Walnut Brandy / Dio Palinka

[blind drunk]

Grüne Nüsse = green nuts.

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Jackass123]

Hello Odin,

The colour what you made looks like the same Dio Palinka i got from my friends.
Like Ro says, they told me too, the walnuts must me easy to cut with a sharp knife, so they pick them before june.
I shall ask my friend for the recipe they use for the dio palinka, and post it here.

if you like we can go next year to Hongary to colect my walnuts I have a hudge tree.

[Odin]

Jackass,

Please share your recipe. You Hungarian? Or having a house there? I am near Siofok, close to Lake Balaton. Yeah, let's collect some walnuts together. Or actually, since summer holidays will be really late ... I will have to ask you to do that. I cannot arrive to Hungary before mid July, I am affraid.

I will go around Xmass, though ...

Odin.

[ro palinca]

Jackass,

Please share your recipe. You Hungarian? Or having a house there? I am near Siofok, close to Lake Balaton. Yeah, let's collect some walnuts together. Or actually, since summer holidays will be really late ... I will have to ask you to do that. I cannot arrive to Hungary before mid July, I am affraid.

I will go around Xmass, though ...

Odin.

.....
please don't forget about me

[Odin]

No Ro, won't forget about you! You are my Palinka Master. Want to learn from you. And Jackass ... I actually know him already. From the Dutch forum. Remember we had a talk there about distilling in Hungary!

Btw, I added some extra sugar. Like a teaspoon per bottle of 0.75 liter. Taste was not that medicinal, but I get whant you mean. A bit of sweetness added. Everything is now resting in the fridge.

Ro, should I filter it again before consumption? What do you think?

Odin.

[Jackass123]

Hello Odin,

You got the wright person, we talked before about Palinka.
What do you guys think, can we froze young walnuts?, I can ask my friends to pick them in Juni, an froze them, I will be also mid july in Hungary eith the car.
Normally I fly a couple of weekend to hungary, but I don't think I can bring them home by plane

[blind drunk]

I'm not the expert (but opinionated ) but I read that freezing them is actually better than not freezing them. Kinda like freezing fruit when making a fruit wash. In any case, I have a batch in the freezer atm so I await the expert opinions to see if I should proceed.

[Odin]

Freezing ... now if it is possible, that would solve our problem!

Odin.

[blind drunk]

Quick question, do yous get an oil film floating on the surface of your Dio Palinka maceration? Thanks.

[ro palinca]

@Odin
I filtered just one time, before aging. About freezing, it is probably the best option (except of course to start with the fresh ones) I don't see why
they can't be mailed.

[ro palinca]

@ BD
yes, there have been an oil film, but after filtration I bottled in small dark containers for aging and didn't see that again.

[Odin]

Same here, BD.

[Tattoofreak]

Just found this palinka thread. Wanted to add my 2pence. I learned to make this from my grandfather. Main thing is we always used the most neutral stuff we could produce. (We used to distill really fragrant palinka from Muscat grapes or plums, but we never used these for dio palinka.) For example apple palinka. We always picked the walnuts when one could slice them easily. Cloves-cinnamon, orange peel-lemon peel, sugar, green walnuts, a vanilla bean, palinka. In a big jar, leave it for 2-3 months in cool dark place. Filter it, bottle, put it away until you start to make the next years. When it's a year old it's really smooth, helps the digestion. Will build my boka, make some neutral, then bring some walnuts from my mothers orchard...

[blind drunk]

I

n a big jar, leave it for 2-3 months in cool dark place.

Wonder why some recipes say leave it in the hot Mediterranean sun and other recipes say leave it in a cool dark place. Can't be just local tradition, can it?

Mine is in the sun, but these days our sun may as well be a cool bright place

[Tattoofreak]

Yeah, or it can be cultural difference....but the most important is the end product , and I really like dio palinka. Will try to make a sugarwash-neutral, and next year will make dio vodka. (walnut vodka).

[frozenthunderbolt]

I'm guessing that it's to do with the tannin content of the local walnuts.

Lower tannins would allow the recipe to be matured in the heat of the sun, but higher tannin in the nuts would call for a cold extraction so as to not over extract the tannin in the nuts.

I may be talking complete shit, but it seems like a logical bit of conjecture.

[Odin]

Interesting! I put mine for a few day in a warm place. Now it is resting in an extra fridge I have.

Odin.

[Tattoofreak]

"Interesting! I put mine for a few day in a warm place. Now it is resting in an extra fridge I have."
Totally wrong, now you are in danger of intoxicating yourself. Hope you'll enjoy it. I am still waiting for parts to arrive. Maybe in September I can start to build my Bokakob. Still no sign of being able to buy a keg...

[Odin]

You living in Palinka country, Tattoo?

[Tattoofreak]

No, I live in another country now, where this hobby is not legal.... And I have nosy neighbours watching the tiny back garden.....

[Steep-n-Rocky]

I had forgotten about dio palinka and green walnuts until mowing the lawn early this week. While mowing I noticed that most of the neighborhood black walnuts are light on walnuts this year. This jogged my memory and got me out for a walnut search. As I found out, it's one thing to find a tree with walnuts, it's another to find one with walnuts in arm's reach. Long story short I started a batch largely based on Odin's recipe:

2 qt 75% ABV neutral
1 qt water
2 sticks cinnamon
12 cloves
48 green black walnuts (seemed small so I doubled)
2 cups sugar

Day 1 and the color is more yellow than brown or black. I am going to keep the keep the maceration in my garden shed which heats up nicely during the day. Hopefully this will be ready for Christmas !

Steep-n-Rocky

[blind drunk]

Starts green, turns brown black. I love the stuff 'cause it's good for the belly after a bigger meal. Did you cut them in half? Or quarters?

[Steep-n-Rocky]

I quartered them. Walnut will definitely be a new taste for me!

[Odin]

It is different, but very nice! Good to see this take off with some speed again.

Odin.

[Steep-n-Rocky]

Update: the Dio Palinka has nicely turned black ( or at least very dark). I have not tasted it yet but the nose is getting better by the day. It started out fairly medicinal or astringent but is almost sweet smelling now. I am going to let this batch sit for several months before checking it again. If anyone is thinking of making anything with green walnuts, now is the time as we as just past St. Johns Day.

[blind drunk]

It's truly amazing stuff after 1 year. I'm sipping on three year old and the flavor has a total middle point that's solid.

[Steep-n-Rocky]

I think this is going to be good. For your three year old, did you have it on the walnuts that long?

[Steep-n-Rocky]

Update: Drained the infusion and will now let it sit in bulk until time to bring down from 75% ABV and bottle. I anticipate bottling in late November. So far the smell is very intriguing (in a good way).

[Odin]

Nice to see this recipe still going strong!

I still have a bottle in the fridge. About a year old, so it should be good ...

Odin.

[Odin]

Just found the remaining like 0.2 liters in a bottle I took with me to Hungary a year ago. In my wife's uncle's fridge. Took it back to our house and poored myself a shot. And then another one. I was starting to look pretty cross-eyed after that second serving. Only not so pretty. That made me think: "How come?" And then I remembered: in tune with Hungarian Dio Palinka tradition, I made this drink 70% strong ...

Went to bed early that night!

Regards, Odin.