Sunday, January 16, 2011

Limoncello

I finally had a chance to deliver some of my homemade Christmas gifts to my friends and now I can tell you about what I made.  I made Limoncello for the first time and gifted bottles of it to some of my friends.  You can find all sorts of recipes for limoncello on the internet, so I'm not going to post one -- just the basic idea.  



I used approximately 20 lemons and 2 - 750 ml bottles of everclear (grain alcohol).  You only use the zest of the lemons -- I used a very sharp paring knife to be sure I didn't get any of the white pith.  The pith will make your limoncello bitter.  You could also use a zester but then you have to use filters to get the particles of zest out of the alcohol.  Anyway, I let the lemon zest soak in the strong alcohol for one month to infuse the alcohol with the essence of the lemon.  


After one month, I made a simple syrup (about 4 cups of water and the same amount of sugar dissolve over heat) and blended the syrup with the alcohol.  Immediately the alcohol gets a nice cloudy quality to it.  I love the way limoncello looks!  I purchased bottles from specialtybottle.com and bottled the limoncello right away.  The limoncello mellows with age, so it is nice to let it rest for another month if you can resist drinking it right away.  The limoncello should be served ice-cold.  I'm tucking a bottle of it away for a hot weekend next summer -- I think it would be splendid in the heat of summer.


That's all you have to do to make an amazing liquor beverage that is great to give at Christmas time.  It is not cheap, but it is easy (besides the hours spent to peel all those lemons).  When I was done peeling, I wasn't sure what to do with all of the lemons.  I ended up juicing them and pouring the juice into ice cube trays to freeze.  After freezing, I put the cubes in a freezer bag and dated the bag.  I figured I could then thaw them as needed throughout the year for any recipe that calls for lemon juice (I'm suddenly hungry for tabouleh salad - yum!).  


As it turns out, a couple of weeks later I decided to start making wine.  Making limoncello is the reason I chose to make lemon wine in the first place -- to use the abundance of fruit juice that I already had on hand.  As an update on the wine -- today I syphoned the wine into a new glass jar to get rid of some of the sediment at the bottom of the bottle.  I also tested the specific gravity and it is almost done.
Today I am also starting to venture into fermented tea -- or "Kombucha".  My good friend, Jen, gave me a chunk of her "mother" (the mushroom culture that turns tea into kombucha) yesterday when I visited.  I gave my dear friends limoncello and walked away with some of her amazing apple butter and some fungus (and got to try their cranberry wine too).  Stay tuned for more info on kombucha.

8 comments:

Emily said...

yum! i've never tried limoncello but it sounds really good. booze does make a great gift--i gave away a few bottles of fish house punch this year (rum, cognac, brandy, fresh lemon juice, sugar...mmm.)

i can't wait to see how your kombucha turns out! i took a class on fermentation a few months ago that was mainly about kombucha and i'm excited to try it but unfortunately it's just not warm enough in my house during the winter, so i'm waiting a while. plus i don't know anyone who makes it so i have to grow my own mother.

Diane Barnard said...

I've never had Limoncello. I bet I'd like it since I enjoy Mike's Hard Lemonade or Limeade on a hot summer's day. You juiced all those lemons on that hand juicer in the picture?

Shari said...

Limoncello is not at all tart like lemonade. It tastes like a lemon drop shot if you have ever had one of those. It is very strong, but not unpleasantly alcohol-y tasting.
I did juice them all on the hand juicer. My mother gave me that juicer as a gift and I really enjoy using it. I probably could have put the lemons through my Champion juicer, but I didn't really think of it at the time.

Shari said...

Emily - that fish house punch sounds really good.
I sure hope the kombucha turns out. My friends are quite successful with theirs and are experimenting with different flavors of tea.

Denise said...

Kombucha is good but I like my water Kefir better. The kombucha if left long enough will turn into vinegar...

Good luck with the kombucha!

Shari said...

I have never had water Kefir before. Now I am intrigued. I am going to research it and perhaps give it a try as well. Thanks for teaching me something new today. :)

Neo-Homesteading said...

I made the mistake of using everclear once while making limoncello. Its good with club soda and jam but woooh is it an instant headache!

I love that someones finally touching on homemade wine. I've been meaning to but haven't gotten around to it. Your posts are great I very much appreciated reading them. Home brewing is simple yet rewarding. Its like making bread but its a million times more satisfying since you have to wait for it!

Shari said...

Yeah, Everclear sure packs a punch! I didn't get a headache from it though. I think the vodka version would be just as tasty (and less expensive to make) From the research I did, Italians insist it must be made with grain alcohol and not vodka. There is a really cute video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeYYyY-jIgY

Glad you like my posts, Neo-Homesteading. I've really enjoyed your blog since I found it. Your recipes inspire me!