Limoncello - Nothing is Better Than Homemade

This recipe is wonderful using lime zest or orange zest as well. Add a few vanilla beans to smooth the flavor out if you wish. Experiment and discover your own blend.

for the first stage:

20-24 lemons

2 fifths of 180 proof Everclear or similar grain alcohol.

Use a vegetable peeler to remove zest from the lemon, leave as much of the white behind as possible, it will add bitterness to the flavor of the final product. I make big batches to give away and to have some that will last about a year. You may choose to store the infused alcohol and make small batches at a time, which is what I will give the measurements for.

Make your simple syrup:

4 cups of water

3 cups of sugar

when done, let cool and add 2 cups of infused alcohol to the mix. This will come out to about 6 cups of limoncello, which you can then bottle up and stick in your freezer. To bottle, I like to use decorative bottles, such as the Italian oil bottle pictured above. Again, tradition calls that you wait another 40 days to serve, but I've been unable to wait more than a week. :)

You can also change the blend from the approx. 70/30 blend to 50% infused alcohol & 50% simple syrup (use the above simple syrup blend and add 4 cups of infused alcohol). This provides a lovely base for lemon cocktails such as lemon drops.Enjoy!