How to Make Your Own Lemon Liqueur

May 2013

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

How to Make Your Own Lemon Liqueur

I first tried “Limoncello” (pronounced: lee-mo-n-chello) when my wife and I were traveling in Italy. It’s a lemon-flavored after dinner drink that is served ice cold. People say Limoncello aids digestion, but digestion aside, it is really yummy.

Almost any restaurant in Italy serves Limoncello, but sadly, it is not well known outside of Italy. I suspect that Italians have been shy about publicizing Limoncello for purely selfish reasons. Let’s face it, Italian know a good thing when they taste it, and they’re probably keeping quiet to ensure a larger supply for themselves.

While you can buy Limoncello in some specialty liquor stores, it’s not widely distributed. Fortunately you can easily make Limoncello at home. If you have a lemon tree in your backyard like I do, you’re already half way to making your own Limoncello. If not, it’s easy to find lemons and the rest of the ingredients.

My wife, Sharon, found a recipe for Limoncello in Karen Solomon’s book Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and I credit Sharon with doing all the work to make our home supply.

Below are the ingredients and instructions to make your own lemon hooch:

Ingredients & Equipment:

1 wide mouthed jar with lid
8 Lemons (use your own or organic lemons. You will be infusing the lemons in alcohol and don’t’ want to use lemons that might have pesticides on the peel)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups good grade vodka

Instructions:

Peel the zest from 4 of the lemons with a zester or veggie peeler.
Pour the vodka in the jar and add the zest.
Seal the jar and let sit for 2 weeks, shaking daily.
Remove and discard the zest.
Make a simple syrup by combing water and sugar in a pan and heating till all the sugar is dissolved.
Let this mixture cool to room temperature and then squeeze the juice of the remaining 4 lemons and into to the syrup.
Add the syrup mixture to the infused vodka and allow to mellow for 6 weeks.
Store in your freezer and serve well chilled.

I the next few posts, I will cover other simple delicious things you can make with lemons. I also have added 4 new dwarf citrus trees to my container garden and will post you on their progress as we get into summer.

Till next post... Salute. Cheers. Zum Wohl. A Votre Sante. L'Chaim. Yung Sing. Kampai. Chin Chin.