As promised, here are my limoncello recipe, a video of the talk I gave at Ignite Ann Arbor 8 back in 2013, and a link to my slides on how to “Make Your Own Booze (Without Going Blind).”
Synopsis: Limoncello is a sweet, potent, ultra-citrusy liqueur popular in Southern Italy; think “lemon-drop schnapps.” If you can get 100 proof vodka (or, even better, 151 proof grain alcohol) and organic lemons, you can make it at home with minimal effort and disproportionate results. The recipe below is bare-bones but functional; watch the 5 minute video for all the details. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5L of Everclear 151
- 20 organic lemons
- ~3 lbs of sugar
TOOLS
- One or more big glass jars
- a working kitchen (i.e., a big pot for boiling water, a working stove, a knife, a potato peeler, running water)
LIMONCELLO RECIPE
- Prepare your lemon zests: Rinse your organic lemons, cut off the ends, and then use a potato peeler to peel of paper thin strips of just the yellow portion of the skin (i.e., the “zest”). Avoid getting any of the fibrous white portion of the skin (that’s the “pith,” it’s bitter). [Since this recipe only calls for the zests, you can save the lemons for something else. I suggest juicing them and freezing the juice in 1 cup portions, to be used in making hot lemonade (recipe below).]
- Soak the zests in Everclear: Put all of the zests in a large jar and dump in all of the Everclear. Put the jar somewhere cool, dark, and safe for two weeks. Once each day give the jar a few shakes. Over the course of the two weeks the Everclear will extract the essential oil from the zests; your jar will go from being a container of crystal-clear alcohol with bright yellow zests floating in it to a jar of bright-yellow alcohol with zombie-white zests floating in it.
- Prepare simple syrup: Bring 6 cups of water to a rolling boil. Add six cups of sugar and stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Let this solution cool a bit while you (just so you don’t burn yourself; sugar burns suck).
- Dilute the lemon-alcohol extract: Strain our the lemon zests, and then mix the lemon-extract alcohol with the simple syrup, stirring briskly to combine well. This is ready to drink immediately (it’s better cold, and can be kept in the freezer, since it will never freeze), but bottle aging will mellow it nicely. It’s best to bottle age limoncello in its cool, dark place for at least two weeks, although you can go longer–the flavor will improve with up to two years of bottling conditioning.
- Enjoy!: Limoncello is excellent straight from the freezer, or mixed with tonic, club soda, or lemonade. A shot or two of limoncello in a mug of boiling water is a dead-simple toddy that will stave of wintertime head colds, sour throats, and mild depression. In the summer, limoncello is excellent over ice or ice cream.
But what about all the juice from your organic lemons? Well, it’s excellent for cooking, mixed drinks, Greek-style Lemon Chicken soup, or hot lemonade:
HOT LEMONADE RECIPE
- Boil 3 cups water
- Stir in .5 cup sugar
- Drop in 1 cup frozen lemon juice (this is why I suggest freezing it in 1 cup portions) and stir until all of the juice is thawed and the liquids thoroughly combined.
- Enjoy! Hot lemonade is a great mid-winter pick-me-up, and a good non-alcoholic way to head off a head cold.
- (Too hot out for hot lemonade? Then just stick the whole thing in the fridge for a few hours.)
Thanks again for coming to Ignite8! Questions? Comments? Results you wish to share? Feel free to touch base via email or Twitter—or join my email list.