Delicious limoncello at home - it's real!

Making limoncello home is amazingly simple, and the drink turns out to be incredibly delicious. If it seems to you that the prescription is hidden under strictest secrecy and passed from generation to generation somewhere far away in Italy, exchanging conspiratorial smiles at the same time, you are mistaken. In fact, you need only a little patience, good lemons and a bottle of vodka. No secrets! You can make a favorite drink with a soft and sweet taste and lemon flavor of the house. It can be drunk separately, added to soda water, used for cocktails. You can cook as a very sweet drink, and sour, full of citrus aromas. You decide for yourself what exactly you want to receive. You just need to insist lemon rind with vodka. Do not need to distil anything or add secret ingredients. After you pour the rind with vodka, you will need to wait a while, drain the liquid, add sugar syrup to taste, chill - and all, you can enjoy the familiar taste.

What kind of alcohol to use?

If you have a choice, use a high-quality 50% vodka. It fits most optimally. You will get maximum taste from lemon peel, and the drink will be soft and pleasant. However, you can use and forty-percent, it is easier to find, besides it is more affordable, and in the end you will need less sugar syrup.

What lemons to use?

The most ordinary lemons are great for making limoncello, but you can buy organic ones. All the rest are often covered with wax, so from organic you will get a more intense taste. In addition, alcohol draws from the peel all, and therefore, pesticides and other chemicals, too. You can also experiment and use other citrus - grapefruits, oranges, tangerines or a combination of different citrus. It is easiest to get the peel with a vegetable peeler, you can also peel the peel with a small grater. The main thing is to get as clean as possible peel without pulp. Of the remaining lemons you can make a home-made lemonade.

How long to insist?

Mix the peel of lemons with vodka and leave to infuse for at least four days, but the period can reach up to a month. Saturated taste is obtained in the first days, but if you insist longer, you get a more pronounced and strong flavor.

How much sugar to add?

Make the simplest sugar syrup from a cup of sugar dissolved in a cup of water. Add it to the tincture, try and continue to determine yourself whether you need more sugar, or already enough. You can also try different combinations of sugar and water. More than four cups of sugar with water is not worth using. More water will dilute alcohol too much. The optimal volume simply makes the drink softer and more pleasant to the taste, without depriving it of expressiveness.

Is it safe to make limoncello at home?

This is absolutely safe recipe! Alcohol does not allow the development of bacteria and mold. A strained drink can be kept in the refrigerator for about a year, or maybe even longer. Just watch for the taste: if it becomes unpleasant, it is no longer worth using Lemoncello. If the drink has mold, it is also not worth drinking. If there is no change and the taste is the same, you have absolutely nothing to fear.

Preparation Details

So, let's look at the process in more detail. For ten lemons you will need seven hundred and fifty milliliters of alcohol and one to four cups of sugar to your taste. For cooking, you will need a vegetable peeler or a small grater, a cutting knife, a large jar with a lid, a strainer, a coffee filter, a measuring cup, a funnel and several small bottles. Peel off the lemons with only the yellow peel, gently cleaning it from the inside with a cutting knife. After you pour the rind in the jar with vodka, tighten the lid tightly. Remove the jar in a dark and cool place for at least four days. As mentioned earlier, the longer you insist, the more intense the taste will be. Strain through a strainer and coffee filter, make a sugar syrup and add to taste. Then cool. Place the funnel in the neck of the bottle and pour the limoncello. Keep in the refrigerator or freezer. Before use, it should be cooled for at least four hours. If you store the drink on a shelf in the fridge, limoncello will keep fresh for a month, and if in the freezer - for longer than a year! And do not be afraid of experiments! There is no single right recipe, you can easily adapt it to your own preferences. Just try the combinations of citrus fruits that you personally like, add a different amount of sugar and as a result you will definitely get exactly the combination that will be optimal for you and your loved ones. You no longer have to look for limoncello on the shelves of stores, because you can always make it at home.