Puglia's Padre Peppe Elixir

Was there any doubt that I wasn't going to purchase the Padre Peppe Elixir  ($20) when I saw it in the DM grocery store? This walnut liqueur has been produced since 1832 in Altamura, a city in Puglia southwest of Bari, and is based on a recipe created by Capuchin Friar Giuseppe Ronchi. It is produced by macerating green walnuts -- that have been stored our years in oak barrels -- in alcohol and then augmenting with botanicals. Some of these botanicals are baking spices that help to lift the sweetness and any bitterness to a lasting finish. Here's the Striccoli family's story of Padre Peppe:

 

The story of Padre Peppe begins at the end of ‘700, when Father Giuseppe Ronchi retired in Puglia with the desire of discovering, in Murgia area, in his woods, fields, water and rocks, a remedy that could heal the illnesses of daily life. According to the monastic tradition, he lived his life trying to help everybody find global wellbeing: mind, soul and body. In Puglia he found a way to extract medicinal juices from herbs and fruit. He also worked them with dedication in the laboratory of the monastery, where the monk could experiment with the therapeutic effects on his companion and devotees.

With the passing of time, a serious problem began to torment the apothecary monk (that’s how monks who worked and healed with herbs were called): storing and maintaining preparations until they would be used. He tried to store them for their medicaments and with time he perfected a healing extract.

According to the tradition, women should pick unripe wanuts that should be used to produce the magic liquor… Barefoot, they should also dance around the tree in order to instill vigour to the plant and to the people who will taste its fruits. Everything happens on the shortest night of the year when light wins over dark. Even today on that night we pick the green and unripe walnuts. They are processed and then stored for 4 years in old oak barrels where they release the same unique flavour of 200 years ago, maintaining the mahogany colour and the walnuts and underground herbs aroma. Striccoli family has kept with care and dedication the book written by the monk. In there he explained and codified all the formulations created in the laboratory of the monastery and the steps to prepare the precious elixir.