Tags
Dordogne, France, Gateau aux Noix, Nuss- Schnaps, Walnut Oil, Walnut Tree, Walnut Vinegar, Walnuts
A Cracking Good Nut!
- If you drive through the Dordogne in southern France you will come across walnut groves. In fact the Dordogne is the second largest producer of walnuts in France and more than half of its production is from the Périgord Noir – the area in which we live. We were recently forced to find a new airstrip for our microlight and were fortunate enough to find a suitable field close to home. Around the edge of the field and adjacent to our hangar are a number of walnut trees. Since the first of August I have watched the nuts gradually change; the hard green orbs slowly drying and cracking and eventually exposing the ripened nut.
At the green stage, around July/August, the nuts are often used to make a potent alcoholic drink. I actually learned about this many years ago from my first husband’s mother who was German. She called it Nuss-Schnaps, and swore that it was an amazing cure for any digestive problems. It is a wonderful stomach-settler: a beautiful rich brown, syrupy liqueur, with a powerful warmth. The French make a similar liqueur. The recipe is simple: just cut up twenty green walnuts and put them in a gallon jug, add sugar, leave the jar in the sun and shake every second day for eight days, then add two bottles of vodka, a cinnamon stick and five cloves. Leave for a minimum of a month – or as long as six months. Strain and bottle. The French, I’m told use eau de vie instead of vodka. Much of the eau de vie we come across is home distilled and blows your head off!
If you wander through a French farmer’s market you will nearly always be offered morsels of gateau aux noix (walnut cake), and you will see local producers selling both walnut oil and walnut vinegar – wonderful mixed together as a salad dressing.
Also bags of shelled walnuts – to save you the trouble. In the past I have bought these for my Mum’s old Boiled Cake recipe – a rich and moist fruitcake. This year, now we have our own nuts I shall have to get cracking myself.
Of course it’s not only us humans who like to harvest a nut or three. There are a variety of furred, feathered, and six-legged creatures in this area who also enjoy a nut-feast. The red squirrel, the long-tailed field mouse (wood-mouse), great-tits, nuthatches, spotted woodpeckers and jays to mention a few; a number of which come to feed at our kitchen windowsill. This year our recently collected sack of nuts will be very handy for the winter, along with the sunflower seeds which we always feed.
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KatiesCameraBlog said:
How wonderful to have a walnut tree for yourself. Great post, Jude. I never knew that walnuts were used so much. Great images too. 🙂
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Jude said:
Thanks for your comments Katie! The walnuts we collected are in fact being mostly consumed by the family of red squirrels that live close to our house! We put some on the windowsill every morning and one of the squirrels will soon appear and collect the nuts, one by one, and take them away and bury them. Wonderful little creatures and so pretty. And what a great way to get squirrel pics! Just going to put my latest one on my photo-blog.
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KatiesCameraBlog said:
Oh, I love that you have the red squirrels and you leave out nuts like a little ritual. How wonderful! Oh, I miss having squirrels around (where i live there really aren’t any to speak of).
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KatiesCameraBlog said:
Where’s your photo blog, by the way? I’d love to take a look. 🙂
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Jude said:
Hi Katie – just posted a red squirrel today on the photo blog –
https://judesphotography.wordpress.com/
And if you like wood mice – also known as long-tailed field mice, (I love them) then you may like this:
https://themouseandthemicrolight.wordpress.com/
Now you see I just have far too many blogs!!
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Russel Ray Photos said:
Thanks for letting me camp out in your blog today. I had a great time and tried to leave my campsite as clean as when I arrived.
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Jude said:
All I found was footprints!! Glad you enjoyed it Russel, and many thanks for your visit and all your great comments and input. 🙂
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katieharris2013 said:
Hi Jude,
Great blog post! I am an Assistant Producer on a television programme for the BBC. We are currently planning an episode based in the Dordogne and wanted to feature a walnut oil producer.
I would really appreciate any help you can offer, as it sounds as though you have some great local knowledge! If this does sound like something you would be happy to chat to me about, please email me at Katie.harris@boundlessproductions.tv
Thank you!
Katie
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Jude said:
Many thanks Katie, I’ll be in touch.
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