Nocino, take 2

A couple of weeks ago I bottled up some Nocino.

Something that had concerned me was knowing when the walnuts were ripe enough to use. In France they harvest them mid-June, which seemed way too early to do here.

My favorite cooking blogger, David Lebovitz, wrote an article on Nocino himself, just last week. In it, he described a little more clearly, the condition of the walnuts they use in France (see, he lives in France). Plus, he posted a couple of photos.

I determined I'd picked the walnuts too early. sigh...

So, I waited, and today seems like a good day to pick them. Now, the walnuts have a very thin shell - it's just a little tough to cut through with a chef's knife. Plus, the walnut meat is starting to show a skin - just like the pictures in Lebovitz' post.

Anyway, I just bottled some more. Yum!