It's my future brother in-law's birthday this week and here at Hungrychef.com we love birthdays.  Having said that, I have decided to make him a special birthday  gift.... Home made Limoncello.

 A specialty Italian liqueur made with a neutral grain spirit, sugar and a lot of lemons.

Now,being that I cant keep things simple. I have decided to go a little crazy and make this Limoncello with not just any lemons, but with Californian Meyer lemons and Tahitian Vanilla beans and of course the booze.  Everclear 90 proof grain alcohol (ahhh the memories of semi lucid college fraternity parties and the ever popular sorority-concoted Jello shots)

So basically, here is what I did

750mL bottle of everclear grain alcohol

13 Meyer lemons

2 Tahitian vanilla beans 

Wash the lemons well and then dry. And using a vegetable peeler, peel away the skin from all the lemons first.

Using a pairing knife remove the pith (the white part) from the peels. Save the peels and throw the pith away.

These lemons are not as thick skinned as the fabled lemons from the Amalfi Coast.  So be as delicate as possible.

A quality product needs quality care!

 

 

Next, using a pairing knife, take the vanilla beans and cut them in half lengthwise. 

Scrape the seeds off the pod with the side of your knife and reserve both separately.

 

 

You will need a clean one gallon container that comes with a tight fitting lid (If you use a plastic container be forewarned, it will turn yellowish).

Pour the grain alcohol into the container, add the lemon peels, the vanilla beans and the seeds into the alcohol.  Cover tightly and shake for about 20-30 seconds.

Store at room temp. Keep it away from any possible Fire producing objects. Know what I mean? This stuff is highly flammable.

Now for the next two to four weeks (I did it for four) every couple of days just give it a shake for a few seconds. Doing this will allow that the alcohol, lemon skins and vanilla beans to partake in that famous dance of infusion.

Okay it's the fourth week now what????

Organize yourself 

• You will need a hand held strainer. You do not need a chinoise or fine-meshed strainer (don't want to lose your expensive vanilla seeds).
• Medium sized bowl that will hold your strainer level and allow to pour the strained liquid into
• A funnel
• Whisk
• And depending on how you want to do it a ladle or a measuring cup or you can try your luck like I did and pour it into a bowl. This my friends is not the way to go.
• 3- 750ml wine bottles. Make sure that they are washed well and that you have the corks
  

Put 5 cups of water and 6 cups of sugar in a 3 or 4 quart sauce pan.  Stir a little and bring up to a boil for a minute. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and allow your syrup to cool.

Unearth your patiently awaiting Limoncello base.  Again keep it away from anything that might ignite it.

Strain it into a bowl  add the cooled syrup and mix well using your whisk.

Now put the funnel on the bottle, transfer the Limoncello to the wine bottles.

As a nice decoration you can float one of the vanilla pods into the bottle. Cork it and freeze it or keep it in the back of your fridge.

Come back soon to see pictures of the final product! 

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