How to Make Homemade LIMONCELLO (and why you might not want to)
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- Опубликовано: 18 май 2024
- We mentioned in a previous video how limoncello is considered a purely homemade treat by most Italians. The stuff you buy in a store or a restaurant-even in Italy-is really meant for tourists and a far cry from the real deal. Well, a lot of you asked so this week Eva is sharing her limoncello recipe!
BUT... there is a reason why we actually recommend that most people don't try to make it at home. In this video we'll explain why and share some incredible alternatives that you might even prefer.
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01:00:00 NEVER Buy Limoncello
01:01:13 How to Make Homemade Limoncello
01:06:09 Tasting Eva's Homemade Limoncello
01:07:25 Why You SHOULDN'T Make Limoncello at Home
01:10:02 How to Make Homemade Coffee Liqueur
01:12:57 How to Make Homemade Ginger Liqueur
01:15:02 How to Make Homemade Basil Liqueur
01:16:56 Tasting Limoncello Alternatives: Which is Best?
01:21:41 Pasta Grammarian in Action!
#limoncello #italianfood #recipe
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Got any cool ideas for a tasty "cello"? Let us know!
Violon?
Exotic, but yuzu might be interesting if you can find it? I'd try it myself but fresh yuzu are extremely difficult to get in northern Europe.
Strawberry… cello? 😅
Blueberry, watermelon, mint, cherry, peach, plum, fig???does the fleshy part of any fruit go bad in the process?
Maybe chocolate cello or pineapple thanks for the information that even in italy the limoncello is fake when you buy it in a supermarket
See the color of the basil extract? That’s because chlorophyll is very soluble in alcohol but not in water. Remember this next time you need to get grass stains out of something. Spray it with vodka to remove the stain.
That’s very interesting information 👍
Or better yet, 190 proof (95%) alcohol!
Thanks
Vodka ia WAY too expensive to waste on a stain lol
Isopropyl or denatured alcohol should work and much cheaper
Try this with mandarin oranges (mandarinetto). Aside from the compelling flavor of the final product, the beauty of mandarinetto is that the pith of mandarin oranges is not bitter. You can just put the entire peel, which easily comes off the orange, in the alcohol. There’s no need to carefully remove the pith from the zest. When I make this, I also put one small, whole mandarin orange, poked with a toothpick, in the alcohol mixture. Let the peels soak in the alcohol for 14 days. Everyone who tries this at our house asks for the recipe!
That sounds amazing! I bet kumquat would be good too!
Like Satsuma mandarin? The one with the very easy peeling peel that is loose right?
Yes, I have used those oranges. Just be sure, as Harper and Eva warned, that the mandarin oranges that you use haven’t been treated with any chemicals.
I grow navel and sour oranges without any chemicals and was wondering how this might be. Thanks.
Omg..this sounds amazing
My grandmother had rows of bottles of this in her basement... always different flavors.
I miss her and that basement!
What
Thank you so much for clarifying that just because something is grown organically does not mean that pesticides were not used. I used to own a small farm where we did indeed grow things with zero pesticides and herbicides, but that is not norm.
Does that mean lemon zest should also be a concern?
@@munstracity To an extent, yes. Usually, the amounts of zest you put in most sweets is very little.
Lots of "organic" pesticides are highly carcinogenic (even moreso than synthetic ones) and are often just highly concentrated extracts from plants, fungi or bacteria such as nicotinoids, thankfully most pesticides (they have to be or else they would stick on everything) are highly soluble in water so thoroughly rinsing your produce is good enough to get off anything
If you took your chunks of alcohol-soaked ginger and made crystalized ginger, I'll bet it's the best Ever.
Wow, what a bloody brilliant idea 🤣🤣 That's next after the coffee. Will try to remember to post results 😂
I even thought about drying and making powder for cooking.
My nonna had a jar of her homemade limoncello in the cupboard that she added local honey to it and it was our cough medicine growing up. "You sick? Come you take" It worked every time, too. 💯🍯🥰
I'm sure it "worked" very well 🫗🥴
😉
Grandma’s have the best remedies
This is the best video out there because she gives us precise measurements of lemons vs ml of alcohol! I've seen all the videos on this and no-one...I mean no-one has explained this. They just say "what they're doing and the amount of lemons they're doing", not the math of lemons to alcohol...like this Italian lady's method. Thank you so much!
