Limoncello is a beautiful Italian lemon liqueur with vibrant sweet flavor infused into it over a period of time. This liqueur is surprisingly easy to make at home and all you need is 4 ingredients and patience.
I recommend using a Y vegetable peeler or another peeler you have that is very find. Your goal is to take off just the yellow zest of the lemon and none of the white pith.
Peel the outer yellow layer of the lemons and combine them all in a large glass container with an air-tight lid.
Infusing:
Pour in all the vodka into the glass container with the lemon peels and close it tight.
Give it a gentle swirl to stir and set it in a spot out of the way that is away from direct sunlight. Let it infuse in the cool, dark plate (room temperature is fine) for about 4 weeks. Swirl the bottle every few days.
Strain:
Set a mesh strainer fitted with a clean coffee filet over a 4-cup measuring cup (or another large enough container) and strain the alcohol. Discard lemon peels.
Sugar mixture:
Add water into a sauce pot and bring it to simmer. Turn off the heat and stir in sugar. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
Let the sugar mixture cool to room temperature before combining with infused vodka!
Combine sweet water and lemon infused vodka together and stir well.
Bottle:
Divide the Limoncello among clean glass bottles and close them right.
Keep Limoncello either in the refrigerator or in the freezer. (Make sure to use freezer-friendly bottles if plan to keep Limoncello in the freezer.)
Notes
*This is where people's personal preference makes the most difference. Do you like it boozy? Do you like it more sweet or less sweet? My own personal preference is somewhat boozy but not too sweet. So my ratio of water to sugar is 3 cups of water to 1.5-2 cups of sugar. When I make limoncello as a gift, I make it slightly sweeter so I use 3 cups or water and 2 cups of sugar. When I make it for our personal use, I use 3 cups of water and only 1-1.5 cups of sugar. You can find our own personal preference up to 4 cups of water and up to 3 cups of sugar. Please note though, 3 cups of sugar will make a very sweet limoncello.