**Update** Limoncello/Orancello in game thread (Update in OP) *COMPLETE*

I'll ask my neighbor baw. She's a 75 yr old and makes a MEAN lemoncello.

Will do

She's legit man. Makes mean cocktails too. Her and her husband are some of the coolest old folks you'll meet. Boozin and cookin 4-5 nights a week

It just takes a lot of patience, prep,and time. Take a bottle of vodka, a half gallon works best, and the zest of day 20 lemons in strips. Make sure you remove the white pith. Let it sit for say 45 days and strain. Chill

Like others have said, it takes patience. I haven't done it in awhile and need to get back on it.

I use 15-20 lemons, just the zest (no pith)
Place zest into jar with fifth of vodka or Everclear and let sit for at least a month.

I then make a simple syrup with 3 cups of sugar (you can use more or less) and 5 cups of water. Bring it to a boil and let cool. Then add to vodka lemon mix. Let sit anywhere from 10 days to another month.

Strain and enjoy.

Do you actually zest the lemons, or use a potato peeler to get zesty strips off?

Seems like people differ here.

Das fancy

I was recently in Sorrento Italy and swore I'd never try another version until I could come back for theirs....

had this in Italy... several whole lemons, wrapped on cheesecloth, suspended in a large bottle of grain alcohol till they disentegrate. Strain, mix in simple syrup. Unbelievable. And Italians think using vodka is ridiculous.

had this in Italy... several whole lemons, wrapped on cheesecloth, suspended in a large bottle of grain alcohol till they disentegrate. Strain, mix in simple syrup. Unbelievable. And Italians think using vodka is ridiculous.

You also need quality lemons. I made it several years in a row, using backyard meyer lemons (insipid, not "lemony" enough), supermarket standard lemons (okay, not fantastic or better than commercially made), and unwaxed, organic lemons (better than all my previous versions). Still, every single version was a pale imitation of the fantastic stuff I had along the Amalfi coast (including several backyard/homemade versions).

So I dug a little, and discovered that the variety of lemons grown along the Sorrentine peninsula is called 'sfusato amalfitana, which is a sub-category of the "feminello"/santa teresita variety grown all over southern Italy. Supposedly, those 'sfusato lemons have oilier peels. Dunno if it's true or just folklore.

I bought a santa teresita tree from Four Winds Citrus in CA, planted in in '13, and it looks like it MIGHT bloom this spring. With luck, I'll have a few lemons next winter and can find out if it's the lemon variety or the terroir that makes Amalifi lemons so damn tasty.