Life gave me lemons, so I made Limoncello

We have a lemon tree in our backyard and apparently it starts producing a ridiculous amount of lemons just before Christmas. After giving a ton of them to my neighbors (by "giving" I mean almost forcing/begging them to take them) one of them suggested making limoncello. I laughed and thought it was a funny and interesting idea and left it at that. Later that night I looked up recipes and realized it is super easy to make so I got to work!

 

Limoncello

12 lemons
1 750-ml bottle of vodka or grain alcohol (I used Everclear)
3 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar

1. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel from the lemons. Mine peeled well with no pith (the gross white stuff) but if yours down, trim that pith off. Place the peels in a 2-quart pitcher. Pour the alcohol over the lemon peels, cover, and let sit at room temperature for at least 4 days.

2. Stir the water and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. It should take about 5 minutes. Cool. Pour the sugar syrup over the alcohol/peel mixture. Recover and let stand overnight.
3. Strain through a mesh strainer and discard the peels. Transfer into bottles and refrigeration until cold. I put ours in the freezer.

Original Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/limoncello-recipe/index.html


AEM