Tasting limoncello

[Brian Ellis]

Last night we had a limoncello tasting with some neighbours. We had five types:
Home made from our own lemons
Home made by my Swiss daughter
Commercial from Sorrento (the home of limoncello)
Commercial from Sicily
Commercial from ???

Based on aroma and flavour, the results were very close varying from 26 to 23 out of 35.

Much to my surprise, my home made stuff got the highest score with only one person dissenting.

[KRSESQ]

Interesting. Do you strain off the lemon peels before adding the sugar syrup, or do you let the whole thing steep awhile and strain when bottling?

Kevin

[Mehen]

Danny DeVito had a few too many of those before appearing on The View once.

He liked them so much he started his own brand!

http://www.dannyslimoncello.com/

[Brian Ellis]

My recipe:


Take 12 good large lemons, well washed and dried, and take off the peel very carefully with a potato peeler. The important point is that there is zero white pith on it, as even a small quantity will make the brew bitter. Put in a preserving jar with tight sealed lid, along with a bottle of 50% Russian vodka (I don't recommend Cypriot vodka as it has too much of its own flavour).

Leave for 2 months in a cool, dark place.

At end of the time, sieve the liquid, making sure there are no peel residues remaining in it (the peel will be quite brittle). The liquor should be clear yellow.

Make up a syrup with 200 g of white sugar and 1½ dl of water, bring to the boil, and remove from heat, making sure it does not caramelise. When cold, add to the liquor and replace in preserving jar - it may or may not be slightly cloudy, that is normal. Leave in cool dark place for another month or so and then bottle and put in freezer.

I never add the juice from the lemons (I actually make ice cubes from the juice for sauces, flavouring etc. for use when lemons are not usable from the tree) because this will dilute the liquor. It should end up at 30-35% which the proportions mentioned will do. Lower than that, it will form ice crystals or blocks in the freezer and that does not improve it.

I believe the original recipe from Sorrento, where it originated, was similar to mine except they did not use vodka but simply 50% pure alcohol which is not obtainable in this country.

[Dr Mordrid]

That's very similar to the recipe I have, the difference being no potato peeler (use a special zesting tool) and the time - 6 weeks on both ends. I have 2 zesting tools; one with several curved teeth and the other with a small grating head....actually more of an array of micro-planes. Both work great and can strip a citrus of its zest in less than a minute with no white at all.

[Brian Ellis]

I prefer the peeler over the zester because the strips of peel are about 1 cm wide and there is less risk of residues remaining in the brew. It's personal taste, though. I don't suppose it makes much difference as the 2 month maceration allows the alcohol to extract all the d-limonene and other goodies and baddies and leave the peel an insipid off-white in colour.

[Dr Mordrid]

How do you filter? I use coffee filters and a large capacity, wide mouth, funnel made for canning (I store the product in a canning jar).

[Brian Ellis]

I use an ordinary stainless steel kitchen sieve. With the large strips of peel, this is sufficient. I had thought of filtering but decided against it as too much alcohol would be lost by selective absorption and evaporation.