Bear Cuisine

Making Limoncello

My cooking buddy, Janet Harris, teamed up with her friend Pattie to make Limoncello, a lemon-flavored Italian Liquor, using lemons grown in Arizona. They met 3 times over 12 weeks to create 2 gallons of this "wonderful beverage."

Click here for the basic recipe they followed.

Here are their notes and pictures from their Limoncello adventures.

We had the best success using a simple hand-held zesting tool.

 

We made batches with vodka and with grain alcohol for comparison.

 

The vodka and grain alcohol were filtered twice before adding to the zest.

The water for the simple syrup was filtered twice before making the syrup which was added to the alcohol/zest mixture after 6 weeks of aging.

 

 Here you see the alcohol, simple syrup, and zest after it has aged twelve weeks.

The green bottle is a 2 cup batch of limecello made  with left over grain alcohol.

Here are the bottles being sterilized in the oven.

 

The final product was filtered 3 times before bottling.

 

Lime with grain alcohol, Lemon with grain alcohol and Lemon with Vodka (left to right)

Bottled and ready to enjoy chilled, or age a bit longer.

Both Janet and Pattie preferred the taste and color of the  Limoncello and Limecello made with the grain alcohol. Janet's final word?  "Superior to any brand you can buy at a store."

Thanks to Janet and Pattie for sharing the results of their experiments. Now if they could just ship me a bottle or two.

Cam's Egg Nog

I said it was time to move on and move on we have. Here is the first recipe of the Christmas season and a good one it is too. This is the perfect beverage to imbibe while trimming the tree.

CAM'S EGG NOG

• 1 dozen eggs, separated 
  
• 1 pint heavy cream 
  
• 1 cup light rum 
  
• 1 cup peach brandy 
  
• 2 cups brandy 
  
• 1 pound confectioners’ sugar 
  
• 3 cups whole milk 
  
• grated rinds of one orange and one lemon 
  
• grated nutmeg
  

1. Separate eggs while still cold. Allow egg whites to come to room temperature and then beat until stiff. 

2. Whip cream until softly mounded. 

3. Beat egg yolks in a large bowl or container ; add liquor sugar, milk, whipped ream and rinds. 

4. Fold in egg whites. 

5. If possible, chill several hours. 

6. Serve toped with grated rinds and nutmeg.

Yields: 24 four-0unce servings

(from Mystic Seaport's Christmas Memories Cookbook)