Digitalis Purpurea

Lemons + a cello = limoncello!!! Well, not really, although their perfume is so zingy it makes me want to burst into spontaneous song. Lemons are in season and it’s time to make limoncello, a traditional Italian lemon liqueur!

Lemon Tree at the CSB

I walked past the lemon tree at the Casale Santa Brigida and could smell the tangy sweet citrus from a distance. I plucked a heap of lemons from the branches and took them home to make this year’s fresh batch of limoncello.

A branch laden with lemons

Making this delicious treat is far simpler than it seems, and requires only a few simple ingredients and, most importantly, patience: a patient, steady hand as you gently peel the lemon and take care to make sure none of the white rind remains on the piece you have peeled, and a bit more patience while you wait for the lemon peels to steep in alcohol and release their citrus flavor.

Lemony sunset

One of the reasons I enjoy learning how to make traditional, labor-intensive foods and treats is that it’s fun to share what I’ve learned and made with friends. In the case of limoncello, this is especially true since I don’t actually even drink alcohol. Traveler hint: the best lemon I have ever tasted in my life was handed to me by a kind stranger as I walked down a cobblestone street in Montemarcello–it tasted like a delicate, tart piece of candy.

Here is my own simple limoncello recipe that I’ve come up with after trying out and modifying a few traditional Italian recipes:

Limoncello

Step 1: Lemon Peels + Alcohol

• 1 liter (1000 ml) “95% pure alcohol” if you can get it (or a bottle of  of Everclear alcohol if you can’t)
• 10 medium to large organic, untreated lemons

Wash the lemons in hot water and scrub them with a vegetable brush, making sure to dry each one afterward. Using a sharp paring knife, carefully remove only the yellow part of the rinds from the lemons so that there is no white pith on them. Pour the alcohol into a larger jug (I like to use a 2-liter wine jug with a handle) and add the rind-peelings to the large container. Cover the container and let it sit for thirty days.

After a month has passed, strain the the peels from alcohol and discard the peels. Proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Simple Syrup

• 3.5 cups water
• 3 cups organic cane sugar (or try 2 cups honey for an interesting taste twist)

In a large pot, make a simple syrup by combining the water and sugar; bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer “fast” for 15 minutes and stir frequently. Let the simple syrup cool to room temperature, then add it to the lemon alcohol.

(Note: you may want to add more or less simple syrup depending on how sweet you like your limoncello, I recommend adding 3/4 the simple syrup, tasting the mixture and then adding more as needed)

Step 3: Bottle and Enjoy!

Use a funnel (or a steady hand) and pour the limoncello into bottles. It’s ready to drink immediately and will keep for about a year. I’m a bottle squirrel–I save all  kinds of funny bottles, clean them and re-use them so I have plenty of vessels for sharing what I’ve made with others.

Makes about 2 liters.

Made some delicious mango ginger chutney and decided to document the process with some photos. The full recipe can be found in my all-time favorite cookbook, The World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey.

I peeled a few slightly unripe mangoes

Ginger, the other key ingredient in this Indian chutney

Grating the mangoes so they're the right consistency for the chutney.

Ginger has a thin, papery skin that needs to be carefully removed. I used my good ol' Swiss army knife to delicately remove the outer layer.

After the ginger was peeled I sliced it into thin medallions.

The ginger needs to be carefully sliced into matchstick-sized pieces. I consider this delicate process a "meditative culinary moment."

The other ingredients I used were: cider vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, tumeric and cayenne.

After the mangoes and ginger were nicely sliced, I tossed them in a pot with some sugar, tumeric, salt, garlic, cider vinegar and cayenne.

I save jars and re-use them all the time. I gave these ones a thorough cleaning right before adding the chutney.

Once the ingredients had all simmered about 30 minutes, turned into a nice thick sauce and cooled down, I put the chutney in clean jars and made some labels so I could share with friends. YUM!