When I lived in PA I was surrounded by black walnut trees. I love the ripe nuts in brownies, pies, and pesto, and the unripe walnuts make one of my favorite foraged beverages: nocino. But after multiple attempts at making pickled black walnuts (a British pub staple), I’m calling it quits. Here’s why you might want to do the same. Read more
While most people think of nocino as a traditional Italian digestif, the recipe actually originated in Britain. The Picts (a Celtic tribe from Scotland), were known to become euphoric after drinking it, and I get that. They harvested green walnuts at the summer solstice, and at the same time celebrated the new green walnut harvest by drinking the previous year’s brew. Legend has it that the Romans took the recipe for nocino back to Italy when they left Britain behind. Read more
Lest you think pesto is only for basil…think again! Lots of wonderful greens make excellent pestos, and so do many different nuts and seeds. Dandelions and black walnuts are both strongly flavored wild edibles, and they combine perfectly in this pesto recipe. Fresh, tender dandelion greens and rich black walnuts liven up pasta, rice, bruschetta, or soups. Read more
