LimoncelloQuest

Mojitocello - Lime Zest with Mint

Ben — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:50:28 +0000

I should have posted this review while it was still summertime but better late than never I guess. This is actually batch #12 for those who follow along. I wanted to get fancy and do a batch that tasted like a Mojito.

Here’s the recipe I used:

Liquor: One bottle of 151 Proof Everclear
Liquor filtration: 5x
Lemons: 14 scrubbed organic limes plus one mint leaf torn in half
Days peels and liquor rested: 36
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 1.75, Cups Water: 2.5
Final filtration: 4x

There were a few things wrong with this attempt. The first is pretty obvious, lime zest doesn’t taste like lime flesh. So unless I use lime juice in the future I don’t think the finished product will really taste like Mojito. I also used far too little mint, it was barely detectable in the flavor.

Here were my tasting notes:
Has the typical lime-cello green color and the texture is extra dense. Tastes like a sweet batch of lime-cello, you can hardly detect the lime that would make it mojito-like. There’s a hint of mint on the finish but this doesn’t taste like a mojito.

Despite the fact that it didn’t turn out as I’d initially hoped, this was a tasty batch. I may repeat it and add 10 mint leaves instead of one next time.

Limoncello with Lime Zest - Batch #11 Results

Ben — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:32:25 +0000

I’ve heard that the secret to great limoncello is to add the zest of one lime to the lemon zest before infusion. So I gave this a try to see if it adds anything. The result had a nice milky white color out of the freezer, I don’t usually get that effect but I doubt it had to do with the lime. It may be the temperature of the freezer.

The lime did exert a flavor in the finished product, it’s pretty subtle but definitely a mild lime zest flavor (not to be confused with an actual lime flavor). It has a few other off flavors, possibly because the lime wasn’t organic, and it’s a little tiny bit harsh. The lime zest adds a certain something but I don’t think it’s a real improvement so I’m declaring that adding the zest of one lime isn’t the secret to great limoncello. Here’s the breakdown:

Liquor: One bottle of 151 Proof Everclear
Liquor filtration: 5x
Lemons: 12 scrubbed Organic lemons plus the zest of one lime
Days peels and liquor rested: 56
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 1.75, Cups Water: 2.5
Final filtration: 4x

Batch #10: Limoncello with Lemon Juice

Ben — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:16:13 +0000

So far in my limoncello-making career I’ve made very few batches that would qualify as unmitigated train wrecks. This is just one such batch. I read somewhere on the internet that adding the juice of the lemons to the batch along with the zest creates a nice flavor. I doubted it but like everything else I tried it.

YUCK. I can’t even rate it on the normal scale. It has such an overpowering tartness that it almost can’t be endured. Again, this was a fairly predictable outcome but I wanted to try it and now I have a batch of something, not limoncello, that I’ll have to use as some kind of disinfectant.

Recipes Using Lemon Juice

Ben — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:47:05 +0000

Just a site update, I’ve significantly expanded the page on recipes using lemon juice. If you have any additions, please email them to me. Enjoy!

Pineapple Limoncello Results

Ben — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:40:01 +0000

I regularly surf the web in search of ideas for better limoncello recipes and I wandered onto this site where I found the idea for putting pineapple into the infusion. The author of the blog was kind enough to send me the recipe which I modified in minor ways to fit my normal limoncello making routine. Here is the recipe I used:

Liquor: Two bottles of 151 Proof Everclear
Liquor filtration: 5x
Lemons: 18 scrubbed Organic lemons plus 1/3 of a ripe pineapple, cut into chunks
Days peels and liquor rested: 35
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 3.5, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 5
Final filtration: 4x

Even though I know this liquor contains pineapple I have a hard time detecting the flavor in the finished product. I’d bet that no one could figure it out if you didn’t tell them. The effect on the flavor is exactly what I was told, it makes it a slightly sweeter more “gum droppy” flavor. It tastes more like candy than normal limoncello but it’s otherwise hard to pinpoint the difference in flavor. I think it will be a crowd pleaser though I’d like to use a more ripe pineapple next time. Actually, the entire batch is almost gone already (within a couple weeks) which is rare even around my house.

As an aside, I just added a new page to the site that suggests uses for the lemon juice that the limoncello making process produces. Please email me any additions you may have and I’ll include them.

Batches 7 & 8: Organic vs. Non-Organic Lemons

Ben — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:16:58 +0000

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.

Revisiting batches 1 & 2

Ben — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:57:08 +0000

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.

Batch #6 Results

Ben — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:57:49 +0000

#6 meant to be my best to date, liquor filtered 6x and rested with zest for 90 days. Back to usual sugar concentration. Good light color and smell. Nice lemony flavor, more so than batch #4 and though it’s quite a bit sweeter it’s still relatively balanced. Picks are that it’s still a little syrupy sweet and there are off flavors probably associated with the non-organic lemons used.

Liquor: Two 750ml bottles of Everclear 151
Liquor filtration: 6x
Lemons: 17 Non-organic, waxed and scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 90
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 4, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 30
Final filtration: 4x

Batch #5 Results

Ben — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:27:01 +0000

For batch #5, I forgot to filter the liquor so I know this will be on the rough side. I consider it almost a wasted batch if I don’t filter the liquor because the flavor is so much harsher than filtered batches. The color is on the darker side as my batches go, closer to some mass-produced versions I’ve seen. The flavor is first very sweet and lemony but quickly turns to the unfiltered Everclear punch that contorts your face. Since I’ve discovered the difference in smoothness due to filtering it’s almost unforgivably rough tasting. Unless I forget I’ll never use unfiltered Everclear again and this is a lesson that should help.

Liquor: Two 750ml bottles of Everclear 151
Liquor filtration: None
Lemons: 17 Non-organic, waxed and scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 66
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 4, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 30
Final filtration: 4x

Batch #4 Results

Ben — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:26:56 +0000

I haven’t had a batch to post about in a while and now I have several. Here is the first of the new crop:

Liquor: Two 750ml bottles of Everclear 151
Liquor filtration: 5x
Lemons: 17 Non-organic, waxed and scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 63
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 3, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 30
Final filtration: 4x

The big difference in this batch was the use of less sugar, I used one cup less than normal to see if I could reduce the overly sweet taste of my standard recipe. The smell and color of the finished product looked good, perhaps a bit lighter yellow than normal. The sugar reduction worked, it doesn’t taste sweet now. However, the alcohol is much more apparent in the flavor now. A one cup reduction may have been too much. The next time I’ll try a 1/2 cup reduction. The flavor seems lighter with less sugar, it has some redeeming qualities there but overall it’s just too harsh. It will take a long time in the cellar to make this batch smooth.