My interest in making limoncello began when my friend Margie gave me a bottle of her homemade version two years ago. The following months consisted of several hearty Italian meals followed by sipping this Italian liqueur at home until, sadly, it was all gone.
Then, this past December, I dined at Dominic’s Ristorante Italiano in Phoenixville. Our host Dominic held court after the meal, winding his way through the space holding two bottles of his own homemade limoncello. Actually, one bottle held a spectacular strawberry version (fragole cello)! I sipped both, and my obsession began anew.
You may be asking, what is limoncello? It’s a traditional lemon liqueur that is generally sipped after a meal. Considered a digestif, limoncello aids in digestion after all that tomato sauce and garlic! Although it has been served in Italy for over a hundred years, Italian restaurants here in the States now often offer limoncello on their beverage and dessert menu. It’s most often served chilled and bottles can be kept in the fridge.
The key to making limoncello is patience. I researched a few recipes online, particularly useful were recipes from Brown Eyed Baker and the Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis. As these two recipes were so different from each other, I gained confidence to improvise my own version. The goal is to balance the lemon, sugar and alcohol to your taste. I plan on attempting fragole cello this summer once fresh strawberries arrive at West Chester Growers Market. Here’s the recipe I used for my first batch of traditional limoncello, which turned out pretty tasty.
Recipe for: Homemade Limoncello
Ingredients:
- 1 750-ml bottle of vodka (or Everclear grain alcohol if available)
- 15 organic lemons
- 5 cups water
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- Mesh strainer
- Coffee filters
- 3-4 bottles with secure caps
- A few bowls for storing/mixing
Method:
Taking a small knife, carefully slice the skin off of the lemons. This is where patience comes in. The goal is to peel the yellow peel without much of the white underskin. There will be some white on the inner skin, but you don’t want the whole quarter inch of white. This takes a steady hand and concentration. I thought a grater might work, but once I grated my knuckles, I returned to the small knife. Just take your time.
Place the peels in a large glass bowl and pour in your alcohol until all the lemon peels are totally under. Cover and let sit, unrefrigerated but in a cool place, for at least two weeks.
Two Weeks Later…
Heat up 5 cups of water and pour in 4 cups of granulated sugar. Stir occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved. A few recipes call for bringing to a boil but I did not. What you have now is a simple syrup.
While allowing the syrup to cool, position a colander inside a large bowl and pour the lemon/alcohol mixture in. Allow this to sit for a short time then throw out the lemons.
Combine the lemon/alcohol mixture and the the simple syrup into one bowl. Set up the mesh strainer over an empty bowl, place a coffee filter in the strainer, and ladle the alcohol in. After each ladle, replace the filter with a new one. The idea here is to filter out any small bits of lemon peel that are still in the mixture. A coffee filter won’t last long before falling apart. Again, patience is required. Some recipes call for filtering more than once, but I thought I was careful enough where no particles passed through.
Now, use a funnel and a ladle to transfer the limoncello into the bottles. Cap and store in a dark cool place, or refrigerate until you have your next Italian meal!
- Photography: Jim Breslin
