Well, here's the Limoncello (Italian Sweet Lemon Liqueur).
This is day one, and as you can see, all I've done is use a recycled Spaghetti storage jar, filled with lemon zest to about 1/5th of the way, and topped it up with one litre of vodka. I peeled the zest from 11 lemons for this batch. I used a sharp vegetable peeler after consulting the many recipes on the net. You can use a zester which is less laborious, but as you have to strain it later, the peelings are easier to work with. The zest can make it a real pain to strain apparently. It's important to only get the yellow zest and NOT the white pith as the pith can make your Limocello bitter. I will now leave it in a cool dark place for 14 days, giving it a good swirl each day. After 14 days, I'll make the sugar syrup, strain out the peels, mix it, and rebottle it. It will then sit until Christmas, developing a gorgeous smoothness in the process.
This may seem like an expensive gift because of the vodka. But one litre of vodka (around $30-$40) and a dozen lemons (about $15 for organic, non-sprayed, unless you're lucky enough to have access to home grown), will yield 1.5 litres of home made Limoncello.
However, I am going to rebottle it in those cute little swing top bottles you see at the discount stores that only hold about 100mls. So for $45, I'll end up with 15 baby bottles of Limoncello, which I'll pair with the Coffee Espresso Walnuts which cost about $10 for 15 small serves, and that will give me 15 really nice gifts for about $3.70 each.
