Limoncello is a sweet, lemony liqueur popular in southern Italy. It is usually made with everclear and is prone to giving you painful headaches. My version uses softer, gentler vodka. You can make this with any fruit, grapefruit or pomegranate are two good options. It’s important to use only organic fruits, especially if you are using citrus. The chemicals in non-organic fruits will all leach into the liqueur. No good!
You’ll need:
Large 10-12 cup glass container with lid
1 giant 1500 ml bottle of vodka
About 10 organic lemons
2 cups of simple syrup (see below)
Peel the lemons and throw them into a very clean glass container. Fill up your container with vodka. Put a loose lid on it and store is somewhere dark for 1 to 3 months, stirring occasionally. After your concoction has sat the desired amount of time, remove the peels. For the simple syrup, melt 1 cup sugar in 1 cup water over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add simple syrup to your concoction. Do a taste test. Add more simple syrup if needed.
Pour your concoction into pretty glass bottles, adding a couple of fresh lemon peels to the bottles for decoration. Seal tightly and give to friends. Serve very cold after dinner. Good with butter cookies.
What to do with 10 lemons. Make about 2/3 of pitcher full of iced tea. Mint is good with this, but any tea that does with lemon will work. Squeeze the skinless lemons you used to make limoncello and add the juice to the pitcher. Make simple syrup: In a small pan, melt 1 cup sugar into 1 cup water over low heat. Pour half of the syrup in your tea and do a taste test. If it is too tart, add more syrup until you’re happy. Drink over ice.