David’s ‘Everyday Italian Wine’ - 27
It’s an ‘Everyday Italian Liqueur’ this week as David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo shows you how to make Limoncello as a delicious reminder of your Abruzzo vacation !
Home-Made Limoncello
I picked up this recipe on the excellent ExpatsInItaly website and tweaked it a little. It's been tasted and field-tested. By Italians. It's very good, very easy and very quick. Inside two weeks from today, you could be enjoying your own.
What You'll Need
Two parallel recipes here for how to make Limoncello. Use the first if you can buy the 95% alcohol readily available in Italy - and in the US under the 'Everclear' brand-name. Use the second recipe if you can't. But stick to one recipe or the other. They aren't interchangable !
- 200g lemon peel
- 1 litre 95% alcohol
- 1.4 litres of water
- 600 grams of white caster sugar
or…
- 200g lemon peel
- 1 litre 40% vodka
- 250mls of water
- 315 grams of white caster sugar
How To Make Limoncello…
Using a potato-peeler, cut strips of peel from your lemons. You want the yellow lemon peel only. The white pith will make your Limoncello taste bitter For this recipe, you must use either unwaxed or organic lemons. Waxed lemons require washing to remove their coating and too much of the lemon oils so essential in making good Limoncello will get lost in the process. As a guide, 8-10 big lemons should give you 200 grams; or 15 or so smaller ones. Handle your strips of peel as little as possible to avoid too much lemon oil getting onto your fingers.
Once you've got your 200 grams of peel, put them into a 1.5 litre airtight container. Then pour over your chosen alcohol and give the contents a quick shake. Almost instantly, you'll see the liquid start to take on a clear yellow colour. Leave your container in a cool, dark place for between 10 and 14 days. You'll know your Limoncello is ready when the liquid has become golden and lemon peel has turned almost white, which means that all the oils and colour have been extracted. And by some strange chemical process I don't even begin to understand, the peel is also now dry and brittle. 
Pour your water into a saucepan and add the white caster sugar. Sorry, but any brown or 'golden' sugar just won't work in this recipe. And caster sugar dissolves much more completely and easily than granulated. Bring the sugared water gently to the boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes while you stir it to dissolve every last grain of sugar. Then let it cool to room temperature in the pan. If your sugar hasn't dissolved properly, (or if you've used granulated sugar), you'll see crystals forming around the side of the pan. If this happens, bring the water back to the boil and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Now pour your lemon-flavoured alcohol into a large bowl or jug through a sieve lined with muslin (ideally) or two sheets of kitchen towel. You should have a clear, deep yellow liquid. Don't be tempted to taste it. It's mouth-puckeringly horrible. Add the water. As you do, the liquid will instantly change from clear to opaque. Ecco ! Home-made Limoncello !
Pour your Limoncello carefully into bottles and store one in the freezer. Have your first taste when it's icy-cold. Some recipes recommend you keep your home-made Limoncello for weeks/months/even years before drinking. On the other hand - why wait ? Following these recipes, your home-made Limoncello will be around 33% proof - a couple of degrees stronger than the commercially-produced stuff.
What To Do With Your Leftover Lemons
Juice them. Pour the juice into an ice-cube tray and when they're frozen, pop them out of the tray and keep them in a plastic bag in your freezer. They look great and they're an eye-catching alternative to a slice of lemon in a G&T or a VaT.
Or you can make the…
Villasfor2 House Cocktail (The Mellow Yellow)
Fill a tall glass with ice. Add a lemon ice cube if you have one handy: if not, use the juice of half a lemon instead. Pour over a generous measure of home-made Limoncello. Top-up with tonic water. Stir, and drink through a straw. Blissful.
Click on the pictures in the text for larger images - and if you like Italian wine, why not check out last week's 'Everyday Italian Wine' (a seductive Vermentino di Sardegna)- and bookmark this site for future weekly posts !
Next Week: You'll know all about Verdicchio from neighbouring Le Marche, but you might not have come across the region's rarer alternative white wine - Bianchello del Metauro. It's a perfect summer wine for you to enjoy at home - and on your Villasfor2 Abruzzo vacation.
Abruzzo vacation, Everyday Italian Wine, Limoncello, Villasfor2
Good rundown. My recipes often produce liquors that are even stronger yet but most people enjoy smoother limoncello like you’re recommending.