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Limoncello and Old Sour
by Peter Ray
W
ith lemons and limes, it’s feast or fam-
ine. In early summer, when I don’t
have any lemons or limes on my trees
(and hadn’t the foresight to freeze some juice),
I may be driven to pay a dollar for two or three
of them. Then, when the crop comes in, it’s
more than I can use or give away. Here are a
couple of recipes that can help use the surplus.
Limoncello
This is a high-octane liqueur made from just the
zest of lemons. (That’s the peel, removed with a
carrot peeler leaving the white part). Lemons are
called for, but it should be good with limes also.
Less expensive 80 proof vodka can be used, or,
for a more potent product, use pure grain alcohol
(sold in liquor stores as EverClear).
15 lemons
2 750 ml bottles of 100 proof vodka
4 cups sugar
5 cups water
Scrub lemons with soap and hot water and rinse
thoroughly. Remove zest from lemons with a very
sharp peeler (no white pith).
Put the zest in a large
glass bottle with a tight lid (at least five quarts).
Add one bottle of vodka. Close tightly and place
in a cool, dark place for 40 days.
After forty days,
boil the sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Let
cool, add to the jar along with the other bottle of
vodka.
Return to cool dark place for another for-
ty days. Strain zest and bottle. Serve very cold
(from freezer).
Now you’ve got fifteen denuded lemons or limes.
Old Sour has long been used in the Bahamas and
the Florida Keys as an embellishment for seafood
dishes. It was traditionally made with sour oranges
and the little bird peppers found there, but lemon
or lime juice and any hot pepper works fine.
Old Sour
2 cups lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon salt
2 hot peppers, halved (to taste-fewer for mild,
more for hot)
Combine ingredients. Bottle and store in refrig-
erator for 2 weeks or more. Use as a marinade or
at table with seafood
I have a friend who has a Meyer lemon tree in her yard (or maybe it’s her neighbor’s yard), and it gives ripe lemons all year round. So if I had a lemon tree, that would be the type to grow. It’s better too because the danger of frost is a lot less. Ahh, lemon flowers in the spring... mmmmmm.