Limoncello part II
Having extracted the flavor out of the lemon zest for far longer than I intended, it's time to finish the Limoncello off. Trying to find a common ground for this is near impossible, as everyone has their own recipe. Sadly, I forgot how I made it last year, so it's time once again to come up with what I think is best. I resorted to searching the Italian Yahoo site and decided (after multiple translations and ingredient conversions to use 1 Litre of water to 500 grams of sugar.
Furthering this experiment, I'm going to make a smaller batch out of this using my vanilla sugar that I have. I made this with some vanilla beans from when I made vanilla extract.
So, we're making a simple syrup using:
200 ml water
100 grams vanilla sugar
and another of
800 ml water
400 grams sugar
Lemon and vanilla go together, right??
Put the sugar and water into a pan and over low heat stir and bring to a boil. Let cool. Remove once it comes to a boil, unless you want to make candy!
Since we have 1 litre of lemon-infused vodka, we're using 200 ml for the vanilla sugar syrup, and 800 ml for the regular batch. Simply add the vodka* and simple syrups together, mix, and ideally let age for a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how the tasting goes, along with some photos in the next post.
* I forgot to mention that first you must strain out the lemon zest from the vodka! I ran mine through a coffee filter, then squeezed out every last drop from the zest when done.
Furthering this experiment, I'm going to make a smaller batch out of this using my vanilla sugar that I have. I made this with some vanilla beans from when I made vanilla extract.
So, we're making a simple syrup using:
200 ml water
100 grams vanilla sugar
and another of
800 ml water
400 grams sugar
Lemon and vanilla go together, right??
Put the sugar and water into a pan and over low heat stir and bring to a boil. Let cool. Remove once it comes to a boil, unless you want to make candy!
Since we have 1 litre of lemon-infused vodka, we're using 200 ml for the vanilla sugar syrup, and 800 ml for the regular batch. Simply add the vodka* and simple syrups together, mix, and ideally let age for a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how the tasting goes, along with some photos in the next post.
* I forgot to mention that first you must strain out the lemon zest from the vodka! I ran mine through a coffee filter, then squeezed out every last drop from the zest when done.
I'll be interested to see how this turns out. I put a vanilla bean into the infusion with the lemon zest once and it overpowered the lemon flavor. I wonder if the vanilla sugar will have a milder effect. If so you should post how you made the vanilla sugar.
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Ben,
I should be able to let you know in a day or two. This cold is still hanging on.
The vanilla sugar was made by simply snipping up some extract grade vanilla beans that I had to use up, mixed with sugar, and put into a sealed container. It's been in there since late May. It smells nice, but I'm having doubts as to whether it will impart any flavor. I'll be sure to let you know.
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