Arancello (Orange-cello) Test
I made this test batch using the zest of 10 oranges and otherwise the same methodology as the lime-infused batch, 3 weeks infusion with a bottle of 100 proof Smirnoff vodka filtered four times and simple syrup with 2.5 cups water and 2 cups sugar. This batch was easy to distinguish from Limoncello from the color alone. It wasn’t bright orange but it was orange enough to tell.
It had a nice aroma of orange as well but the flavor didn’t pan out nearly as well as the lime batch. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the batch I made with orange last year, but it isn’t great. It’s overly sweet (my fault) and the orange flavor tastes like orange peel rather than oranges. This makes perfect sense but I don’t know why lemons and limes don’t seem to have the same issue. It may be the type of oranges I’m using, I’m not sure. I did use organic oranges, which should have been better than normal ones. Not a successful test. If anyone has an idea why, let me know.
20080505 5:32 am
I wonder if you either need more orange zest than you would lemon zest (I’ve noticed in baking that orange zest is much more subtly flavored than the same amount of lemon zest) or if you might need the whole orange. I just started a batch of something I found a recipe for in Saveur– it’s a liqueur called “Quarante-quatre” from Madagascar that involves cutting 44 slits in a whole orange, pushing whole coffee beans into the slits, and then letting the whole thing steep in a jar filled with a liter of rum and 44 teaspoons of sugar for 44 days. Like limoncello, you then consume the stuff neat and freezing cold.
20080509 2:23 am
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