It’s that green walnut time of year. Solstice. St. Jean’s. June 24.

Think mid-summer madness minus the fairies and Shakespeare; add sugar, spices and moonshine to the unripened walnuts. ‘Unripened’ means that under the thick green outer husk, the nut meat and shell are still unformed, a juicy white tannic miracle growing on heavy laden branches.

For me, noix verts herald the long days of looking at Camont’s fruit and nut trees, gardens and potagers as a living larder. White peaches for ice cream, summer pears for jam, blackberries and raspberries for liqueurs. But it is this very first recipe I learned to make at the hands of Claude and Vetou Pompele some 20 years ago that reminds me of my most important job here at the Gascon Kitchen– hands-on teacher of artisan culinary traditions.

The walnut tree has been growing for over the 20 years I have lived at Camont. It was a leggy12-foot sapling when I spared its life. Now it reaches up over 30 feet and spreads a deep shade for the lambs, chickens and us. I used the bottle of eau de vie made by old man Dupuy over 40 years ago. A gift from his daughter, Monique,  I had tucked it away in the back of the boat cellar a few years back. Antique moonshine. The recipe was taught me by Claude Pompele and I published in “A Culinary Journey in Gascony”. This has been a story in the making for a long time.

Last week I had the pleasure of  hosting accomplished food stylist Karen Gillingham for a Natural Light Natural Food photography workshop with Tim Clinch. We are delighted with the sort of easy camaraderie these workshops encourage. Between bouts of refilling the pink carafe with good local rosé, we talked about the change in food photography from the film years to the digital decade. How good food has grown and shaped our lives. How both experienced and ingenue eyes discover rich content in the tradition-steeped farms and village and markets of Gascony.

While Tim is loading the first student galleries to the www.clinch-hill.com site, I thought I share a sneak peek of a few of Karen’s photographs of the Vin de Noix I made on June 24 2010.

Vin de Noix- traditionally made on June 24

24 green walnuts

24 sugar cubes

750ml eau de vie

3 literes of inexpensive rosé wine

handful of lemon rinds

nutmeg shards, cloves and cardamon to taste

smash the green walnuts outside on board. wear aprons and gloves.

place all the above in an earthen ware crock, glass jar, stainless steel bucket.

cover with an old plate.

let sit 24 days.

filter, bottle and drink at your leisure in the cold short winter days.