I made a few gallons for my daughter's wedding. We put it in tiny bottles that held 3 ounces and gave them to the guests as a small gift. We attached a sticker with the bride & groom's names to the bottle and the saying
"When life gives you lemons...make limoncello!!!"
My recipie was pretty much just like yours but with more water to get to about 35% alcohol (yours is about 54%). However I used a vegetable peeler instead of a knife. It worked really well.
I also just added the peels to the plastic bottle of alcohol and capped it (had to remove a small amount of alcohol to make room).
You will know when the alcohol/peels mixture is ready when the peels change from yellow to white. So 25 days is just an estimate. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. The time really just depends on the temperature at which you are storing it at.
Regarding lemons...you can also use food grade lemon oil.
With lemon oil you don't have to wait a month and you know it is pesticide-free. You can also use 40/50% Vodka because you are not extracting oil from peels. Just add some sugar. It's ready the same day. Aging improves the taste, but you can also use a premium Vodka too.
It's really the lemon's oil you are extracting with the high proof alcohol. Lower strength, such as Vodka 40/50%, doesn't work as well. It took about 3-4 months for the peels to get white-ish, but never really white when I tried it with 40% Vodka.
I'm fortunate enough to live in an area where many people have backyard citrus and I make cellos out of almost everything. One step I take is to juice the fruit and freeze it. Then, when it is time to make the simple syrup I use the juice and add whatever water I need to get the volume required. Next time I'm going to try Grapefruitcello!
that ginger afterwords. you can make another bowl of syrup in a pot. thin slice the ginger pieces and boil them in the syrup for 10 minutes.
then bake them at 180 for half an hour to dry them out. let stand on parchment to dry further overnight.
put in a jar for quick ginger candy snacks.
my man! Thank you for explaining “organic” you are spot on and most folks don’t truly understand that organic is a buzz word for marketing. It all has its place.
Italian moonshine ❤ I love how this is actually not labor intensive. It just requires patience
Bravo 👏 cannot express how much the organic warning is appreciated. So many people don't think twice before using citrus without washing or considering the wax or chemicals on the outside. It is impossible to be sure you're safe with store products.
Oh yes, and now Bill Gates, the "philanthropist" and "health expert" has now thrown his hat into the ring with Apeel. I bet he and his kids don't eat anything coated with Apeel, but we have to. Well, I guess we gotta keep big pharma busy.
I think a second part of this would be a great idea, with other liquors that are only slightly less easy to do but only because the ingredients may be a bit more difficult to procure and yet are still very traditional: what about, in fact, rosolio, licorice liquor, nocino, mint liquor...(and there are more!)? They all deserve to be in a Pasta Grammar video!
the licorice one sounds sooooo good. Do you use the dried, earthy sticks of licorice?
Best I had was when I was staying in Massa Lubrense. Decided to visit Positano one evening to find a pizzeria the hotel delfino maids had told me about and in a small side road I found a stand that had nothing but home made limoncello. Bought a couple of different ones and brought them back with me.
A quick tip. Provided you have a rubber sealed kilner jar or equivelent a slow cooker water bath at about 50c for three hours can replace the 25 days. I still tend to give it a couple more days after having the water bath, but saves on time with the same results.
I bet it can work in a sous vide, for a cheaters method. I might experiment and make both and compare the 2.
I made limoncello a few months ago. Alcohol content was WAY higher than store-bought (store is around 28-30, mine was around 45-50). It definitely had a kick to it.
We also used to soak our lemons in the alcohol for about a month. Then years ago I saw a video by Dario Bressanini, "il limoncello scientifico" and I tried making different batches. soaking just 3 days, 7 days, 10 days, 15 days. I must say that over 10 days it does get more bitter. We keep it between 7 and 10 days.
3 days is already enough but you do get a lighter/sweeter flavor if that's what you prefer ;)
A tiny addition of salt will get rid of the bitterness. Doesn’t have to be enough to actually taste the salt. Start with a dash and stir, taste repeat until your flavor is how you want it.
@@codename495 Okay, but why keep the peels infusing for too long, extracting unwanted substances, and then correcting with salt, when you can simply reduce the infusion time? When the peels turn out whitish, with a hint of yellow, the limoncello is ready.
Yes, I also soak it between 5 and 7 days. When you taste the peel, it has no more flavor in it. What I do also is soaking the filtered lemon peels in the sugar syrup. (After the sugar is dissolved in water, and still warm) You will be surprised how much flavor it contains
Rhubarb!! It's delicious and a beautiful pink colour.
