I am making some Limoncello after our ski trip at Anne and Louis-Carl in Montgenevre, close to Turin. Anne had made some very nice Limoncello and I asked for the recipe, which she kindly shared.
The recipe is very easy, essentially leave some lemon peels in alcohol for a few weeks and then dilute them with sugar syrup.
However, if you do a bit or research online most “British” recipes recommend using a simple basic Vodka as the alcohol (40% proof). In comparison, the traditional Italian recipe uses a lot stronger grain alcohol at 70% or even 90% proof. I found a source of Grain alcohol in the UK and am in the process of making some homemade Limoncello. The cost of the alcohol is ridiculous compared to what I would have to pay in France or Italy for the same product but I did not want to compromise on my first batch…
I will probably buy some “fruit alcohol” in bulk next time I visit France. I am suspicious that the 70% proof alcohol is unavailable in most supermarkets because of the health risk for anybody to drink it pure and suffers an ethylic coma.
Ingredients:
- 5 unwaxed Lemons + 2 unwaxed Limes
- A bottle of Grain 70% Alcohol (70cl). (Italians use 90%…)
- 750 sugar
- 700 ml water (note Anne’s recipe calls for more water which I assume is to compensate for the higher % of alcohol used)
- A lime juice
How to make:
- Zest/Peel the Lemons, making sure you do not take any of the white of the lemon peels. A Little bit is ok, but try to avoid it as it will give a bitter taste to the Limoncello.
- Put the peels and the alcohol in a tight-fitting jar and leave to macerate for one week, shaking the jar daily to stir the mixture.
- this is were I got to so far….
- next will be making a syrup with 700ml of boiling water and 750g of sugar. Then mix it all together with lemon peels and alcohol and leave for another week.
- Strain and put into nice bottles
- …
