A few years ago, we were introduced to the wonderment of limoncello by our pal Mitch, the guy who opened Tuscan Market here in Arlington Heights. More recently, Amy, the new owner of the shop, introduced us to Gioia Luisa Limoncello Cream, which is a delighful spin on the traditional drink.
What is limoncello, exactly? Well, it’s lemon-flavored, refreshing, and highly alcoholic. Exactly what you need on a summer’s afternoon when you just want to crash in your hammock.
This got us to thinking that we should try making our own limoncello: I mean, how difficult could it be? It seemed all we need are some lemons, the appropriate type and quantity of alcohol, and time.
There are several limoncello recipes available on the internet, including the ones found at the excellent LimoncelloQuest site. We decided to modify the recipes we found to suit our needs, and boy, were we pleased with our first-time-out results.
Let’s jump right in:

Here we have the basics for the first steps of the recipe:

– The rind of about 30 lemons;
– 750 ml bottle of Everclear Grain Alcohol (190 proof– you can use 151 proof if 190 is not available; you can get 190 proof in Illinois);
– jar with a good, sealable lid.

The key with the lemon rinds is to make sure you scrub off any wax and dirt, and then peel only the yellow part from the fruit: try not to get any of the white part of the lemon in your mixture or it will add to the bitterness.

Now, I don’t have to tell you that Everclear is (a) not something you want to swig; and (b) highly flammable. Don’t do this part near the stove or your firepit in the back yard. (This reminds me of a guy I knew who worked at a Texaco station and used to smoke over gas cans while he filled them.)

..and in goes the lemon peel.

This is what the product will look like when you’re done with this phase of the recipe. Now you just put the jar in a cool, dark place for a few weeks.

Here’s our jar, sitting in our pantry. Every few days we’d pick the jar up and give it a shake. The first thing we noticed was that the alcohol began to turn yellow and the peels started going white.
The jar sat on the shelf for about 4 weeks.

The next step in the recipe calls for dissolving 2 cups of sugar in 2 quarts of water, but we took a different approach: we dissolved two cups of sugar in two cups of water, making a simple syrup. Once the mixture cooled– and it has to be completely cooled– we put in the additional water to make the two quarts.

Next, we drained the alcohol into a bowl through a strainer.

You can see how the color is almost completely gone from the lemon peel.

Then we add the sugar/water mixture. Note how the stuff in the bowl turned cloudy.
Now pour the mixture into bottles and put it all in the freezer. It won’t solidify because of the alcohol content.
Then…

Enjoy!
Since this was our first batch, we’re going to try tweaking the recipe. We’lllet you know how it turns out. 🙂