Limoncello
Homemade limoncello is truly a delight to have around! Lovely in cocktails or as a small chilled sip before dinner, a little bit of planning lets you have Italian Limoncello whenever you want it!
Servings: 0.5 Gallon
Ingredients
- 1 750 ml bottle of grain alcohol like Everclear
- 10 - 12 lemons
- 6 cups water
- 4 cups sugar
Instructions
- First things first: clean those lemons! You don't want any wax or pesticides in your limoncello. I buy organic lemons if I can find them for a reasonable price and use a mushroom brush to give them a light scrub underwater, then a quick rinse.
- Use a vegetable peeler to remove the yellow rind from all of your lemons. Avoid the white part (aka the pith) as this will make your final product bitter.
- Throw the peels in a large container with a lid, pour the alcohol over the peels and put the lid on it. Give it a good shake, because, well, shaking things is fun and gets those oils from the lemon peels moving, place it somewhere cool and dark for at least three weeks.
- After three weeks have passed, open the jar and strain the mixture, discarding the lemon peels. ( See Notes )
- Now, time to make the simple syrup which will sweeten your limoncello! I like a light syrup, so. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Turn the heat off and stir in the sugar, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Allow it to cool.
- Once cooled, add the lemon concoction to the simple syrup, stir to combine and pour into two 750-ml glass containers. It's best if stored in the freezer.
Notes
Limoncello is best served ice-cold, in tiny keep-you-out-of-trouble glasses
Strained Lemon Peel are excellent at cleaning disposals! You can set yours aside and throw a few into your disposal, run it with hot water for a few seconds, and BOOM! So fresh and so clean.