Walnut
Liqueur

Modelled on the Serbian/Montenegran tipple OraHovac, this drink makes an excellent digetif.

Finding two walnut trees in E17 was 2007’s foraging highlight. We chanced up on them in June, when the branches were weighed down with green nuts ripe for pickling. By September the pavement was littered with blackening hulls and hard nuts. We collected a huge bagful and worked our way through them through the autumn and winter.

English walnuts, as the common variety are called, are not in fact indigenous; they were brought to Britain from the middle-east around the time of the first crusades. They have become a staple of European cooking and can be used in cakes, breads, meringues, pasta sauces and liqueurs.

Walnut liqueurs pop up all over Europe. Most are made using the unripe, green walnuts that appear in early summer. OraHovac, from Serbia and Montenegro, is simple to make and very good to drink as a digestif. The citrus zests and bitter walnuts work together to create an interesting, spicy flavour somewhere between Grand Marnier and Campari. Wear gloves throughout preparation- the juice of green walnuts stains skin and doesn’t wash off.

Quarter the walnuts, then blitz them up in a coffee grinder. Spoon into a kilner jar and add all the dry ingredients, cover with the eau de vie, seal the jar and give it a good shake.

The mixture should be left for forty days and forty nights; a month would probably do but it’s better to heed this sort of arcane wisdom. A shake every week or so will help the sugar dissolve. The colour will change from clear to emerald green, then brown and finally (almost) black.

When ready, strain through muslin and pour into tall, elegant bottles. The liqueur will be ready by Christmas, and better the year after.