Everyone likes limoncello. For me, just a sip brings back memories of summer and sand and seafood by the shore. The best limoncello exquisitely balances the pungency of lemon zest and the sweetness of sugar, with just an intriguing hint of bitterness.
The quality of commercial limoncello can vary wildly. (I know people who compare the taste of bad limoncello to Lemon Pledge, a popular furniture polish here in the US.) Luckily, limoncello is really very easy to make at home, so you can adjust the recipe to suit your own taste. Limoncello is nothing more than alcohol infused with lemon zest, then mixed with simple sugar syrup. It just takes a bit of patience, as the infusion needs a few days. And while limoncello can be consumed as soon as it’s made, it’s much better is left for at least a week to mellow.
This recipe comes for Jeanne Caròla Francesconi, author of the authoritative La Cucina Napoletana and my muse in all things Neapolitan. She says her recipe makes a rather dry limoncello—which she calls limoncino, by the way—and that’s exactly the way I like my limoncello.
Ingredients
Makes one medium decanter of limoncello
- 500g/1 lb lemons, preferably organic
- 500ml/2 cups grain alcohol or unflavored vodka
- 700ml/3 cups water
- 250g/8 oz granulated sugar
Directions
Peel the zest off the lemons, making sure that you leave as much of the pith (the white layer below the zest) as you can behind. Place the lemon zest in a mason jar in which you will have poured the alcohol. Close tightly and put the jar in a cool, dark place for 3 or 4 days to infuse.
Once the infusion is done, heat the sugar and water over a high flame until the sugar has entirely melted and the water is just about to boil. Turn off the heat and let the resulting syrup cool completely.
Filter the infused alcohol through a sieve lined with cheesecloth into the syrup. Then pour the mixture into a decanter or bottle. Let your homemade limoncello rest for about a week before using. It is at its best served very cold.
Notes on Homemade Limoncello
As mentioned, the great thing about homemade limoncello is that you can play with this recipe to suit your personal tastes. Adding more lemon zest or letting the alcohol infuse longer will give you a more intensely lemon flavor. Using more or less sugar will adjust the sweetness. And leaving a bit of pith on the zest will lend some bitterness, which I think helps balance out the flavors.
Since this recipe uses the peel, it is really good idea to buy organic, even if you don’t normally care about such things. The peel is where any trace pesticides are lurking in non-organic fruits and vegetables. And avoid lemons that are treated with wax to make them shiny—t’s not something that would add a nice flavor to your limoncello.
As for the alcohol, I’ve always used inexpensive, unflavored vodka, not caring too much for ‘quality’ in a spirit that is (or should be) perfectly odorless and tasteless. In Italy, grain alcohol is the traditional ingredient. It is preferable because it really is pure and entirely tasteless. Before writing this post, I had been under the impression that grain alcohol was illegal in the US, and it is certainly still hard to find— but, as it turns out, you can now buy a grain alcohol, produced especially for those who want to make spirits at home, called “Everclear“. Apparently, though, grain alcohol is still illegal in about a dozen States, including New York.
This recipe for homemade limoncello can be used with any citrus fruit you feel like: oranges are particularly popular, but do try grapefruit or, for a New World take, lime—which you’d call “limecello”, I guess…?
Ingredients
- 500g/1 lb lemons
- 500ml/2 cups grain alcohol or unflavored vodka
- 700ml/3 cups water
- 250g/8 oz granulated sugar
Instructions
- Peel the zest off the lemons, making sure that you leave as much of the pith (the white layer below the zest) as you can behind. Place the lemon zest in a mason jar in which you will have poured the alcohol. Close tightly and put the jar in a cool, dark place for 3 or 4 days to infuse.
- Once the infusion is done, heat the sugar and water over a high flame until the sugar has entirely melted and the water is just about to boil. Turn off the heat and let the resulting syrup cool completely.
- Filter the infused alcohol through a sieve lined with cheesecloth into the syrup. Then pour the mixture into a decanter or bottle. Let the mixture rest for about a week before using.
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