Almost everyone has eaten the healthy walnuts at least once. Especially at Christmas, the big nuts lie on the colorful plate, waiting to be cracked. Less well known is the fact that green, i.e. unripe, walnuts can also be eaten. Pickled in alcohol, a tasty nut spirit is created, black currant nuts mature in syrup and go well with desserts or cheese.

Unripe walnuts are good for pickling

Make your own nut spirit

The still unripe, green walnuts are used for the nut spirit. These are carefully washed, pierced several times with a skewer or quartered and then with other ingredients such as

  • 1 liter double grain or vodka or fruit brandy (alcohol content at least 38%)
  • spices to taste, e.g. B. cloves, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon stick, vanilla or candy sugar

set up in a large glass container. The approach stays in the sun for about 40 days, shake it every now and then. Gradually the nut spirit turns dark. Iridescent nut oil shimmers on its surface. When the rest period is over, the liqueur can be bottled. Pass the liquid through a sieve and fill it into small bottles.
The longer the nut spirit "ripens", the better it gets.

Make Johanni nuts with a recipe

When making this treat, make sure that the walnuts used are actually harvested before June 24th, St. John's Day. For a pound of black currants you need

  • 500 g green walnuts and a broth
  • 700ml of water
  • 600 grams of sugar
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • Zest of an organic lime

For the broth, boil the sugar and water with the spices until the sugar has dissolved and is stringy.

Preparation of the nuts

You should definitely wear disposable gloves during preparation, as the nuts stain strongly.

  1. Wash the nuts carefully.
  2. Pierce the nuts several times with a wooden skewer.
  3. Fill the nuts in a tall glass and add enough water to cover the nuts.
  4. Leave the nuts in the jar for a week, changing the water daily. In this way, the tannic acid in the nuts slowly disappears.
  5. After a week, boil the nuts in fresh water for half an hour until soft.
  6. Put the nuts back in the glass and pour over the previously cooked sugar while it is still hot.
  7. Let the nuts steep for four days, then boil the stock again and pour it over the nuts again. Now the nuts are steeping for three days, after which they are boiled again.
  8. Now fill the nuts in clean jars and seal them immediately. Make sure the nuts are completely covered with sugar syrup.
  9. Allow the nuts to mature in the jar for at least six months.

The black nuts are served with a cheese platter, with game dishes or with ice cream and pudding.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden