Homemade Limoncello
A while back my friends in Sacramento, California, sent me a box full of lemons from their lemon tree. After some pondering I decided to use some of them to make homemade limoncello..
They smelled so good, you just can't even imagine. It was a burst of summer in the middle of a Michigan winter.
I did a simple Google search for "limoncello" and after some perusal settled on this recipe, from the Washington Post. I had a source from Indiana procure for me a bottle of true high-octane Everclear, 190 proof, which is unavailable in Michigan. This, according to various persons in the know, is what one should use to make homemade limoncello.
I used one of my growlers for the initial steeping. It worked perfectly! And yes, I did manage to get all of the lemon peel out of the jug once steeping was over. There was a lot of shaking involved.
The sugar water-lemon infusion mixing step. This was messy and sticky. The end result filled two half-gallon growlers. That's a lot of limoncello.
The finished product!
I was as careful as I could be when I peeled the lemons but I think a wee bit of white pith made it into the infusion and made it a tiny bit more bitter than it should have been. Nevertheless, for my first attempt at anything like this, it turned out remarkably well. It tastes great and is delicious by itself with some ice or mixed in with other things.
This is not a concoction for the impatient. It took five weeks from start to finish, and I have another half gallon that's still resting in my basement. Anyone want some homemade limoncello?
They smelled so good, you just can't even imagine. It was a burst of summer in the middle of a Michigan winter.
I did a simple Google search for "limoncello" and after some perusal settled on this recipe, from the Washington Post. I had a source from Indiana procure for me a bottle of true high-octane Everclear, 190 proof, which is unavailable in Michigan. This, according to various persons in the know, is what one should use to make homemade limoncello.
I used one of my growlers for the initial steeping. It worked perfectly! And yes, I did manage to get all of the lemon peel out of the jug once steeping was over. There was a lot of shaking involved.
The sugar water-lemon infusion mixing step. This was messy and sticky. The end result filled two half-gallon growlers. That's a lot of limoncello.
The finished product!
I was as careful as I could be when I peeled the lemons but I think a wee bit of white pith made it into the infusion and made it a tiny bit more bitter than it should have been. Nevertheless, for my first attempt at anything like this, it turned out remarkably well. It tastes great and is delicious by itself with some ice or mixed in with other things.
This is not a concoction for the impatient. It took five weeks from start to finish, and I have another half gallon that's still resting in my basement. Anyone want some homemade limoncello?