I love making gifts for people. And, food gifts are especially nice because they think of you and how much time and love you put into their gift while enjoying it. One of the items I love to make is homemade Limoncello. Living in California, it’s easy to grow lemons. The tree I planted only a few years ago is now blessing me with lemons on a regular basis. While we’ve contemplated moving to other places, I’m not sure I could live anywhere that I couldn’t have a lemon tree. Luckily for everyone, lemons are always available in every market. Be sure to use only organic lemons since the skin is what is used for this recipe.

I tried making a batch with herbs and a batch with Vanilla bean and they were not as good as the original, simple Italian recipe. You can double this recipe easily if making several bottles. 

One of the benefits of living in California is being able to grow your own Lemons.

• 12 Lemons (Organic) 
• One 750 ml Bottle Vodka or Everclear*
• 4 Cups Sugar (or less if you prefer)
• 4 Cups Filtered Water

After rinsing and drying your organic lemons, use a potato peeler (my favorite is Cutco brand) to peel off all of the top yellow layer of the lemon skin (you do not want to get much of the white “pith” as it is a little bitter). 

Put the lemon peels into a sealable glass gallon container that has been sanitized in your dishwasher or if you don’t have a dishwasher, boil the container and it’s lid in pot full of water for at least 15 seconds. 

Add the alcohol. If you are using Everclear, *add an additional 2 to 3 cups of filtered water to dilute it a bit since Everclear is 190 proof. 

Let your lemon and alcohol sit for anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months before adding the sugared  syrup and bottling.

Put into a dark place and let sit for a couple of weeks to a couple of months. The longer you let it sit, the better it will taste.

When ready to bottle, make your simple syrup by heating filtered water in a pot on a medium flame, add your sugar and stir until it’s melted in and then immediately remove from the heat and let cool completely. 

Meme enjoyed the Limoncello I made for her recently. Yay!

Add the cooled simple syrup to your lemon and alcohol mixture and stir. Strain into bottles and enjoy! Throughout the year, I like save my clear Tequila and Vodka bottles to reuse for Christmas gifting. 

 easy limoncello recipe great food gift