LimoncelloQuest

I ran out of grain alcohol but wanted to run a test between organic and non-organic lemons. I have always heard that non-organic lemons are better for making Limoncello and that makes sense but they are expensive and very hard to find so I wanted to test it.

I tried to treat the two batches as equally as possible. The organic lemons were roughly half the size of the non-organic lemons so I used about twice as many to produce the same quantity of zest. I used half a cup less sugar than normal in both batches because Vodka is much smoother than grain alcohol and I thought that would produce a more balanced Limoncello. Indeed, I didn’t miss the extra sugar at all.

Batch #7:
Liquor: Two bottles of 100 Proof Smirnoff Vodka
Liquor filtration: 5x
Lemons: 23 Organic, scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 40
Simple Syrup – Cups Sugar: 3.5, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 0
Final filtration: 4x

Due to the use of vodka rather than grain alcohol, the flavor of the batch is very smooth. It has fewer chemical flavors than most other batches I’ve made. There is a strong lemon flavor and an off flavor that strikes me as rotten lemon, but isn’t really bad and doesn’t reduce my enjoyment of the liquor. The lemons were just barely starting to get soft when I used them so I’m sure that’s where the off flavor originated. If you use organic lemons, make sure to zest them the same day you get them home because they go bad ridiculously fast.

Batch #8:
Liquor: Two bottles of 100 Proof Smirnoff Vodka
Liquor filtration: 5x
Lemons: 15 Non-Organic, waxed, scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 40
Simple Syrup – Cups Sugar: 3.5, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 0
Final filtration: 4x

One of the first things I noticed when doing the final filtration is that using non-organic lemons makes it much harder to filter the liquor. This is probably because of the wax on non-organic lemons, I think it gums up the filter. This is a huge advantage of using organic lemons because final filtration is my least favorite aspect of making Limoncello.

You’ll notice that the flavor graph shows this one as rougher than batch #7 even though they were exactly the same except for the test variable. It is smoother than normal because it contains vodka but not as smooth as the organic lemons. This taught me something interesting, that the contaminants in non-organic lemons apparently introduce roughness to the flavor. This actually makes sense since contaminants in the liquor make the flavor rough as well.

There are also off flavors that seem chemical in nature. The off flavors in batch #7 were more natural and it had a more lemony flavor overall. I think there are enough benefits to work almost exclusively with organic lemons moving forward.

I set aside one bottle each from my first two batches so I could see what happens when you let them rest for a long time. Both of these rested for over 6 months in my basement and then I put them in the freezer for a while and tasted them again. There is no question that resting the limoncello smooths out the flavor. These two batches are nearly indistinguishable at this point. They are both very sweet and syrupy, with a little alcohol heat in the flavor. Neither has the alcohol “roar” that I noted in the initial review of the first batch.

If I had to identify a difference between them, I’d say that the first batch has many more lemony notes on the finish than the second batch. I don’t know why that would be but it definitely leaves a lemon oil finish in your mouth. Interestingly, the chemical flavors have also died down. These two batches won’t make it to the one year mark (they’re already frozen, I might as well finish them off…) but the effects of aging are clearly positive. I’ve made quite a bit of limoncello this year so I’ll be surprised if at least some of the batches don’t make to a year old. When they do I’ll post the results but I can predict them already in one word, smoother.