John John's Limoncello

[Mikey]

In the past John has shared his recipe for making the liqueur Limoncello.  I don't drink much alcohol and when I do it's usually wine but I saved his Limoncello recipe because it sounded very interesting.  And besides, it takes a lot of lemons to make a batch of Limoncello and guess who happens to have a lemon tree growing in his back yard?....

California doesn't sell the 190 proof grain alcohol called for in the recipe and John was kind enough to go back to his recipe and recalculate for our 151 proof stuff.

First I needed lemons....


Lots of lemons...


Then I had to use a micro-planer to remove only the yellow zest from the lemons.  You don't use the juice in making Limoncello.  I took those naked lemons on the left of the photo below, squeezed them and put the juice in ice trays for later use in lemonaide...


Then following his recipe I allowed the mixture to cure for two weeks.  I then strained and bottled up the mix into two wine bottles that are now out in the freezer.  I still had half a bottle of Limoncello left over and because the glass on the wine bottles is tinted I put it in this clear glass bottle that the grain alcohol came in so that you could see what the finished product looks like.
 

I tried some last night after dinner.  Whew doggy!  That stuff will knock your socks off!  Boy was it good.  John says in his recipe, "Limoncello has soft entry and quickly fills the mouth with a crisp, tangy and superbly delicious flavor...."  It's every bit as good as he said.

Thanks John!

[miguynmkoi]

Sounds potent!   

Do I see fingertips in the zest?    Thanks for sharing your photo recipe, I can almost taste the Limoncello!

[Mikey]

No animals were injured nor finger tips lost in the making of this adult beverage 

[Lynda]

Hey, Mike!  Wanna send some of that potent California sunshine my way?  I sure miss my backyard lemon tree and lemons 12 months a year - you don't even want to know what I paid for lemons yesterday!  Gee, homesick much?   :'(

[Mikey]

Here Lynda...... something more to make you more homesick....  I took these photos yesterday...

Avocados in the foreground and the lemon tree in the background...


Mexican Limes


Tangelos


Valencia Oranges


Now I'll make you feel better about where you live.  Arnold and our state legislature are running the state into even deeper financial chaos......  Nunez is actually openly talking about going the route of Davis by raising vehicle registration fees to pay for their inability to cut spending....   Feel better now?.....  Now I'm depressed....

[miguynmkoi]

A veritable fruit market you have there Mike!  Or is that Farmer Mike? 

[Lynda]

I'm going to be out there in March for the Gardena Koi Show and to hang around LB some - I'll have to come by and take some of those off your hands.  I'm driving just so I can bring "stuff" back - See's, Trader Joe's, Bristol Farms, Katella Deli...now Mike's house!  (Did I mention See's!   )

[Mikey]

Be sure to contact me Lynda when the time gets closer as I would enjoy meeting you.  Didn't you say you used to live in Sorento?  I'm located nearby across from Oak Knoll Park.....but I wish I could afford to live in Sorento 

[Lynda]

Mike, I wish I could live in Sorrento now!  There is no way in this world I could afford to buy my house now, and I just sold it in 2002!  Sometimes I miss it, then I remember obnoxious and loud neighbors 10 feet away.  Here, I live on top of a bluff above the Arkansas River in a house slightly larger than the one we left, have more than three acres, peace and quiet with my closest neighbor over an acre away.  But, my poor little lemon tree is in a pot, currently in the shop building for the winter and I'm lucky to get two or three lemons a year from it!  Life is a big trade-off, I guess...

[Johns]

Lynda, Lynda! 

A philosopher are you!  “Life = trade-off” 

Don’t know what led you to a bluff over the Arkansas River with three acres, but you must have done something right in your life choices.  Sounds to me like you’re doing all right.  Here in Charlotte, NC we just had our second Trader Joe’s store open last month.  See’s candy is available mail order  (http://www.sees.com/home.cfm ) and I’m sitting on one acre in a neighborhood fast becoming a Latino (That’s spelled “Illegal-Alien” ) Barrio  which I have sculpted into my own private gardening nirvana in the 36 years I have lived here, and my wife of 45 years has decided in the last year that she wants to move.  I keep her lemon trees over the winter in a hoophouse (it was 25 degrees here this morning) along with all my tropical plants.  There’s no place on earth that could provide the amenities I have accrued here over the years, but that’s life  (See above, re: trade-off).