That sounds amazing!
Oh, and to add strawberries for a bit of sweetness?!!!
Isn't Aperol Rhubarb based?
I love how rigorous you guys are with the end product, the care you put in your choices of videos according to what is available to your audience is just the best
I've once made the same recipe using whole black pepercorns. It tastes a bit like lemon, and it's yellow... but after a sip you have to scratch your ears... after 3 months it mellowed down and became a great drink for cold days
When my basil is ready.Iam going to try it with Vanilla,Cinnamon,lemon and lime basil.
I've made many bottles of limoncello over the years since a trip to Italy 12 years ago. I researched many recipes on the internet and found one that made the most sense to me. I do use the 95% grain alcohol but I mix it half and half with 40% vodka so that I have an extraction alcohol percentage of 67.5%. I use 20 lemons and 1.5 liters total of blended alcohol. That's plenty strong enough to get good extraction in about 3-4 months. Then when I filter it and cut it with the simple syrup it ends up being around 35% alcohol which is just strong enough to not freeze in the freezer and it thickens a bit and gets slightly syrupy and is just delicious. Sunshine in a bottle!
I guess so long as you have vodka lying around thats fine, but you could also just do 7 parts alcohol to 3 parts water for 69%
@@tsawy6 Sure you could. You're going to dilute the alcohol with water anyway when you add the sugar syrup. I do have vodka lying around though ... I use it to make vanilla extract and other extracts.
Harper -- Eva was looking for the name of that jar. It's a Mason Jar aka
Canning Jar.
In Poland we call it Cytrynówka ;) Basicaly 95% spirit with fresh lemons and sugar ;)
My friends dad is from Poland and he makes the best Polish version of limoncello (CYTRYNÓWKA), and used honey as the sweetener- it is so good! I am in California so have access to homegrown lemons 😈
I use basil in place of mint in a Mojito when the mint has gone missing. Turns out basil is in the mint family, Harper. I'm inspired. Many thanks to you and Eva (and Vincenzo) for sending me down this Italian food rabbit hole. Having mastered Indian cooking after 6+ years of practicing, this is quite refreshing and at times, more challenging, which surprised me.
WOW !!! Thanx so much for the great ideas !!! As soon as I saw the lemons I thought " Could you make this with something else?" But I was thinking oranges rasberries cherries etc. YOUR ideas of coffee ginger and BASIL (????!!!???) REALLY lifted this to a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL .... Thank you once again !!!
Just had to point out (because I just retired from working in a test kitchen! LOL) that - be sure to measure the liter of alcohol into the jar BEFORE putting in the lemon peels, because the lemon peels take up space, and filling it up to the 1000 mark with the lemon peels IN, wouldn't give you the correct ratio. I hope that made sense! I've made this before, and I am sure yours is much better! lol
I caught that too, I thought it was just common sense.
You dont need it, when you have a 1000ml bottle of alcohol you take all😅
@@egoaut in the US 1L bottles of alcohol aren’t very common.
Update: Absolutely crushed it!
I’ve been making this forever. Just clicked… looking forward to seeing this done the right way for a change.
Tante grazie for sharing these. I once had the basil version and the person called it San Basilico. Always wondered how he made it, and now I can do it! I have made limoncello and it is very much like Eva's recipe. But, since I didn't want to not utilize the juice from the lemons, I would juice a few of them and freeze it in ice cube trays. When making the simple syrup, instead of just water, I had the lemon juice also. It intensified the lemon flavor of the drink.
A good friend has a Meyer Lemon tree that's never sprayed. Made several batches of limoncello from this tree. I use a micro plainer to get the peel. Have a new batch aging as I type. :-)
I make a Licorice infused liquor using black (Unsalted) licorice from Finland.
Me too. Lethal stuff - mainly because I just can't leave the damn stuff alone.
That sounds like something I would love to drink. There is only one friend of mine who likes licorice as much as I do.
It seems very little people here in Austria enjoy the taste of it, which means more for me. 😁
If I may ask, in which shape did you add the licorice?
Mintu???
I wonder whether they don't make a liquiricello in Calabria? After all, they have the best raw licorice (liquirizia di Calabria). I usually buy mine from Amarelli.
@@tubekulose The Licorice I use comes in small square pieces about a1/2 inch (12mm) square.
