Limoncello
Adapted from here (warning: takes a very, very long time to load).
time:
An hour or so to prepare, at least a month total 'til the finished product, possibly more.
need:
15-20 lemons, clean and unwaxed--they should smell lemony!
2 750ml bottles of 80 proof cheap vodka
4-6 cups water
2-4 cups sugar, or to your own taste
cheesecloth
a 3+ liter glass jar with an airtight sealed lid
bottles to put the finished product in (the vodka bottles work well)... don't forget that there will be
more than two 750ml bottles worth of it by the time you're done!
do:
Phase One
1. Wash and dry the lemons, remove any blemishes on the skin
2. Zest or carefully remove the peel from the lemons. That is to say, you want to remove all of the nice yellow skin without including any of the bitter white peel that is found directly beneath the yellow outer layer. You can use a very sharp knife if you are confident in your peeling skills, or you can use a zester, which looks like
this. I got mine at
Ikea for $2, and it works well enough.
3. Put the peel into the glass jar and pour in the all of the vodka. Seal it tightly.
4. Put the jar in a cool, dark place (like the bottom of your closet) for at least 2 weeks, but longer is fine.
Don't throw out the lemons! I juiced 'em and froze the juice into ice cubes. It's nice to have fresh lemon juice any time you want it.
After several weeks...
Phase Two
5. Make the simple syrup: Slowly boil the sugar and water until it becomes clear, and let it cool to about room temperature.
6. Add the syrup to the jar. If your jar is too small to hold all of this, split up the batch into another jar.
7. Put the jar back where you kept it and leave it alone again for at least another 2 weeks, but again longer is fine.
After several more weeks...
Phase Three
8. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth into another container in order to remove the lemon peel.
9. Squeeze the cheesecloth to wring out as much of the vodka and lemon oil as you can. Dispose of the cheesecloth and peel.
10. Put the limoncello in clean bottles that seal well, and leave it alone for another week or so.
Limoncello is best served cold. Store it in the freezer if you can. However, if there is too much water in the liqueur, it will freeze, so it is okay to store it in the refrigerator, too.
Don't be shy about experimenting with limoncello! You can do a lot more with it than drink it straight up.
My Attempts
Attempt 1, began March 2008, bottled May 2008
Used organic lemons grown at Kelly's house and the cheapest vodka I could find. Discovered that it's a bad idea to zest or juice lemons when you have paper cuts.
Wish I'd remembered to record the exact amounts of everything I used, but alas, I did not. I left the peel to steep after Phase One for about a month, and forgot about the stuff after Phase Two for 2 or 3 weeks. I double strained it and poured it into an old Smirnoff bottle and a cool old glass lemonade bottle. There was a bit extra, and I don't remember what I did with that.
I used too much water in my simple syrup, so the limoncello froze when I put it in the freezer. People have commented that it was very, very sweet, so I'm planning on using less of both the water and the sugar next time.
Discovered that I like it best diluted a bit with water or served with ice.
Attempt 2, began September 7, 2008
Used 25 of the cheapest largish lemons I could find at Berkeley Bowl and the cheapest 1.75L bottle of vodka I could find, which happened to be Seagram's on sale.
Currently sitting in the bottom of my closet, right next to the empty vodka bottle that I'm saving to store it later.