How to Make Limoncello- Part One

It’s no secret that I’m a limoncello fanatic. I can pretty much blame that on my friend Bill. Every year I’d have an abundance of lemons and couldn’t get rid of them all (we’re talking HUNDREDS); until Bill says to me “My mom will take whatever lemons you don’t want for her homemade limoncello”. His family is Italian; limoncello is part of their heritage. And so our little “agreement” began- I’d bring him the lemons, and a few months later he’d bring me a bottle of limoncello. That agreement worked out fine until I decided to take a crack at making it myself. Thankfully, I got direction from someone who knows what they’re talking about- but the recipe, well, I had to figure that out on my own. Everyone makes it different. Some people use just vodka, some straight everclear, some let it sit for only a few weeks, others let it sit for several months. The following is what I’ve come up with, along with my “lessons learned”. If you find yourself with oodles of lemons, you might want to keep reading. I should note that the pictures here were taken with my Blackberry, my video camera, or my friend Scott’s iPhone. And the ingredients, well, these are from a batch that I more than tripled, using roughly 150 lemons. Yes, it was a long day.

For Part One, your cast of characters will include high quality vodka (No joke- the Kirkland brand at Costco is pretty darn close to Grey Goose- and at $27.99 for a 1.75 liter bottle, that’s a steal). The second ingredient is a bottle of Everclear, we’re talking the California version of it- 75.5% alcohol, 151 proof . I’ve heard of some states where you can buy this stuff at 190-something proof (my guess is Nevada- they break all of the rules!), but at that high of an alcohol volume I’m guessing it would taste more like paint thinner (not that I’ve tried- again, I’m guessing it’s just flat out nasty). A bottle of Everclear at my local BevMo runs me about $16.99. Hold on to these bottles, because you might want to use them later for storing your new creation. The star of Part One will be…..lemons. Shocker, right? There are soooo many different kinds to choose from. I personally grow Meyers lemons, cuz’, well, they are like the best lemon. Ever. Interesting factoid: a Meyer is not a true lemon; it’s actually a hybrid of a lemon and a mandarin. Did ya know that? Pretend that you didn’t and I just taught you something new. If I’m armed with 1.75 vodka, and 750ml of Everclear- I would then grab about 40 lemons. When I say lemons, I mean organic, homegrown- not the wax covered things you get at the grocery store. For this recipe you want the outside of lemons. Most pesticides that are applied to commercially grown citrus reside on the outside of the lemons. You want the oils off that lemon, so wax will be an unnecessary obstacle. Sure, you can use vegetable wash to remove that wax, but you’d also be removing some of those oils that you WANT. Even places like Whole Foods have started waxing their citrus, so if you can’t get them from someone’s garden, the farmers market will be your best option.
Another important item is your storage container. You want a LARGE glass container that you can seal. You need to think beyond the amount of liquor and lemon peels you’re going to add because in a few months you’re going to add more liquid, about 7 cups worth. The cheapest option is a large glass ice tea jug that doesn’t have a spout on it. You can usually find these pretty inexpensive towards the end of summer. If you can't find one that can be sealed, you'll have to MacGyver it with duct tape.
After washing and drying your lemons, use a potato peeler to remove the peels off the lemons. A nicer potato peeler works best, especially one with a decent handle (I use an OXO brand one), because you’re going to be peeling for quite some time. The most important information I can give you is to watch out for pith! Pith is the white part under the peel, and it can ruin an entire batch of limoncello. Pith is not your friend. For this reason alone I do not zest the peel, you are far more likely to get pith if you zest than if you do a peel-then-scrape method. The first few times I made limoncello I was lucky, but then bam, my last batch of the season last year I had too much in my limoncello and I basically wasted about 50 dollars in liquor, and 3 months of work. That’s why I now made the process even more difficult and scrape the pith off the back of each and every peel. That’s why I also enlist the help of friends to assist me in peeling and scraping because otherwise it would take me ALL. FRICKIN’. DAY. The peel on the left in the picture below is what you're going for, the peel on the right is not.

So, to recap, we get a large glass container that can seal. We pour in a big frickin bottle of vodka, and a legal bottle of Everclear. We then peel a bunch of lemons, and scrape off the pith. We then ADD the lemons to the jar, seal the jar, and put it in the pantry. We let it sit. We leave it alone. We don’t stir. We don’t take the lid off to “taste”. We leave it alone for 2-3 months. The longer it sits, I guarantee the better it tastes. I’ve actually done an experiment! The difference between a 2 month and 3 month limoncello is very noticeable- not only in color but especially flavor. Within a few days you will see the color of the alcohol change dramatically to BRIGHT YELLOW. Brighter than pee! No joke. This is normal. Put the jar back in your pantry, put a reminder on your Blackberry for 3 months, and forget about it. Then come back here in a couple of months for the rest of the recipe.

VARIATIONS: I should note that you can do this with most citrus. The mandarins are the hardest because they are so thin skinned and it's really easy to get pith. You can also toss in a half of a vanilla bean while it sits for a few months for a lemon-vanilla version or orange-vanilla version. I've even heard of people putting in various herbs- like thyme- but I personally haven't tried that...yet....