I put in 8 to 10 pieces directly into a 750 ml bottle of vodka and infuse for a week or so. Shake it once or twice a day.
Gorgeous Eva (and her glorious hair) showing us once again how amazing it is to be Italian! Thank you for sharing your amazing recipes with us!
I’m going to make this. We grow lemons here.
I love lemon aid so much that I am now growing lemon trees in containers in the house… now I can use the peels too! I’m in paradise! Thank you!!!
The peels are also great for the "faire style" lemonade. Take a standard, large mason jar with about a dozen lemon peels and fill it up to nearly full with sugar ontop of it and keep shaking it to keep it mixing then leave it sealed for a few days to get the oils into it for a lemon sugar. Mix 1 partlemon sugar to 4 parts water for a syrup and mix in 1 part lemon juice. Then it tends to be a 50/50 that and ice in a container in the fridge for at least an hour to get really cold and semi-dilute it varied by the amount of ice
Thanks so much for a real Limoncello recipe!!
In Germany (maybe in all EU-countries??) organic lemons (Bio-Zitronen) have to be ENTIRELY untreated and unwaxed. There's often some additional text on the label saying 'peel suitable for consumption' (Schale zum Verzehr geeignet). Lemons have a little bit of natural wax covering anyway as a protection against dehydration and insects. They can be dirty, too, and should be washed with hot water und rubbed dry thoroughly before eating.
(There's one rare exception where organic lemons are waxed with carnauba wax. These have to be labeled 'waxed'. Though, I've never ever seen those.)
I look forward to these videos every Sunday-and they never disappoint!
Years ago I was a Flight attendant working the milk runs to Detroit. We got in so late we could only get Verners Ginger Ale milk shakes to eat before bed. Still love them.
Here in north Italy we call gingerello" zenzerino... that one is my favorite digestive. You can add also some cream in the coffee one, it will be like beylis
We sell something called "Gingerella" at the restaurant where I work. It is your usual ginger beer/ale with a kick of chilli!
The preparation for this “cello” show deserves an award. Thank you for this great recipe. The ginger-lemon-pepper and the basil look so good!
Yes. I’ve made limoncello. But want to try this one too!
I have so many oranges on my tree and I now have my holiday gifts sorted
they'll look beautiful. I had a go doing blood oranges too, it was delicious
As always! She is a national treasure!!!
I added lemon peel to the sugar syrup. Then i added the lemon sugar syrup gradually to the alcohol, so that it wasn't too sweet.
Good that you mentioned that to make Limoncello, you are making first a tincture. This should ring a bell with anyone familiar with herbology and making tinctures. I do make my own Limoncello, but youtube put your video in my feed and I was curious. I have two lemon trees in my garden both heavily 'yellow' with fruit this year. So, guess that I will be making this weekend (and probably a few friends as well!)? Nice tip about just scraping off the little bit of white pith that inevitably happens, thanks!
Have made my own Limoncello and Gingercello but my grandparents were from Sicily so we made many different foods from Sicily. Will try the Basil next. Thanks, awesome vid!
Thank goodness I have my own lemon tree❤️🇮🇹😀
11:14 "Bravo Harper.... you're a smart guy..." 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆
My father grew up on a lemon orchard. 🙂 So I understand what you are talking about when it comes to pesticides. They never used them. They used smoke to keep the insects away.
Love it!
A decade and a half ago I got into making varies types of cello when I was stationed in Florida. Had a lemon tree in my back yard and an Uncle who lived a hour away who grew tons (literally) of citrus on his farm. From there I expanded out into doing other types of extractions and home brewing. I am sitting here watching your video while I sip on some pomegranate cocoa wine and plan my next brew out.
One of my favorite extractions turn liquors is a herb and spice mix. Rosemary, thyme, basal, oregano, black peppercorns, red peppercorns, allspice, cinnamon (cassia and verum), and ginger in varying amounts. Proofed it down to 45% and sweetened to an SG of 1.010.
How does that taste? My guess is something similar to Yeager Meister. Not a bad thing at all!
@@brucetidwell7715 Not really like Jagermeister, since there is no licorice or anise. Closer to Monkey 47 if you are looking at booze. It taste like a burst of home cooking followed up by a tingle and slight heat to me.
@@TheInfinityzeN Interesting! I've never tried Monkey 47.
