I first tasted Limoncello when visiting the Mantova region of northern Italy. After my first taste, I was hooked and knew I had to make it at home. A business associate from the area provided me with his grandmother's recipe.
How To Make Limoncello
Ingredients
- 8 medium organic lemons
- 750 milliliters of 190 proof Everclear pure grain alcohol
- 6 ¼ cups distilled water
- 2 ½ cups pure cane sugar
Preparation
- Peel 8 medium lemons - peel thinly so the peels only have yellow and no white pith.
- Soak lemon peels in 750 milliliters of 190 proof Everclear pure grain alcohol for 2 months in a cool dark location (i.e. closet).
- After two months, prepare a simple syrup by heating 6-¼ cups of distilled water until vapor starts coming off the water and then slowly mixing in 2-½ cups of pure cane sugar. Continue to stir until the resulting mixture is clear.
- Strain the lemon peels from the alcohol and combine with the simple syrup in a large container. If you want the limoncello to be bright yellow, mix the simple syrup with the lemon/alcohol mix while the simple syrup is still warm. If you wait for the simple syrup mix to reach room temperature and then mix, the resulting limoncello will be a deeper yellow color that is somewhat translucent. We prefer the bright yellow since it looks like liquid sunshine.
- Let the limoncello sit for a week to a month to settle and smooth out.
- Strain the Limoncello several times through coffee filters or cheese cloth to remove small particles.
- Now that you are done, pour the Limoncello into smaller bottles and put in freezer. When chilled, serve in chilled shot glasses. A little goes a long way since this version of the Limoncello is 60 proof (30 percent alcohol)!
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