Italian Green Walnut Syrup from Azienda Agricola Valier
250 ml bottle - Rovigo, Italy
Sciroppo di Noci Verdi
Italian Green Walnut Syrup
This green walnut syrup is young by food standards. Just ten years old, its inspiration is Nocino. Nocino is a liqueur of Emilia-Romagna. Nocino in the Roman times was made from green walnuts placed in alcohol and aged in barrels of wood. A simple syrup is added as well.
There is also recorded history showing that when drunken you could talk to elves, goblins and goddesses.
I did not, unfortunately, when tasting this green walnut syrup, have any conversations with aforementioned. Perhaps the missing alcohol is the reason...
I did, however, have a blissful moment when I first plunged my tongue into a spoonful of Sciroppo di Noci Verdi!
This thick, syrupy, elixir is like the very best Vermont Grade A Dark Amber Maple syrup. It is a wow moment! To be perfectly honest I had no idea what the taste would be like, and was a little trepidatious to what was to flow from the mouth of the bottle to mine.
Instead, the reward is a hard to describe flavor, rich in depth, and a green, fresh feel. A green walnut, a wet walnut, is a regular walnut that is picked before the outer shell starts to form. This green walnut has a hint of spiciness and sourness.
There is a sweet hit with a round flavor of walnut (?) and a finish at the tip of vanilla.
The ingredients are sugar, green walnuts (28%), citric acid, vanilla.
This is one wonderful syrup. Use like you would a real maple syrup from Vermont in the morning.
Try it on vanilla ice cream, rice pudding, or drizzled over a Napoleon. Think of using it in a salad dressing or drizzle into a one vegetable soup.
Drizzle like you would a royal vinegar. A soft cheese would be a perfect pair. Versatile sweetness and personality is what is in this bottle.
When I started I thought "interesting", after ten spoonfuls I am not sure I can go on without it.
Limited supply.