vodka – Retirementally Challenged

Springtime fills the air in my backyard with the delicious scent of citrus blossoms. At the same time our orange, lime, and lemon trees are bursting with fruit, their fragrant white flowers hold the promise of next season’s crop.

Bees are busy making sure each blossom gets pollinated.

As anyone with a home garden knows, there is something very satisfying about harvesting fruits or vegetables you have grown yourself. Our blueberries will ripen later in the summer but right now citrus is taking center stage. That means it’s time to begin making this year’s batch of limoncello.

I made my first batch of limoncello in 2022, and it was so good, I’ve made it every year since. The recipe I use fills ten to twelve, 12 oz. bottles, enough to enjoy throughout the warm summer months and a few extra bottles to share with friends.

Are you interested in making your own limoncello? You’ll first need to purchase one of those large 1.75-liter bottles of Costco’s Kirkland brand of vodka.* Next, gather your lemons… you’ll need a lot.

Ingredients

1.75-liter bottle of vodka

20 – 23 organic lemons (depends on their size – some of ours are quite large).

8 cups of water

5 ¾ cups of sugar

Directions

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel from all the lemons. Try to remove just the outer yellow skin and as little pith as possible.** & ***
Put the peels in a glass container. Pour the vodka over the peels, covering them completely. Cover the top with a lid or, as I do, plastic wrap.
Let the vodka and lemon peels infuse out of direct sunlight (I cover the container with a dark cloth) for at least 4 days or as long as a month. The longer you let the vodka infuse, the more lemony your limoncello will be (that’s a good thing). I stir the mixture about once a week… I don’t know if that’s important, but I love seeing the vodka deepen in color.
After fully infused, line a large strainer with a large coffee filter or paper towels and set it over a bowl, preferably one with a pour spout. Strain the infused vodka through the filter. You may have to press down on the peels to get all of the vodka (because why wouldn’t you want every last bit of the vodka?). Set aside.
In a pan, bring 8 cups of water to a simmer and slowly stir in the sugar until fully dissolved. Allow to cool completely.
Mix the sugar syrup with the infused vodka. Stir gently to mix.
Insert a funnel in the neck of one of the bottles and fill with limoncello. Repeat with remaining bottles.
Chill the limoncello in the fridge or freezer for at least 4 hours before drinking.
Enjoy!

The magic begins. When infusion is complete, the vodka will be a beautiful, deep yellow.

I have just completed Step 2, and the lemon peels and vodka are infusing as I type. Sometime around mid-May, I’ll strain the peels and mix the infused vodka with the sugar syrup mixture.

In about a month, I’ll gather these tools to complete the process.

* Obviously, you can use whatever brand of vodka you want. If you purchase a more conventionally-sized 750-ml bottle, adjust the other ingredients accordingly (~10 lemons, 3 ½ cups water, 2 ½ cups sugar).

** Use a sharp, good quality peeler, if possible. Ours, a Messermeister swivel peeler, removes the yellow skin easily, with very little pith.

*** After the lemons are peeled, I offer the “naked” lemons to our local Buy Nothing group and they are snapped up in no time.

Limoncello is simple to make and so yummy to sip. If you make your own, please let me know how it came out!

…you make Limoncello!

One of the first trees we planted in our yard when we purchased our house almost 30 years ago was a lemon tree. Although we’ve enjoyed its bounty since then, this was the first year I decided to try my hand at making the sweet, golden elixir called Limoncello.

Just about anything made with lemons gets a “yes, please” from me, but usually they are an ingredient of a savory dish or a dessert. In fact, one of my favorite dinners we’ve made included baked lemon chicken, a green salad with a lemon vinaigrette, and lemon pudding cakes baked in individual ramekins.

YUM!

So, where was I?

Oh, yes, Limoncello.

I have had commercially made Limoncello before, but I never thought to make it myself until a friend gave us a bottle of her home-made brew. Not only was it tasty, but I was excited to learn that it is easy to make. In fact, the hardest part is allowing the lemon peels and vodka enough time to mingle and do their magic before decanting.

Just four ingredients: lemons, vodka, sugar, and water.

Peel just the yellow part of the lemons.

Soak the lemon peels in vodka… watch it turn a lovely yellow.

If you’ve never tried it, Limoncello is a classic Italian liqueur with a refreshing lemon flavor. It is traditionally served after dinner as it is thought to aid digestion (and, who am I to argue with sound medical advice?). It is typically kept in the freezer and served cold so it’s perfect for summer. It can also be used in dessert recipes, including a delicious-sounding Limoncello and Ricotta Almond Cake (thanks, Widow Badass) I plan to try.

You can find a lot of recipes for Limoncello online, but they are all pretty much the same: organic lemons, vodka, sugar, and water. Recommended vodka proofs vary (most recipes suggest higher proofs), as does the time to infuse the lemon peels in the vodka (as little as four days to as much as three weeks) before mixing with the syrup. The only recommendation I have after making my first batch is: don’t buy the Costco-sized bottle of vodka (1.75 liters vs. the more normal size of 1 liter). I now have so much limoncello that not only will we be enjoying it all summer, but we’ll giving a few bottles away to friends. Not a bad problem to have.

Bottles ordered from Amazon… label designed by moi. Cheers!

So, What’s on Your Plate (or, in this case, your glass)? Join Donna and Deb for their monthly blog challenge. Link your own food-related post or just read what others have shared.

Tag: vodka

If It’s Spring… It’s Time for Limoncello!

When Life Hands You Lemons…