Christmas Gifts: Limoncello

Every Christmas I tell myself, "next year I'm going to make all of my gifts in June, so when the holidays roll around again I can relax," and every June I completely fail to do so.  Well, I didn't make all my gifts in June this year, but I did make some of them.

Dev and I started making limoncello this summer using a recipe from our friend Mike Pruett.

We started by zesting 144 lemons from our wonderful backyard tree (or about two-thirds of the total number of ripe lemons on the tree at that time). 

Then we soaked all the zest in 12 liters of Everclear 151-proof grain alcohol and let it sit in a cool, dark place for a little over two months, occasionally shaking up the jars to keep them mixed.  (Dev also juiced the zested lemons to make lemonade for Beatrice and Arthur's birthday party.)

In early August we strained out all the zest and refrigerated the liquid. 

Then we combined 36 cups of sugar and 36 cups of water (in four large pots, one on each burner) and placed them over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar was completely dissolved.  Then we cooled and refrigerated the syrup.

When the syrup and the alcohol were both cold, we mixed them together and left them in the refrigerator for another four months.  This week we filled and labeled 72 pint jars and started distributing them to everyone we know.  Merry Christmas!