Homemade Limoncello, perfect to enjoy chilled as an after-dinner drink. When you have guests, you can serve your homemade limoncello, and you’ll see that you’ll receive a lot of compliments, and maybe they’ll even ask you to make it for them. It’s a great gift idea for friends and family, for birthdays, Christmas, or when you’re invited to dinner with friends and don’t want to arrive empty-handed with the usual bottle of wine. You can use it not only as a digestive after meals but also to soak cakes or pastries or to create a delicious limoncello pastry cream. Limoncello is a typical liqueur from Campania, the region of the best Italian lemons, especially the Amalfi Coast. To prepare homemade limoncello, you should use organic, untreated, and very nice lemons, as you will use the peel. With this dose, you will get 1.5 liters of limoncello. Check out my collection of recipes to make homemade liqueurs. Now let’s see how to make homemade limoncello, and if you try it, let me know. Barbara
I recommend trying these homemade heart recipes too:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 37 Days
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Homemade Limoncello
- 5 Lemons (organic)
- 2 cups ml Pure alcohol
- 2 1/2 cups g Sugar
- 3 1/4 cups ml Water
How to make Homemade Limoncello
Let’s proceed with the preparation of Homemade Limoncello. Wash the lemons very well and peel them, only the yellow part, because the white part is bitter and would give an unpleasant taste to the homemade limoncello.
For this operation, you can use a peeler or even better a ceramic knife, which helps preserve all the essential oils contained in the peel.
Pour the pure alcohol into a jar with an airtight closure and add the lemon peels we just prepared. Let the peels macerate for at least 7 days in a cool, dark place.
The best thing would be to leave them for 2 weeks, so if you’re not in a hurry, leave them as long as you can, but no more than a month. Occasionally shake the jar to mix the contents.
After the maceration time, put the water and sugar in a pot, bring to a boil, and when it reaches a boil, remove from the heat and let it cool. I do this in the evening so it can rest and cool overnight.
When the syrup is cold, place a fine-mesh strainer over the pot, pour the macerated alcohol, and let all the liquid drip into the syrup.
Discard the lemon peels and mix the alcohol and syrup very well. Pour into one or more bottles, depending on your needs, and store in a cool, dark place for at least 30 days before serving. With this dose, you will get 1.5 liters of limoncello.
After 30 days of rest in the bottle, your homemade limoncello is ready to be served and enjoyed. I recommend storing it in the refrigerator or freezer.
How to store homemade limoncello
Store it in the pantry for a few months; it should be served cold, so I recommend keeping it in the refrigerator or freezer.
