I was introduced to it on the Isle of Capri.
It is sold in practically every store or corner stand in the area.

I never thought about making it at home.
When you get it perfected, share the recipe.
In the meantime, happy tasting.

Long-ago Garden Partier Decobabe once provided us with a limoncello recipe, which I have somehow lost. Does anyone have it?

My mom brought a bottle of limoncello to a party last weekend. She's purchased it in Italy and it was AWFUL. Instead of a nice, natural lemon taste it was as if someone had crushed up Lemonhead candies and liquified them. Awful and artificial. I'm now on a mission to find a good limoncello.

Can you share your recipe leaveswave?

The batch I made in 2005 went like this:

I let steep for 21 days:

• the zest from 10 well-washed lemons in

• 1 bottle of good-quality vodka

Then I strained out the peel and added sugar syrup:

• 2 c sugar and

• 2.5 c water heated until the sugar dissolves

I don't remember how long I let it age afterwards (not long! ;-). I do recall it had a very nice balance between lemony-ness, sweetness, and alcoholic strength.

There's several variations floating around the 'net, and none of the couple of dozen that I've looked at discuss the questions I raise. I hope someone can at least point me to what kind of source might have some answers.

My first thought was that this is the type of question that makes a "Good Eats" episode. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to query either foodnetwork.com or altonbrown.com to see if it's been covered. Maybe someone with more search savvy than I can pick up the ball from here...

Checked their website using google search. They have a recipe posted, though I couldn't find a description of what's going on in terms of timing.

Well, I've got no advice, but you've inspired me to try to make my own :) I spent about half an hour last night googling recipes.

I did find one place that said when the peel becomes pale, the oils have leached into the vodka and one can go on to the next step. As for the claim that it needs to "age" or mellow after adding the sugar syrup, well, I don't know about that one...

I got the impression from one recipe, that you were supposed to sample it every now and then to see how it was progressing. I would think that the storage temperature would affect it a little. Plus there are lemons that are tart and then there are those are TART! Maybe that's why there is such a difference in the length of time involved.

I read one review of it that described it as having a "bitter tang." I wouldn't think that would be what you wanted.

Here's a recipe posted last spring by Happytime on the cooking forum.

Homemade
Limoncello Recipe

Ingredients list:
ÂOne Bottle (750 ml) Everclear (95% alcohol 190 Proof)
ÂOne Bottle (750 ml) good but not necessarily premium vodka (40% alcohol 80 Proof) I use either the 80 proof or 100 proof, Smirnoff Blue label
Â15-20 lemons (without scars or flaws in the skin if possible, & NO pesticides)
Âabout 3 cups filtered tap water or distilled water (not mineral water)
Â4 cups pure cane white sugar
SUPPLIES:
Âvery clean and dry gallon glass jar
Âcone shaped coffee filters. (#4 size)
ÂLarge glass pitchers.
ÂOne cup sized measuring cups
Âladle.
Âfunnels (to fit the #4 coffee filter,)
Âsmaller bottles for bottling into.
Step OneDay 1:
Pour the bottle of Everclear and the bottle of vodka into the gallon jar.
ÂWash off & dry lemons.
Use a potato peeler to peel just the yellow part of the skin off the lemons. Make sure you have NO white pith on the back of the peels, because this causes bitterness in the finished liqueur. Try to make the peel pieces as large as possible, because this will make the straining process easier.
ÂPut the lemon peels in the gallon jar and stir gently.
ÂCover tightly and put away in a cool (not cold) dark place for alcohol to extract oils from peels, creating an infusion.
ÂOccasionally stir or swirl to mix up the oils.
ÂLet it set for at least 15 days, preferably 40 days.
Step Two
ÂDissolve sugar in water and bring to boil over high heat. Boil for 5 minutes.
Â*If you want to make the Crema version use the milk, water, sugar mixture below instead of the water sugar mixture above. Or you can do a recipe of each. To have both kinds. (You may end up with leftover syrups.)
ÂSet syrup aside to cool. (Must be cool to cold before adding to infusion.)
ÂUse a slotted spoon to scoop lemon peels from the infusion and discard.
Âstrain the infusion thru the filters to make sure all the peel is removed
ÂMeasure and add the syrup, (either crema or clear) to the alcohol
ÂTHE PROPORTIONS ARE 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 OF SYRUP TO 1 OF ALCOHOL INFUSION. Or to taste, IF IT IS TOO STRONG IT COULD CURDLE. Why this varies is if you cannot find the 100proof vodka you could use regular, it will not be as strong, so you will use less syrup/crema.
ÂIf it does curdle add more syrup until the curdles dissolve.
ÂStrain the mixture again through filters into large pitcher. (This is a messy process. If it is the cream syrup I filter it at least twice. The filters will clog quickly and you will use many of them.) In this step I may add a drop or 2 of yellow or orange food color & sometimes a drop or 2 of CLEAR vanilla extract.
ÂYou should taste it to see the strength, and adjust it if necessary, but watch out cause it will getcha!! :)
Â***it does mellow out as it sets.
ÂReturn to cool dry place for anywhere from 5-40 days to begin mellowing process that combines alcohol...

