Limoncello, pt. 2

Paul here, finally getting around to posting the finishing of the Limoncello recipe.  Truth be told mine has been done for some time, and 2 empty bottles can vouch for the fact that it's very good.

The first post took us through the point where your lemon peels are soaking in alcohol.  They've been there for a while now, and the alcohol should be a very deep yellow.  It's time to get rid of the peels- I did this by getting a small plastic funnel with a little screen in it, and pouring the liquid through it into another jar.

The peels, which should be very pale and brittle now, can just be thrown away - you won't need them.


Now, when those peels are sitting there glaring at you from the trash can, something may come over you. Completely in the face of any reason or common sense, you may in fact be tempted to do something like, oh I don't know, light them on fire, "just to see what happens."

Whatever you do, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, give in to this admittedly almost-overwhelming temptation. The pure alcohol those little suckers are now full of is extremely flammable, and you should not foolishly underestimate it. If you were to lose all judgment and do such a thing, you'd probably end up singing the hair off at least one of your hands and arms, and may even start a semi-alarming trash can fire that you have to frantically smother with whatever is at-hand, like your wife's prized bamboo cutting board. I'm just guessing, but the aftermath would probably look something like this:


ANYWAYS, now you need to make a simple syrup. This is a good quantity if you've used 2 liters of alcohol...

Get about 5 pounds of sugar (yep, 5 pounds).


Bring 3 liters of water to a boil, add the sugar, and stir till it's dissolved. I had to do this in several pots, because this is quite a large quantity we're talking about here. Let this simmer for about 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool COMPLETELY.  It cools very slowly - mine took overnight.


When the simple syrup has cooled completely, add it to your lemony alcohol. If you want a clearer product, you can run the alcohol through coffee filters before doing this to remove any final sediment.


And now, all that's left is to bottle the stuff! You'll have a lot of limoncello on your hands here, so it's good to get some smaller bottles too so you can give it as gifts and such.


I've heard that if you let it sit for another month or so, it'll get even better....but you can drink it right away, too. Keep it in the freezer, and serve ice-cold right from the freezer - never with ice.

Enjoy!!!