Making Limoncello
While most people associate wine with Italy when it comes to alcoholic beverages, there’s one other notable potable that often gets overlooked: Limoncello.
A lemon-infused liqueur, limoncello is mainly a product of Southern Italy—from the Gulf of Naples down through the Sorrentine Peninsula and Almalfi Coast, all the way across the water to Capri and Sicily. For that reason, limoncello is most often made with the Sorrento lemon; however, other lemons will work just fine.
Most often served as an after-dinner drink, limoncello is best chilled right from the freezer—and on the Amalfi Coast, it’s even served in chilled glasses. Basically, with this punched-up lemonade, the colder it is the better.
When it comes to most Italian foods and beverages, everybody has his or her own way of preparing things; therefore, recipes vary by region and by family. But here is the most basic limoncello recipe for you to try at home:
8-10 lemons
1 liter of 95% proof alcohol (If you can’t find it in a store near you, vodka is an acceptable substitute.)
1 liter of water
2.2 pounds of sugar
- Peel the lemons, removing as much of the pith as possible*, and add the peel to the liter of alcohol. Leave for a week so that the flavors from the peel infuse into the liquid.
- At the end of the week, boil the water and add sugar until it fully dissolves. Let mixture cool.
- Remove lemon peels from alcohol (now yellow and lemon-scented).
- Add sugar water and stir.
- Pour liquid into as many bottles as necessary and set aside** until ready to serve, preferably chilled right from the freezer.
*Don’t waste! Keep the inside of the lemons for other purposes—a garnish for water, jam, pie, etc.
**Though everybody has their own preferences, it’s best to wait at least a month before serving the limoncello. Some people even wait a year or more.
Do you have your own limoncello recipe? Share it with us!
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