Lime-Limoncello

I learned from Alton Brown that Limoncello is easy to make.  (Unnecessary aside: Alton Brown is awesome.  I'm a little in love with him.  Sorry, Mr. Flay, you've been replaced.)  Limoncello is a lemon-infused sweetened alcohol from Italy that has been a bit of a fad lately.  It can be made with just vodka, fresh lemon peel, sugar, and time.

I actually learned the process for making Limoncello long ago, although I didn't know it at the time.  Years ago when I was living in Kalamazoo a friend explained to me how she made cherry cordial.  She soaked cherries in vodka for a couple of weeks and then added simple syrup.  Essentially, Limoncello is a lemon cordial.  I saw it made on an episode of David Rocco's Dolce Vita, but I didn't feel inspired to make my own Limoncello until I saw Alton Brown explain the steps in detail on his show Good Eats.  I realized how simple it is, and the next time I had some leftover citrus with which I had nothing to do, I decided to give making my own alcohol cordials a try.

I didn't have lemons, I had limes, so I went for it with limes instead.  It's important to zest the fruit while avoiding as much of the white pith as possible, just getting the green (or yellow) parts - since the pith is quite bitter.  Alton had suggested several lemons for about 700 mL of vodka, so using three limes for about half that much vodka seemed about right.  After carefully zesting as much of the lime peel as I could get off of them, I added the zest and the 350 mL of vodka to a very clean mason jar.  A tight lid and a couple of weeks in the pantry is then all it needed.  Obviously, since it's alcohol, there's no reason to worry about it going bad.  The alcohol works on the peel to extract all the oil and flavor.  Alton said to let the jar sit for at least a week, but I left mine for almost three weeks. 

Then, just today, I carefully strained the beverage through a coffee filter and then added some simple syrup.  I made the simple syrup with equal parts sugar and water, and added about a third as much syrup to the jar as there was cordial.  Dan sampled it and said he really liked it.  It also smells delicious.  There is no better potpourri than fresh citrus oils.

As an interesting coincidence, I now found myself with extra lemons in the house, and with my successful lime cordial experiement, I decided to try my hand at making actual limoncello, too.  So I peeled a couple of lemons, mixed it with vodka in a jar, and into the pantry it went.  The lime cordial is now in the fridge to keep it nice and cool for sipping or mixing.

I can't believe it took me so long to give this a try.  I have some blackberries in the freezer that I'm eyeing for yet another cordial experiment.  I'm excited to share my concoctions with my parents when they visit in a few weeks. 

Has anyone else out there made limoncello or vodka cordials?  I'd love to know what you made or how it went.

Happy eating drinking!