Rejoice in your new place.  My father’s roots were in southern Missouri and that part of the USA is not a bad place to be.

My son was in San Jose area of California for 10+ years (Currently an escapee in Wash. State).  I found San Fran area a wonderful place to visit , but a sh** hole to live in (You know, the “land of fruits and nuts”).

As I write, I am listening to “Same Old Lang Syne” by Dan Fogleberg, who died December 26, 2007 at age 56.  At 68 going on 69 (in three days) I cannot avoid the melancholic nostalgia embedded in the song.

Again, rejoice in your new surroundings and celebrate your escape!!!

[Johns]

Mikey,

On your next batch, add a extra cup of sugar.  It will thicken the product noticeably and make it a tad sweeter.  I have adjusted my recipe for the addtional sugar.


I did this as a result of further tastings of products made in Capri, Italy.

Salute!

[Mikey]

John: When you strained the mix through the coffee filter did you warm it up first?  Mine was draining through the coffee filter extremely slow.  I thought perhaps some lemon zest was clogging it but that was not the case.  I think is was draining through the filter slowly because it was so syrupy.  I was thinking that warming it up might make it pass through quicker.  I found myself bunching the top of the filter together and then squeezing the liquid through the filter.  Had I not done that I think it would still be draining....    Perhaps I should try a different coffee filter next time. 

[emm]

Mikey, your fruit trees are wonderful!  And your drink looks very nice too.  emm

[Mikey]

We really enjoy the citrus trees.  I'll be eating Tangelos for the next few months.  The nice thing about citrus is that they keep so well on the tree.  I was doing yardwork out back today and it was nice to sit down next to the Tangelo and pull a couple off to eat.

The family tried the Limoncello tonight following dinner.  They both liked it 

[miguynmkoi]

Hey Mike, with the upcoming rain storm were suppose to get will your citrus fruits on the tree get too much water and split/burst?  Not use to this rain stuff here.     My neighbor basically waters my yard when she forgets to turn off her sprinklers.  I know when it happens a day late when many of my oranges are split open, and my apples are extra crispy.   

[Mikey]

I have very sandy soil Annette and I don't anticipate any problems because it drains so well.  You'll never find a puddle in my yard....  I've never had citrus split or burst before........and hopefully this won't be the first time....

I capture all the runoff water from the back side of the house's roof into a barrel and redirect it into my tropical area where it all soaks in.  A few thousand gallons of water will be redirected with this anticipated storm coming in.

[happyoutsidegirl]

This sounds good I too had to convert my Kahalua recipei to 151 as I can't get the 191 proof everclear here, but it's still yummy! Cheers to the new year!!!!

[Lynda]

Hey Mikey, you gonna have any of that left in March?  I'll be there for the Gardena Koi Show and will be down in your neck of the woods to visit my former neighbors...in fact, you ought to come to the Show - if you've never been to a koi show you'd have a blast! 

[Mikey]

I'll try to remember to save some for you Lynda.     The only koi show I've been to was one they have every year at the Green Scene at the Fullerton Arboretum......and I went there for the plants and Kettle-corn and not the koi......  I think their show is more of an opportunity for a local group to show their fish and encourage others to get involved.  I have a couple of koi but I'm not into koi at all like serious hobbyists.  Me examining koi at a koi show is like someone who doesn't know the first thing about cars looking at the engine of a hot rod at a car show and standing there nodding their head in approval when in fact they couldn't tell the difference between a carburetor and a transmission...  In any event, if I attend the show you will have to tell me what it is I'm looking at.....and I'll try not to embarrass you by saying, "Hey, look at the big bass!"