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Noce
Walnut
Appears in
By Antonio Carluccio and Priscilla Carluccio
Published 1997
The best Italian walnuts come from the Sorrento area in Campania and the best variety is the eponymous Sorrento, a large nut with a thin, easily breakable shell and very tasty nut. Other good varieties include the late-ripening Sorrento Giovanni and a French variety called Franquette.
The nut grows in bunches from large trees that came originally from Asia and are as much sought after for their wood as their fruit. The nut is formed inside a fleshy green outer skin called mallo which peels open when the nut is ripe, around September or October, allowing the nut, protected by its hard, wrinkled casing, to fall to the ground. Inside, the nut is divided into four sections, called gherigli.