Making green walnut liqueur

Last winter a good friend of mine gave me some green walnut liqueur made by his mother. (Actually, I think he gave it to me to try... and then I sort of "borrowed" the rest of the bottle.) Green walnut liqueur is a traditional Italian tipple that tastes like liquid cinnamon and is as black as squid ink. It's unbelievably delicious and, quite frankly, it's miraculous stuff to make. It's hard to believe that big green unripe nuts can produce such a smooth, sweet result. Since that first taste last winter, I've become a bit of a nocino nut... and as I write this, there are two big jars of it sitting on my kitchen bench. My first batch will be ready to bottle in a fortnight, while the second batch (pictured here) is only a day old.
To make nocino, you need to harvest the green walnuts before the shells have started to harden around the nuts inside. (The best way to judge this is to poke a darning needle into each nut - if you can't push it right into the middle because it hits a hard shell, then the nuts are too old.)
I made my first batch of nocino in mid-December, using the recipe we published in Homegrown. If you bought our latest special edition, it's on page 117. If not, here are the ingredients: 29 large green walnuts (preferably harvested by a barefoot maiden!), 5 whole cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 star anise, zest of one lemon & one orange, 1 litre of vodka and 500g caster sugar.) Cut the walnuts into quarters (and make sure you wear gloves because they'll stain your hands black otherwise) and place in a large glass jar with all the ingredients except the sugar. Shake the jar every day for a month (or more - my friend's mum leaves hers in a sunny spot for three months) and then add the sugar. Stir daily for a fortnight, then strain through muslin and bottle.
The only downside to making nocino is that you're supposed to wait 18 months to drink it.... I don't think I can wait that long...