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Last year I fell in love with the Meyer lemons that were being sold week after week at the farmers market. After a few weeks of buying them and enjoying their wonderful flavor, I decided it would be great to use them to make limoncello. When I went back the next week to pick some up for this purpose, I was told lemon season was over!!! I was heartbroken! I know I could have just gone to the grocery store to pick up some organic lemons, but I wanted local meyer lemons.
I wanted it to be special. So I decided that next year, I would be ready! Well it is now lemon season again here in the Sunshine State, and what is more sunny than limoncello?

I love limoncello and made it years ago using vodka as the alcohol. After quite a bit of internet research (I mean I had a YEAR), I discovered that many people use grain alcohol to make limoncello as it more closely mirrors the kinds of alcohol that would have been available to country people in the south of Italy, like the Island of Capri (where lemons are as big as grapefruits!) who originally made this aperitif. Plus vodka is not strong enough to get all of the oils out of the peel. So I decided not to go against the grain. ;)

limoncello_in-martini-glass

I looked at several recipes and decided to go with this one as most of the other ones matched this one. The only thing I did differently is I did not remove the peels before adding the simple syrup to the mix, and then I let everything sit for another 2 weeks. When it was time, I strained the peels, and then dried them – they became “candied” and are a great garnish for a limoncello spritzer