LIMONCHELLO - Follow-up.......
BOY!!! I'm so very pleased with this stuff! It's as good as the stuff I tasted (home made) in Italy. Look for the brand name "EVERCLEAR" when asking for grain alcohol at the liquor store. If you don't know where to buy it, then just ask the first college kid that comes along, they seem to to be "in the know!" :-) A 750 ml bottle of Everclear in Wisconsin was about $14. So, the alcohol portion of this recipe is only about $7 and add to that the sugar and lemons. A very inexpensive but satisfying cordial.
For my personal taste I nearly doubled the amount of sugar that was shown in the recipe. It said "to taste" and for me, a cordial is a sweet drink and, when chilled, "thick." So, I used about 2 cups of sugar for the recipe.
To aid the extraction process of the flavor and color, I took the lemon peels and gave them a quick grind in the Osterizer. Not turned to mush, but finely chopped up. This seemed to help the alcohol to do its job. I then used a coffee filter to separate the peels from the alcohol. Then after boiling the peels I again used the same coffee filter to keep the Limonchello free from "solids."
I've served it over ice, in cordial glasses and also used it to make "Electric Lemonade" which is 1 oz. Limonchello, 1 oz. Peach Schnaps in a tall glass with lots of ice. Fill remainder with regular lemonade (or lemonade made from the remains of the Limonchello mfg.) after giving a quick stir.
Enjoy!,
Tom
PS: the person that taught me this recipe said that orange peels or even limes could be used. Also, she said in the winter she eliminates the lemons all together and uses Nestle's hot chocolate mix for the flavoring. A sweet coco mix might taste pretty good in front of the fireplace on a cold winter's night! |
