Limoncello is a lemon liquer produced in the south of Italy, where they have enormous lemons that you wouldn't believe. We found a recipe and produced our first batch a couple of months ago. We have give away a lot of it to friends, so produced a second batch and did it a little differently. Good stuff! I won't go into details unless others express interest.

 

Never heard of it. How do you use/consume it? Is it something you mix in something else, do you drink it straight like an after dinner drink?

 

I guess you can use it in other drinks, but we've always had it just as an after-dinner drink. You don't want very much of it, because the lemon flavor is fairly strong, even though the alcohol content is not that high. I've always had it straight. It is normally served chilled. I'll put the recipe up tomorrow, kinda late now.

 

You mean a digestif of course

 

You'll need a good sized jug that will close up, such as with a screw on top. It's easier if the top opening is reasonably large.

Scrub the outsides of ten large lemons with a vegetable brush and dry them. Remove the zest from the lemons. A zesting tool will make this easier. Don't go too deep removing the zest because the white pith will make your limoncello taste sharper or even bitter. Put the zest into the jug. Pour in a fifth of vodka. We used 80 proof, but you can use 100 proof if you prefer. Screw the top onto the jug and let it sit at room temp for four to six days.

Make a simple syrup of 3 1/2 cups of water heated and 2 1/2 cups of sugar stirred in and dissolved thoroughly. Let the syrup cool and then pour it in with the vodka and lemon zest. Cover the jug and let it sit for another day or two.

Strain the lemon zest out and bottle your limoncello. I prefer mine as clear as possible, so I filter it through paper coffee filters. It takes several. This mixture will produce a little over two fifths of limoncello. We usually save a few screw-top wine bottles and rinse them out.

Chill the limoncello and enjoy sipping a bit after dinner.

After you have zested the lemons you can squeeze out the juice and you'll get close to a fifth of fresh lemon juice.

 

hey thanks sounds good

 

Never tried to make it, but I've had it several times. Good stuff!

Especially good drizzled over some lemon cake for dessert.

 

So theoretically you could do this with any citrus product.

Like a lime or orange or something

 

How about using moonshine instead of Vodka? Or maybe Everclear 190 to really give it a kick.

 

I think I'd prefer lime.

I've never had it, but certainly sounds good.

 

I suppose that's true, but I'm not sure what the recipe would be. Limes are smaller than lemons and oranges are larger, so the number of each to a fifth of alcohol would likely have to be different. Also, oranges are much sweeter than lemons, so using the same simple syrup would likely make a liquer that was way too sweet.

 

You could certainly use some form of alcohol other than vodka, but it should be something that doesn't have a significant flavor that would mask the flavor of the lemons. I believe commercially produced limoncello is 60 proof, so my recipe produces a less alcoholic drink. Even 100 proof vodka would be less. On the other hand, this is not the sort of thing you drink very much of in one evening, so strength is not that important.

 

Well I'm gonna get it. Somewhere around my kitchen is a lemon zester that's never been used.

 

I say the same thing all the time about the dipstick in my wife's car. Well, except the kitchen part.

 

Never tried making any, but enjoy drinking it! Good stuff in small quantities, after dinner drink, served chilled. I was introduced to it when I was in Italy a couple years ago. Bought a small bottle to bring home.

Here is an Everclear version of the recipe.