use half the sugar and I would use the early walnut leaves in the spring instead of the nuts as they are more fragrant.
The technique, though is exactly the same....a votre sante!
At the Vide Grenier...Literally "Empty your attic"...a used goods sale, I bought a Limoge box for 5 Euros, an English Royal Dalton January Teacup and Saucer for my wife for 4 Euros. 6 old paperbacks by George Simenon for 2,50 Euros and a realy terrible paperback from the 30's called le Decaptite Vivant! A collection of tawdry horror stories, the title story is about a living human head grafted on an apes body...should be pretty trashy, but lots of fun!
2 comments:
What kind of walnut trees do you have in your area? We have a black walnut tree and I wasn't sure if the results would be the same if you are working with another type of walnut.
I guess I missed it this year, but maybe next spring I will try it with the leaves.
I think it would be great to use black walnuts. They have a "spicier" aroma. Get them in mid June when they are small and soft and green and pierce them with a pin.
Use the leaves when they first appear, the catkins also are aromatic and sticky. The walnuts are usually the last trees to get leaves in the spring...and the first to lose them in the fall................
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