I think i'd go for the orange stuff.
I like the ***It will taste like a frozen orange creme-cicle.***

I would think the end product would have you sprawled out on the floor after a small glass.

heh heh, we drink it from sake cups, they are quite small, probably about the size of a shot??, and we almost always stop after just one! :-)

Hi folks,

Decided to take the plunge and try making my own limoncello a few weeks ago -- not sure if anyone else did the same. Here's where I'm at. Steeped my lemon peels for a little over 40 days and just strained it and added the syrup. But, here's my question/dilemma. Any bottled limoncello that I've seen is always a beautiful bright yellow color -- almost neon-like. Mine is....well, it's not that yellow. It's more of a golden yellow and without getting into great detail, it's not exactly the most appetizing of colors, IF you get my drift. ;) I really can't see packaging these up and giving them for gifts. I've thought about food color, but that just feels so fake.

Any thoughts on what might have happened or if it may change color over time?

Thanks!

It won't get yellower..
See my recipe....just bite the bullet and add food coloring...or just give gifts that look like a "sample"..
Linda C

I don't think it'll change over time, but have you considered just giving it away in yellow bottles?

Yellow bottles are a good idea. It won't change color at this point unless you do a 2nd infusion with more lemon peel. Next time you might want to use more lemons per liter of liquor. Mine always comes out a nice deep yellow color. Any shade of yellow can suggest other substances; I think it's the packaging that affects that perception. BTW, I've never noticed any difference from a longer steeping period. Once the peels lose most of their color, additional "setting" does not seem to affect the flavor. Another idea, that I tried last time, was to add some lime peel. That gave it an interesting tint. Some orange would also maybe help you see the color as appetizing. It's hard to find thick-skinned limes at most times of the year and getting any pith in there totally ruins the taste. Anyway, those are some of my learnings on this subject.

Bottling limoncello in yellow bottles is *inspired*. I made it for the first time this summer and it tastes wonderful, but I have the same qualms about the color that the rest of you do. :-)

I couldn't find strong enough alcohol so used 40 proof vodka and it seemed fine... but it froze solid, of course. I haven't thawed it out yet so don't know if the crema kind curdled or not.

I am responding to some of the questions about limoncello, as far as color and aging time. I have traveled to Italy every year since childhood to visit family and friends and I have been experamenting with limoncello for quite a few years, both on my own and with advice from my Italian relatives.
The color of your homemade limoncello is largely dependent on the type of lemon you are using. Lemons grown in Italy, particulary in Southern Italy are a much brighter yellow in color than lemons we are likely to buy at our local grocery store or farm market here in the States. Any of you who have ever been to Italy will surely agree that the Italian lemons from the Napoli region, where limoncello became famous, are not only brighter in color than most lemon varieties but are also two to three times the size of an average lemon. Keep in mind also that many of the off the shelf brands we buy here in the US or even some in Italy, surely some food coloring has been added to enhance the color a bit.
In regards to aging, I was always a believer that once the lemon zest lost its color, it was ready to proceed to the next step. However, my aunt in Italy said the paleness of the zest only affects the color, and it is the oils in the zest that affect the flavor. My aunt leaves the zest in the alcohol for approximatelt one month, she then strains the zest out of the alcohol and adds the sugar/water mixture and then lets it rest again together for about ten days, she then bottles and puts in the freezer. I have gotten various tips from many other relatives in Italy and what I have come to realize is that there is no set way to make limoncello, you have the basic principles and you then experament from there until you achieve an end product that is to your liking. On a final note I would however say that authentic limoncello is made with grain alcohol and not with vodka, not that I am against using vodka, but in the tradition of keeping limoncello pure to its roots I always recommend that people use the grain alcohol, the vodka is a bit unbalanced, where the grain alcohol gives you the slight tartness of the lemon, the sweetnees of the sugar add mixture and the kick of the alcohol.
Hopefully i was a bit helpful!

Thanks you guys. I've got to try this, although it certainly looks from the recipe that a little bit of this stuff goes a long way unless you've got a real tolerance for alcohol. It sounds like something that would taste like a regular drink but pack a real whallop.

For the record, I experimented with the recipes LindaC posted. I have made two (big) batches. The first was a crema version of lemon and of orange. Yum! I gave many of these away to friends and neighbors in baskets of homemade goodies around the holidays, and they were well received.

Then I got thinking about how yummy a lime version might be with maybe an extra dash of vanilla. So I whipped up crema batches of lemon, of orange, and of lime. What I neat experiment. Perhaps not "authentic," but no one said I had to be.

At my last party, I filled pretty condiment bottles with each of these creamy & colorful concoctions (and I'm not too proud to use food color) and arranged these in a stainless steel bowl of crushed ice next to some shot glasses. Later in the evening, I took some homemade dark chocolate shotglasses out of the freezer and went around offering guest their choice of citrus cremas in coco cups. It went over very well.

For the record Andie, they aren't unpalatably strong. The booze portion (100 proof vodka + 190 proof everclear = 145 proof booze) is diluted with cream at a 1:3 ratio, so you end up with less than 40 proof, which is less than 20% alcohol... somewhere right around Bailey's as far as potency goes...

I made lumoncello and when filtering it to add the simple syrup it turned light pink? Could there have been somethings wrong with my filter or does it turn pink sometimes???

I found a recipe that’s apparently from Italy...adding olives leaves to the 1st steeping cycle. It doesn’t say how many so I’m at a loss! Has anyone ever used fresh olive leaves in their recipe? If so how many?

I started to make Lemon Cello then became ill & totally forgot about it until now [ 14 mths] is it still ok to finish it or should I be throwing it away