Ingredients
- walnuts
- brandy
- red wine
- white sugar
Method
Year 1:
- Pick, wash and dry young green walnuts. (Green walnuts are available late June to mid July.)
- Prick each one about 5 times with a darning needed. If it is difficult to get the darning needle in, don’t use that walnut.
- Put the walnuts into a wide necked jar (a Kilner jar is perfect).
- Cover the walnuts with brandy, seal the jar and store in a cool, dark place.
Year 2:
- Decant the brandy into another bottle (or a demijohn if you are making it in bulk!).
- Refill the jar containing the walnuts, with red wine. Reseal the jar and replace in the cool, dark place.
Year 3:
- Decant the wine into the brandy and refill the jar of walnuts with more red wine.
- Return the jars to the cool, dark place.
Year 4:
- Decant the wine into the wine and brandy mix and reseal.
- Cover the walnuts in the jar with white sugar and reseal.
- Return both the jars to the cool, dark place.
At the end of year 4:
- Discard the nuts and add the syrup from the jar to the wine and brandy.
- Filter twice and bottle.
Phew! It’s a very long time to wait for a drink!