Introduction: Limoncello: Taste the Sunshine!

By Neighborhood Fruit
About: Neighborhood Fruit helps people find and share fruit locally, both backyard bounty and abundance on public lands. 10,000 trees nationwide and counting! Join us in creating a future where the food we eat is tru…

Limoncello is one of those wonderful things that is significantly better when it is home made than store bought.  This traditional Italian liquor is delicious when poured over ice cubes and sipped at the end of a long hot day, or sipped straight in the dead of winter, savoring the warm sun flavor.

The trick to making good limoncello is patience.  The longer you can stand to wait with the lemons infusing in the liquor, the better it will taste.  Many Californians prefer to make their limoncello with Meyer lemons, because of their fragrance and sweet flavor, although traditionally it is made with Lisbon lemons in Europe. 

Ingredients:
2 750 ml bottles vodka, or other inexpensive, clear liquor (grappa is traditional)
20-30 fresh picked lemons
2-3 cups water
2-3 cups sugar


Step 1: Find Lemons

The best lemons are ones that have unblemished skin.  The fresher they are, the more volatile oils (meaning: flavor!) there will be in their skin, so if you can use a service like Neighborhood Fruit to locate a lemon tree nearby that you can go pick from.  You need 20-30, depending on size and the quality of their skin.

In this instructable, we're showing the process with Meyer lemons, but you should try Eurekas, Lisbons and even other fragrant-skinned fruit and see how the flavor changes!

Step 2: Seperate Pith From Peel

Using a sharp paring knife, cut the peel away from the white, bitter pith. 

Step 3: Combine Peels With Booze

Put the peels in a large glass jar and add the vodka.

Step 4: Patiently Wait 3 Months (or More!)

Put the large jar of liquor away in a place where the sun won't reach it, and then wait.  The longer you wait, the more flavor the lemon peels will impart.  If you're really impatient, you can try it after a month, but it's best to wait at least 3 months.

Filter
Using a sieve, filter out the lemon bits (squeezing them to get all the flavor out of them).

Make and Add Simple Syrup
Mix equal parts water and turbinado sugar in a saucepan and heat until the sugar melts and becomes liquid  (use more sugar if you want it really sweet).  Add it to the jar of booze and lemons to taste and wait a week to a month. The more you add, the less "boozy" your limoncello will be.

Decant
Decant the limoncello into bottles.  Most people say "wait another week", but go ahead and taste it now, it's good, eh?

Chill the limoncello in the freezer to serve extremely cold.