Friday, January 23, 2009

The Making of A Great Limoncello

Limoncello is a lemon liquor produced in Southern Italy; where the Sorrento lemons grow in abundance. Although it can be easily found at liquor stores in the US nothing quite compares to the homemade version.

The process might seem time consuming at first glance but it is actually very easy. We use the following instructions as our guide. Don't stress over being exact, it's all a matter of taste.

15-20 lemons (unwaxed) 2 (750-ml) bottles of Everclear 4-6 cups water 4-6 cups of sugar A large glass jar with a sealed lid Bottles for storing the final product

Before getting started the lemons should be washed and dried very well. Once that is done remove the peel from the lemons; careful to avoid the bitter white pith. If any white pith remains it should be scraped off before going to the next step.



Place the peels in a large glass jar

Add the Everclear.


Put the jar in a cool, dark place for at least 6 weeks.

After the 6 week period it will be time to mix in the sugar and water. Place the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until it turns clear. Allow to cool before adding it to the peels.

Put the jar back in the closet for at least two more weeks.

Strain the mixture with a cheesecloth; pressing down to remove all the alcohol and oils from the peels before tossing them.

Poor the strained Limoncello into the final bottles and store in the freezer until ready to drink.

15 comments:

  1. Oh.My.God. I am all over this one, and soon! My oldest daughter bought me a bottle of Limoncello for my birthday, and I savored every last drop... I love Limoncello Lemonade. Thanks for posting this one!!

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  2. You won't believe this but I was just making limoncello myself :)

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  3. this is quite interesting... thanks for sharing... :)

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  4. I hope you are making lemon bars with all those lovely peeled lemons!!!

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  5. How yummy!!! Thanks for posting this great recipe. I am loving this website!!!

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  6. Yumm.. this is going to be a bookmarked item from all your foodie friends!

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  7. Thank you for stopping by my blog. You do have a lot of lemons! Praiano will be wonderful in fall. You'll get to see all those sunsets perfectly!

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  8. Oh my goodness! A girl after my own heart! Limoncello is always tucked away in my freezer. I would love to try and make this! Thank you, thank you!! Please show us your finished masterpiece!

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  10. the lemons look so naked! You can't buy Everclear in MA...apparently it's illegal. So luckily we're a small state and with a short drive can buy in CT:)

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  11. mmmm love limoncello :) hope you report back on how it turns out!

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  12. How did it turn out?

    Homemade is always the best. You really should try making lemonade too. ;-)

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  13. I hope this turned out well for you. We also made a batch recently and use it for cooking and baking as well as drinking some every now and then. Here are the specifications that we used:
    http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Limoncello.htm

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  14. This looks fantastic... I thin this would be a great chaser after an evening of my Royaltea... I'll be getting the ingredients together tomorrow morning

    Johnny T

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