Image for article titled The Two Best Ways to Make Limoncello at Home

lemonade only takes care of the fruit's flesh when given lemons Limoncello is the solution to a lot of lemon peel.

Limoncello is a lemon liqueur made in southern Italy. I had my first limoncello at the age of 19 and it felt very refined and fancy. The best time to drink it is at the end of a meal. It works well in soda water or lemonade. It is easy to forget that limoncello is alcoholic because it is candy-like.

Determine your ideal limoncello strength

limoncello can be made quickly or slowly. The quick way requires a sous-vide circulator, but other than that, the procedures are pretty similar. Simple syrup is used to liquefy and sweet. You're finished.

The amount of simple syrup you add will affect your ABV. One cup of syrup can be added to 750 liters of infusedvodka. Using our handy dilution equation, we can see that the final alcohol concentration is around 30%, which is where most limoncelli hang out. It is very easy to use the dilution equation if you haven't done so in a while.

Thelution equation: c1V1 and c2V2.

  • c1 = initial concentration or molarity
  • V1 = initial volume
  • c2 = final concentration or molarity
  • V2 = final volume

Put the equation to solve for V2 into a different order.

c1V1/V2

There are 750 and 988 liters.

If you want it stronger than that, use a flavorless grain spirit with a higher alcohol percentage. Adding more syrup or water will make it stronger. It's a good starting point if you have an alcoholic beverage of 30% or greater.

How to make limoncello (slowly)

Limoncello is made with lemons. If you want a 750-milliliter bottle of spirit, you need at least 12 lemon's worth of peel. Remove any wax by washing in hot water. If you want to use the juice for something else, you can either peel them all at once, or peel individual lemons as you use them. You can keep the peels in the freezer. Get super thin, pithless strips of peel with a y-peeler.

Put your peels in a big glass jar and give it a stir. It should be in a dark place for at least five days and up to a month. When you open the jar, it will take you to a lemon grove.

You don't need to bring it to a full boil if you add 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water. Allow the syrup to cool.

Use a fine mesh sieve to strain your infused spirit while the syrup is cooling. The original spirit bottle won't have enough room to hold the spirit and syrup. All those delicious oils can be obtained by pressing the peels. Shake, chill, and serve in cute little glasses after adding the cooled syrup to the strained booze.

How to make limoncello (quickly)

The process for making quick limoncello is very similar to the process for making slow limoncello. Instead of adding the spirit and peel to a jar, you add it to a freezer bag and set it in a sous-vide bath for two hours. Add the syrup to the infused liquid.

Variation on the theme

You can use any citrus peel you want. Adding herbs and spices like pepper, lavender, bay leaves, and anything else you can think of would make a great addition to the dish. If a little bit gin-like, a juniper grapefruit-cello sounds great.