Italian Summer in a Bottle
I have had lemon on my mind lately. I’m not exactly sure when it started but I’ve had a little yellow spot on my brain for at least a couple weeks now. And this yellow spot keeps focusing on a sweet, tangy, ice-cold idea. Limoncello. Limoncello, the lemon flavored aperitif essential to the Italian good life.
Today most Italian lemons come from Sicily but Limoncello is also famous in Campania and especially known along the Amalfi Coast. 
As early as the 7th century lemon groves were gaining hold in the Amalfi region becoming larger, yielding more and the fruits of different species tested until the perfect lemon for the region’s conditions was discovered. This Nostrano variety is often considered to be Italy’s best lemon variety.
While normally taken straight this heavenly lemon beverage can also be used to intensify the lemon flavor of lemonade, lemondrops, lemon pound cake… you get the idea.
Limoncello is widely available in liquor stores but that yellow spot on my brain is telling me to make my own! Similar to making infused liquor you start with lemon zest and alcohol and let it sit for several days - recipes vary but two weeks is the minimum and it can take a month or more, depending on the strength of your zest and the strength of the alcohol. Once the lemon taste has been leached from the zest, the liquor is mixed with simple syrup - again various recipes call for different ratios but most call for a version with more sugar than water - and the resulting mixture is then strained.
Once that is complete, you keep your bottle of Limoncello in the freezer (the high alcohol content should keep it from freezing) and then bring it out to serve icy-cold to end your evening meal.
I had planned to start a batch last night and then realized that with all the liquor I have in my house I do NOT have even one bottle of 100 proof vodka, the most recommended liquor to use in the recipe. So later today I’ll be taking a little trip to the liquor store and start my project tonight. Look for an update in coming weeks…
Brenda - Thanks, I am going to my freezer to get a bottle now.
Limoncello is definitely worth making for yourself. I made batches with several different citrus varieties, I think grapefruit is my favorite. I found a recipe at a web bulletin board that Mr. DeTraglia has been known to frequent - click the link I posted with my name.
Colin