Chris, how wonderful is it that you can pick your own fresh lemons off of your very own tree and make a beautiful homemade Limoncello. That bottle looks beautiful ! I bet when you open that bottle after it sits and mellows for a few months it will taste and be fantastic. I can't wait for my lemon trees to start producing enough lemons to make us a few batches of Limoncello . They would make beautiful gifts at Christmas time, along with bottles of preserved lemon. (which l made this summer.)

Nice looking bottles of Mayancello, John

Yum, that looks wonderful! Did you find your recipe online?

The Mayancello seems great too!

It's so amazing to grow one's own lemons.

Recipe? What is this thing? I am one of those who just randomly makes things. I can tell you what I put in it, but how much of each ingredient....ummm I don't know, just what looks right to me. In this case, I have Italian family members that I watched what they use during holiday visits.

^^^grain alcohol blended with a good french vodka, zest. Then let it sit. Once I decide it is the correct color, I will make a syrup to sweeten it, cool the syrup to room temp and add to my taste. I have some tasty raw honey, so I am leaning towards making honey syrup, rather than simple syrup. Then I bottle it and store it in freezer. Serve over some ice. Yum.

Oh, and save the juice for other mixed drinks, like margaritas ;)

Oh wow, that sounds absolutely heavenly! Cheers! I'll be certain to try to make Limoncello when my Meyer gives me enough lemons.

Do you think your Limoncello will be ready in time for the holidays? =D

I have a friend from Italy that makes "limoncello" with grapefruit too. OMG soooooo good!!!!!!!!!

My Italian family makes it with many different types of citrus.

Jemmalix maybe, I go by color/cloudiness and by condition of zest. I used half zest from a microplane, half zest from a potato peeler. I don't want to rush it though! The lemons are from 3-4year old trees, so I might as well make it count! I can make the Margaritas today if I want though:)

The colors are GREAT and I bet the lemon zest aromas come through almost like fresh peel. I have tried capturing the freshest aroma you get when you bruise a fresh picked lemon and haven't done it. I just don't care for alcohol....might be fun to try though. I have one little meyer that I let make five or six lemons this year. Might be fun to try a small batch of lemoncello. Johnm, thanks for noting the lack of bitter in the meyer peel. I'm new to the meyer other than all I have read from you here. That should also make the meyer a great candidate for candied peel. I'm about to harvest some fresh ginger root. Wouldn't that be a great tang to add to lemoncello...just a hint? I'm probably going to elicit a huge protest from the lemoncello purists :>)

I think a little warm zing from ginger would be fun to try! But I'm all about playing mad scientist.

I'm going to make limoncello and add fresh rose petals next year and maybe a little lavender too. Yum yum yum!!!!!!

Looks great Chris! I also went through a Limoncello spree this winter and made a Meyer Limoncello but also a Buddhacello with my Buddha's Hand! The Meyer Lemon is my current favourite but the Buddhacello is also amazing & fragrant and its great to find some use for my fruit since there is no juice inside. Here's my recipe for Limoncello i use Vodka as i can't get the Everclear spirit here in NZ. I also like my Limoncello not so sweet and like it more when i infuse for around 1 month. Happy Limoncelloing!

http://citrusenthusiast.blogspot.co.nz/2016/07/how-to-make-limoncello_70.html

I have everclear, but blended a nice french vodka too. I don't want it to be too strong!

Too strong? What ever do you mean???? I don't think I understand...

For me, after numerous trials and field testing, the best limoncello is about 20% ABV

I think I will need to do rigorous field testing in order to confirm research results. Off I go in my lab coat...... This is very serious research work.

Seriously tho... anyone ever try to make rose petal liqueur? I will be making that this next spring. Adding a bit of lemon as well. And probably lavender. Mad scientist at work here.

Here's the web recipes I'm going to be basing my initial research trials off of....

http://www.instructables.com/id/liqueur-of-a-thousand-roses/

and

http://allthingssicilianandmore.com/2010/10/02/rose-liqueur-rosoliuliquore-di-rose/

Being a mad scientist is great! Rose liqueur sounds so lovely and romantic. Oooh just the thought of it makes me want to try making lilac liqueur. I wonder if it would work. Gardenia liqueur? Mmmmmm.

Here's a fun site with all sorts of mad scientist ideas. Scroll way down for liquor ideas. Orange zest and mint? Yes please. Rose, carnation, lavender and mint? Mmmmm... but that one might taste even better with lemon instead of mint! I will be trying that in spring for sure!

http://oldfashionedliving.com/edibleflowers.html

Thanks for the link! That is right up my alley. ☺ Carnations! What a great idea. With lavender, rose and lemon (or mint! ), that would make an incredibly interesting liqueur. Yum.

Does anyone know of a recipe for lemoncello made without booze? About 10 years ago we were visiting Italian section of Boston. One restaurant gave us an amazing non alcoholic lemoncello dessert with the meal. I had never heard of lemoncello before, so I had to chase down the recipe. I'm not a drinker so I was disappointed to see that all the recipes were alcohol based.

dchall, I'm with you on that and I hope someone has a recipe. I never liked the taste or the fumey sensation of hard alcohol. I think any way you can extract the flavor or condense the juice, you could add that extractive to other liquids to make a non-alcoholic beverage. Your lemoncello might have been made from lemon extract flavoring.

Cori Ann, look at the Everclear available in California (where I grew up). The proof is capped at 151 out there by law. Everclear here is 190 proof....they aren't screwing around up here!

Here's a pick from a friend out there:

That's fire breathing booze right there.

dchall the base of limoncello is alcohol. If the dessert was cooked properly, the restaurant cooked out the alcohol. So the dessert is non-alcoholic, but they almost certainly used alcohol for limoncello. All the alcohol does is extract the oils from the peel of the fruit, and disperses it into liquid form. It's the same with dishes cooked with beer or wine. You cook out the alcohol if you just want to add the base flavors to the dish.

All that said, you need to be able to like the drink to make it yourself, or you won't get the right balance of oil/sweetner for your taste to cook with!

Oh and BTW I can pretty much guarantee the North End Bostonians, or "Little Italy" use straight up limoncello in the non-alcoholic dessert. ;)

dchall i think what you may have had was a Lemon Sorbet perhaps. Its pretty straight forward to make something like simmer & infuse a sugar syrup with juice & zest then freeze until slushy. You would have all the flavour of your limoncello but with none of the alcohol:)

Thank you all for the hints. It might have been a sorbet, but it was unlike any sorbet I've had.

I suppose it could have been alcohol based and then boiled out. That doesn't take long to do even at room temp. We always have raisins soaked in gin or rum around the house, and most all the liquid evaporates in a few hours.