Lemoncello

[andy_hardy5]

I was talking to a friend at work about sloe gin and they have given me a recipe for Lemoncello, which I am going to start tonight. My initial thoughts were to leave the recipe it as it is, but then wondered whether some of that sugar could be turned to alcohol to replace the alcohol lost by adding the water.

• 70ml Vodka (any)
  8 Unwaxed Lemons (zest of)
  2 Stalks Lemongrass (crushed)
  220g Sugar
  350ml Water

Zest lemons, crush lemongrass stalks. Add zest and lemongrass to vodka in a shakeable container. Boil water and dissolve sugar, allow to cool then add to vodka. Shake daily for 3/4 days, then leave for two weeks before straining into bottle.

I'm pretty new to all this, so just wondered what your thoughts were? Would this be a disaster?

 

[greencheapsk8]

Ive heard of a similar recipe, and it was a fine drop.
It goes quick :drink:

 

[Ken L]

I've done something similar but mine was pure vodka with no added water.
Either way, with those sorts of alcohol concentrations at the get go, none of the sugar is going to be turning into alcohol through fermentation.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

I've spoken to a few italians about limoncello and they've told me that for the proper stuff you need alcohol that is 60% plus in order to get the flavour out of the lemons. Some use 90% alcohol.

I've heard of many success stories using standard 40% vodka, though, so should be fine. But I definitely wouldn't use water.

 

[andy_hardy5]

Thanks for all the replies, I have given it a go and I'll let you know how it turns out. Friend at work swears it to be delicious, soI'll give it the fortnight and see :thumb:

 

[screamlead]

I'm sure there was another post regarding this as i got this recipe from it - http://www.italyum.com/italian-recipes/ ... cello.html

going to give this a go shortly.

 

[alphacento]

In Italy people use 90-95% alcohol solution (it is called pure alcohol). If I remember correctly the recipe involves the same amount of Alcohol, water, sugar and lemons. For lemons you shoud really uses bio ones as for the recipe you should only use the skin of it (no white bits and no juices). I guess that if you do use Vodka you probably have to recalculate the amount of water needed.
A similar procedure can be used with oranges to create a similar drink.

 

[chef2323]

Look up the recipie by James Martin It is good :whistle:

 

[chef2323]

http://blog.denby.co.uk/recipes/james-m ... -biscotti/

This is the recipe and the Biscotti are great, I use the recipe when teaching at my cookery schools :thumb: