As spring is now upon us, we have an abundance of lemons on our tree. So what to do with all those lemons? For a bloke who likes a drink or two, my wife had a fantastic idea. Here is what unfolded.
About 3 weeks ago, Kim (my lovely wife) was ill and tired of laying in bed, so I trundled her off to the lounge room, threw on the blankets, and she started watching the movie Under The Tuscan Sun.
Half way through the movie, the main character, who was eying up some hot Italian lad, was told about this wonderful drink called Limoncello which she proceeded to drink. Kim then asked if I could make some. The reply was of course I can!
With lots of lemons on the tree, and a bottle of vodka in the cupboard, I set myself the task of making this luscious lemon liqueur. After a bit of research on the net, the consensus was a recipe that goes kind of like this. I borrowed the directions from an on-line cooking site, however I changed the amounts because I didn't think it was sweet or strong enough. So here is how I made it.
Limoncello (Gav style)
Ingredients
9 large smooth thick skinned lemons
700ml bottle of Vodka or Grappa
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
2 cups of water
juice of one lemon
Method
Pick the lemons, then grate the rind of all lemons. Be careful not to get any pith as I am told it will make the liqueur bitter.
Once you have all the rind place in a big glass container that you can seal or otherwise the alcohol will evaporate.
Then pour in the alcohol and seal the jar.
Let it rest while you perform the next step.
I love the way it changed colour over the course of a couple of hours. Note the rind sitting on the bottom. Some recipes state that you must leave it at this step for 30-40 days to infuse the flavour, however, I stumbled across a few Italian recipes that I translated, and they added the sugar syrup the same day.
So add the sugar and water and stir whilst heating on a medium heat. Bring to the boil.
Boil without stirring for 3 minutes. You will find the syrup will thicken a little. Take it off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and let it cool to room temperature. Do not add the syrup to the rind mixture whilst hot. You will burn off the alcohol, which kind of defeats the purpose of this drink.
My syrup cooled after two hours, so I gently poured it into the rind/vodka mixture.
I gave it a gentle shake to mix, and left it at that. Sealed the lid tightly and tipped it upside down to check for leaks.
I popped it into a dark corner in the kitchen where I will remember to mix it by shaking once a week over the course of a month. Apparently, it is then ready to drink, however I did see recipes that recommended two months.
As for the rest of the left over lemons, I squeezed them and made a drink for Kim. We are look forward to drinking the Limoncello on a nice late spring day! I still have a few lemons left on the tree, so Kim has convinced me to go and buy another bottle of vodka to make another batch. Might try Grappa this time, to make it a little more authentic. If it is as good as my Cumquat Brandy, then it should be a ripper!
Has anyone else made this liqueur before? How did it turn out? Have you tried to make other fruit wines or liqueurs? I would love to know.
15 comments:
I've recently made limoncello. Still at the waiting stage to try it.
I haven't made limoncello but with your easy instructions (and easy ingrediants) I will give this a go. Thanks
@ Jeanette, was the recipe similar?
@ Lisa, I bet it will turn out just fine. Well done for giving it a go.
I made a similar concoction with kiwis a few years back. I didn't add much sugar, but it still came out very sweet. We use it as the triple sec/simple syrup element in our margaritas.
I made one with apricots as well, that will sear your tastebuds clean off. Won't be doing that one again!
We made peach cordial and raspberry vodka this year. The raspberry vodka is just raspberries, vodka and sugar, and needs a mixer, but the peach cordial (similar to your limoncello recipe) is divine straight. I suspect you could easily drink far too much without realizing it.
Oh my that looks wonderful!
We made rhubarb and raspberry liqueur this year. Although they are still are in the steeping mode.
it looks LOVELY. If only I drank alchohol LOL nevermind - this and your other 'lemonade' tree post have inspired me and we now have a lemonade tree in the front yard :)
I made some last spring. I keep it in the freezer and have it in tiny glasses after a big dinner as a digestive or add some to a glass with ice cubes, wine and club soda for an easy sangria. Delicious.
In California, we had Meyer lemons, a complex, perfumy type of lemon with a lot of juice. We made Meyer Limoncello and gave it out in fancy bottles as holiday gifts one year. It's fantastic stuff! Perfect to help remember Summer at a time when there's little sunshine.
I have made Limoncello and it turned out great. I did put a little more lemon juice in it than you did. I used most of it in a pound cake that called for Limoncello. Worked very well.
Sounds great!
I've been wanting to try limoncello for years but sadly have been in Brooklyn and unable to find organic lemons (local pretty much non-existant) for less than their weight in gold.
My husband and I were on our honeymoon in italy and came across the recipe for Liquore al Basilico - Basilcello! I love basil and happened to have a few plants that needed harvesting right when we got back 2 weeks ago. The recipe is similar and I'll be sharing it as soon as it's done. I'm on day 13 and it macerates for 60-75 days.By day 2 it had already sucked all of the color out of the leaves! Can't wait to try it.
Looking forward to hearing how your limoncello turns out!
I make a cranberry liqueur in the fall, when the Thanksgiving cranberries come into the market. I add a whole orange, peel and all, for a bit of bitterness. I end up with something similar to Campari.
The recipe was very similar. Said to peel the rind off with a vege peeler making sure pith was not included. That was so hard but thought i'd see it it worked. Next was to sit 2 weeks shaking occasionally then add the sugar syrup which i'll be doing this weekend & then sit another week. Hopefully after all this effort it will tats nice.
We make limoncello for Christmas presents every year and it just sings summer. I believe it's traditionally made with grain alcohol though rather than grappa. If possible try to get hold of a bottle of polish spirits (80% alcohol) and mix that with 1 bottle of vodka. The higher alcohol content works better to draw the alcohol soluble lemon flavour from the zest, plus you can store it in the freezer as intended.
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