Limoncello gifts Day One

Posted September 21st, 2010 by Mimi

Well, here's the Limoncello (Italian Sweet Lemon Liqueur).

This is day one, and as you can see, all I've done is use a recycled Spaghetti storage jar, filled with lemon zest to about 1/5th of the way, and topped it up with one litre of vodka. I peeled the zest from 11 lemons for this batch. I used a sharp vegetable peeler after consulting the many recipes on the net. You can use a zester which is less laborious, but as you have to strain it later, the peelings are easier to work with. The zest can make it a real pain to strain apparently. It's important to only get the yellow zest and NOT the white pith as the pith can make your Limocello bitter. I will now leave it in a cool dark place for 14 days, giving it a good swirl each day. After 14 days, I'll make the sugar syrup, strain out the peels, mix it, and rebottle it. It will then sit until Christmas, developing a gorgeous smoothness in the process.

This may seem like an expensive gift because of the vodka. But one litre of vodka (around $30-$40) and a dozen lemons (about $15 for organic, non-sprayed, unless you're lucky enough to have access to home grown), will yield 1.5 litres of home made Limoncello.

However, I am going to rebottle it in those cute little swing top bottles you see at the discount stores that only hold about 100mls. So for $45, I'll end up with 15 baby bottles of Limoncello, which I'll pair with the Coffee Espresso Walnuts which cost about $10 for 15 small serves, and that will give me 15 really nice gifts for about $3.70 each.

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