Westchester Eats

Making Limoncello is easy, it just requires the patience of a few weeks. Once it is completed, you will have an Italian treat at the ready in your freezer for guests after a nice dinner.

The Video: Making Limoncello

Ingredients

• 1750 mL good vodka
• 20 organic lemons
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup filtered water

Although you don’t have to filter the vodka, I find that running it through a filter several times gives a “cleaner” result. I use Brita.

1. Filter the vodka four times through a filter (such as Brita)
2. Put the vodka into a clean glass jar
3. Using a microplane, remove the zest (yellow only) and place all zest into the vodka.  Seal the jar.
4. Keep the mixture in a relatively shady area (not exposed to sunlight) – - but in a place that it is noticeable to you.  Every day or so as you pass by, simply give the jar a little “swirl” so the zest continues to interact with the vodka and the natural lemon oils extract. I would do this for a minimum of four weeks, and six weeks is better.
5. Using a coffee filter (I use my Krups gold filter), separate the now very yellow lemony limoncello from the zest.  Discard the zest.
6. In a sauce pan, mix one cup of sugar and one cup of filtered water.  Bring to a simmer while stirring.  Once the sugar comes to a boil, the syrup is complete.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
7. Continue to mix, in small portions, the simple syrup into the limoncello. Stir and taste until you have reached the citrus/sweetness combination that meets your taste.
8. Pour mixture into glass bottles, leaving some room for any expansion.  Place in the freezer.  Your limoncello will now be icy and syrupy cold and ready to serve as a cordial following any meal.

This entry was posted Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Archive, Recipes. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.