Characterization and antioxidant activity of nocino liqueur

Nocino is an after-dinner liqueur made with green, unripe walnuts, appreciated both for its appealing flavour and aroma, and for its properties as a tonic and digestive aid. There is a large number of recipes for the production of nocino and the industrial production coexists with preparations at home. The liqueur has never been scientifically investigated; thus the aim of this work was to examine various kinds of it. Three sets of samples were considered: Commercial brands, home-made nocino and, among the latter, samples made for years with the same recipe and aged for different times, up to 25 years. In the commercial products, the phenolic profiles and the antioxidant activities were widely variable. The antioxidant activity proved to be directly correlated with the content of total phenols, total tannins and non-tannin phenolics. Study of samples aged for different lengths of time showed that the characteristics considered remained substantially unchanged during the aging process. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.