
Sometimes when you meet up with Chef for a morning coffee meeting, you may suddenly find yourself knee deep in weeds, covered in cottonwood fluffs, burrs, and sweat, picking green black walnuts in the wilds of Fresh Pond.
"Meet me for coffee this morning at La Saison?" she texts, knowing I cannot resist my favorite bakery in Cambridge. Perhaps I should have known... there were hints... we were only a few blocks away from Fresh Pond after all. I'm on my way out the door when I get another text "Actually... " (here we go...) "let's take our coffee to go, I need to get some nuts."
Fifteen minutes and only a few delicious sips of coffee later, I find myself picking cottonwood fluffs out of my hair and dodging thorns in the meadows of Fresh Pond. The black walnuts are still green and hard to spot, tucked away behind stretching, overlapping green leaves. The leaves and nuts have a very distinct vegetal smell that was mildly intoxicating... or maybe it was just the heat. Either way we slowly filled two bags full.

Chef keeps at it long after I've given up and retreated to the comfort of a cold stone bench with my coffee. Finally after some urging from her very itchy and sweaty companion, she emerges from the wild with her precious cargo, a proud smile upon her face. I admit that I, too, was proud of my contribution, despite the collection of burrs I discovered on my dress.


These beautiful babies are destined to be aged into deliciously nutty nocino amaro, which we will be bottling up for sale in the fall. If you've never had it, well I've heard it's a delicious, nutty amaro perfect for blending with bourbon in cocktails or just sipping on. But sadly, reader, I'm allergic to walnuts!!! So you'll just have to try it for yourself!
-Abby Taylor, General Manager (and very itchy person) at Urban Hearth
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