I have been lucky enough to get an actual bottle of limoncello when I was staying in Sirmione off Lake Garda. We visited Limone (which I was told is where Limoncello was created but who knows what they tell tourists) and I was able to get a couple bottles of it from a hole in the wall store. You could tell everything was made by the owner and their family. No labels and just flimsy handwritten price tags. Absolutely loved every drop of it.
Feeling inspired!!!❤
I can't wait to make these! Thanks so much!!
This was fun. Thanks.
The bartender at my favorite restaurant (now closed) used to make Basil Gimlets, with some combination of basil, lime, and vodka, in the summer that were heaven! He would never tell me the secret. Maybe that was it!
Cool. When I'm sick, i will make take a shot of gingerello and limoncello with some honey.
Not surprised about the basil, my Indian aunt (who is also a chef) made some Lychee/Basil Lasi (indian milkshake) and it was amazing, even though it was sweet...
Loved this video!
Wow these are great ideas! Thank you!
Wonderful recipe! Another thing to absolutely do, if you don't have access to organic lemons, is to remove the waxy coating that is applied to lemons for sale. I soak the whole lemons in hot water for about 30 minutes so that the wax melts off before I use them for limoncello.
Not only am I going to make this but I also thank you for the timely recipe. Since we have not had a real winter this year my lemon trees are dropping lemons faster than I can deal with.
Our friend lived in Cuma. Their landlord had an all natural garden. Lemoncello and melonchello were often given as gifts. So good.
Great episode! Fun recipes.
I used to make homemade limoncello. When you make your simple syrup, you can add other flavors! My favorites were toasted ginger limoncello, and mint/white pepper limoncello!
Squeeze the lemons and freeze the juice. Mix into the lemoncello with the syrup. Been dong this for years, tou won't regret 😊
I recommend meloncello which uses cantaloupe 🍈. I purchased a bottle in Sorrento. My American friends and family don’t like lemoncello because it is too bitter for their taste, but they all love meloncello.
God!!!! now i really want some! i love Italian things, and i have never heard or tried any Cellos....but I NEED!
So interesting. I really enjoyed this video. ❤
I love all of them and what a great gift idea
Thank you 🙂
Love lemoncello!
Yaaayyyyy❤❤❤. Karaca se vratila. Good movie 😊😊
Thanks!
Always educational and totally interesting!! Thank you Eva and Harper.
✨️ 🍋 🫚 🫘 💛
I'd like to try this with rose petals or other flowers! I live in Japan, and people use this method to make ume-shu from hard green plums, which is delicious. Sometimes people here make a summer cordial out of red perilla leaves, so that might be good to try with this method too. And maybe fresh green tea leaves.
Oh my… can wait to try these!!! Especially since our feels like was over 100 yesterday ❤️
Wow, the color of that basil-cello is amazing!
WONDERFUL 💛💚🧡
I LOVE ginger lliqueur so your gingerello sounds perfect! Thank you!
I love arancello or orangecello, and it goes great too in Italian cheesecake 😋
Stunning 🌟💚🌟💚🌟💚
You two are so adorable. Thank you for always great recipes.
I love these and can't wait to make them. I really enjoy Cynar.
So glad I have a lemon tree in my backyard! Now we have to find where they sell that alcohol!
What a great upload guys, thank you for this….would make for great Xmas gifts, so personal and with relatively minimal effort, just time 🙌❤️
So inspirational!!!!!! I'll be asking my neighbors that garden to share. Especially the Basil, sounds fantastic!!
Yum!!! Adopt me Now!!! Can’t wait to try these!
I'll try this.
Strawberry basil cocktail is wonderful!
Ciao Eva, ti suggerisco di leggere (se già non lo conosci) gli articoli di Dario Bressanini sul 'limoncello scientifico'. A me ha semplificato la vita sul limoncello.
Continua così, che forse alfabetizzi gli americani sulla cucina vera!
Thank you ever so much! I could never take to the liqueur offered because it was too sweet!❤
My mouth is watering. No lemon trees here 😢 but my sister makes a cordial drink with raspberries that are homegrown. That takes a couple months also. But SO good!
A co-worker made me some...FABULOUS! No comparison to store bought. 💖
THAAAANNNKKKKK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😄I've asked and I feel like you made this for me, Ava, although that's probably not true hahaha. Love you both!
Made one with grated quince. Fabulous.
Really good video. You guys knocked this out of the park. Still loving your work. Especially the important warning. Cheers.
My heart sings, I looooove limoncello!