Limoncello Rosemary

[bryan]

Tried this last year for a holiday sipper during cooookssss.

I buy the Everclear on my trips to Cameron, TX. (FL doesn't sell it)

Limoncello Rosemary

18 Meyer lemons wash and dry

1 4in rosemary sprig wash and dry

2 5th 100-proof vodka (I substituted 2 bottles of Everclear 190 proof)

4-1/2 cups sugar

Traditionally served ice cold as an after-dinner drink.

Note:

To speed up process, shorten infusing time in 2. and 4. to 1 week each, and have a fine but less intense liqueur.

Keeps indefinitely in freezer.

Yield: Makes ten 8.5oz bottles.

Serving size: 1oz

Process:

1. Peel lemons taking only zest (top layer) and avoiding any white pith. Put rosemary in 1 gal glass container w/tight seal. Add zest to jar.

2. Pour 1 5th vodka over rosemary and zest; seal container. Let sit undisturbed in a cool, dark place for 40 days.

3. In saucepan, bring 5c water to a boil and add sugar.

Cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved.

Let syrup cool to room temp, about 1 hr.

4. Pour syrup and remaining vodka over lemon-vodka mix, stir, and seal container. Let sit in cool, dark place for another 40 days.

5. Pour limoncello through cheesecloth into large spouted pitcher and divide among gift bottles.

[DennisLinkletter]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

Or you could step up and buy a still... err I mean distiller from amphoran.

It is great for making distilled water, biofuel or vodka if local laws permit that kind of stuff..

I bought one for a friend who makes very high quality grill lighter that is about 93%

It can be diluted and used as a delicious oral antiseptic..

I don't understand this... Serving size: 1oz

Is that 1oz at a time?

[Syzygies]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

I caught the Limoncello obsession on various trips to Sicilian islands. There was an ice cream freezer at a little shop on the walk back from snorkeling on Panarea, with some house-made limoncello tucked away deep in a corner. Nice afternoon lift! I later collected methods everywhere I went. On the Amalfi coast for our honeymoon, we inquired whether the limoncello was house-made, getting the enthusiastic response "Sempre a casa!"

Is the rosemary your innovation? I never saw it. Then again, everything happens in Italy. Here in SF, Boccalone sells a wonderful 'nduja with twelve ingredients, which they claim is authentic. (And authenticity is overrated! Better to channel what people would do under your circumstances.) I never saw more than pork, fat, salt, red pepper, in Calabria or for sale in NYC, and my

Calabrian cooking lessons take this view.

I've tried various citrus, including many Meyer lemon experiments. In Italy they'll argue that the southern Italian lemon, with a thick rind almost leaning grapefruit, is superior and essential to the recipe. I had the absolute best results with the best examples of organic (ordinary) lemons one sees only every few years at market. This has to be a crime of opportunity; what's available on demand isn't good enough.

One has to make the comparison, doubling the amount of rind but steeping for at most 48 hours. This is a minority opinion but one held by some Italians; I'll never go back. To my taste, the 40 day steep is too brown in appearance and taste, by comparison. (I know it's not actually brown unless one does something wrong. I said by comparison.)

[bryan]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

I don't understand this... Serving size: 1oz

Is that 1oz at a time?

It is served over ice.

I can say my very first drink was about 1oz.

[bryan]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

I later collected methods everywhere I went.

Is the rosemary your innovation? I never saw it.

a thick rind almost leaning grapefruit, is superior and essential to the recipe.

One has to make the comparison, doubling the amount of rind but steeping for at most 48 hours. This is a minority opinion but one held by some Italians; I'll never go back. )

Am really interested in your methods.

Thick rind does do much better.

Would like more info on doubling rind and shortening time.

The recipe came from a friend. I think the rosemary was meant to be a decoration thing.

Am interested in any suggestions you may have.

Do you have recipes for other above average things.

[johnnyboy]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

Oh, oh, oh.... Limoncello!! One of my favs!! In fact there's a bottle in the freezer as I write.

One of my favorite resturants, visited often during my numerous trips for work, was in Vicenza, Italy. They offered a home made semi-frozen version of Limoncello that you drank. OMG, was it out of this world. I sure miss those trips.

[Syzygies]

Limoncello

Limoncello

750 ml Everclear (151 proof grain alcohol)

24 unwaxed organic Eureka lemons

500 ml water

2 cups cane sugar

Wash lemons. Peel just the yellow part of the zests, into a 2 quart ball jar. Add Everclear. Let rest for 2 to 3 days, to make lemon extract. Boil water with sugar to make simple syrup, let cool. Strain lemon extract into simple syrup, bottle, and store for serving in one's freezer. Makes 1.5 liters.

[bryan]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

Thanks for the recipe.

[Fetzervalve]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

I've done this with Lime and Oranges also, all three have there appeal. Try them all! Put your shot glass (several) in the freezer also!

[Syzygies]

Re: Limoncello Rosemary

I've done this with Lime and Oranges also' date=' all three have their appeal.[/quote']

I didn't have your luck.

I tried this with Key Limes, which I love, years back. We finished a bottle of my limoncello, doing shots on a beach house roof deck at 2am, having a generally raucous time. I thought, here's my chance to use up the Key Lime batch, not really in the same league.

A number of people spit out the Key Lime limoncello onto the deck in unison, with looks of horror on their faces. It was partly very funny, like a very bad Ashton Kutcher movie.

There was a period when Key Limes were very scarce, and as far as I could tell, the fine print on Key West Lime Juice made no guarantees what variety of lime they were actually bottling. I did experiment with sour oranges as a substitute for Key Lime pie, which worked very well. Sour oranges are widely available anywhere there's a Caribbean Hispanic influence, such as New York City. Their juice also makes a great marinade ingredient, e.g. for pork butt.