When life gives you lemons, make limoncello! 
On our cross-country drive out to our new home in the San Francisco Bay Area, we stopped in southern California and stayed the night with my aunt and uncle. In their backyard is a giant lemon tree that was planted by my grandfather when they bought their home 30 some years ago. The lemons on this tree were huge! Ginormous! I hadn’t seen lemons this big since I first went to Sicily, on my way to go to school in Florence. I can remember one of the first nights out in Florence. A group of girls and I went out to a local bar when we were approached by two older gentlemen. In case you haven’t heard, if you are a woman with a pulse in Italy, you will get more attention than you may be used to – not in a threatening way, mostly just a lot of catcalling and looks. But unless your name is Gisele Bundchen, then you’re probably not used to being gawked at everywhere you go. 
In any event, the two older gentlemen ordered a round of limoncello. We’d never had limoncello before – it came in a chilled shot glass, its bright color looked like a sunrise, and it smelled of the most fragrant lemons I had ever smelled. We clinked glasses and with one quick tilt of the head, we threw our heads back and downed the shot. Except it wasn’t meant to be taken as a shot. We glanced over at the two gentlemen who had a look of surprise on their face. And then without a single word, they each took a small sip of the limoncello and then sat their glasses down on the table to pause before taking another refreshing sip. As we quickly found out, limoncello is for enjoying and relaxing. Not pounding shots – we were college kids… what the hell did we know? 😉 
That’s one of the many things I love about Italy. It’s not fast and furious living. People take their time and they savor the moment. Life is to be enjoyed! So slow down. Pour yourself a glass of limoncello, sit back, relax, and enjoy life like an Italian. 
- 10 lemons
- 1 (750ml) bottle of 100 proof vodka
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel from the lemons, being careful not to include the pith (the bitter white part).
- Place the peels in a large pitcher and pour the vodka over the top. Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for 4 to 7 days.
- In a small saucepan, stir the water and sugar together. Bring to a simmer, to dissolve the sugar. Turn off the heat and allow to completely cool.
- Pour the sugar-water into the pitcher with the lemons and stir. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the lemon peels out from the liquid. Insert a funnel into the neck of a bottle and transfer the limoncello. Chill in the refrigerator or freezer prior to serving. Limoncello can be stored in the freezer for up to a year.
2) When peeling the lemons, be sure to remove all of the white pith. This is bitter and will transfer to your limoncello if it is not removed.
This limoncello looks like the perfect summer drink – so so refreshing! Your photography is so beautiful too. I loved reading about your time spent in Florence and experiencing limoncello for the first time. I would have probably done the same thing and downed the drink. :p I have yet to travel to Italy, but I can imagine that they share a similar attitude to the French in truly enjoying life at a slower pace, just as you’ve described. I’ve always wanted to make my own limoncello, so thank you for sharing your recipe! It looks delicious! <3
I. Love. This! My very first post for CCB was for orange & limoncello – so this holds a very special place in my heart! Lovely recipe and gorgeous pictures, of course!! Love the story, Kathleen!
Ooo… I just looked at your orangecello – looks and sounds A-MA-ZING! I need to try this!
BA HA HA!! I would TOTALLY shoot this down too! Please can we do shots of homemade limoncello when we finally meet up! 😉
PS I was looking at the lemon in the context of your giant hands. MY they ARE giant!!
Pinning of course. I love this. Only YOU would ever think about making homemade Limoncello!
Yes. Yes, we totally need to do shots of limoncello when we meet up!
Lol! Don’t have just the most ridiculously large hands!? Seriously, I should have been a goalie or at least learned to play the piano. I used to swim competitively and the joke was always that I did so well because I had flippers on my hands. The day we finally do meet, we need to post a photo of our hands side-by-side 😉
Thanks for bringing a little reminder of our trip to Italy where life just pauses for a moment. Where you sip your limoncello while watching the people walk by and the sun set… I had no idea it was so easy to make. Thanks for the recipe Kathleen. Weekends are going to be fun at your house! Pinning, of course!
That’s exactly why I never want to leave Italy when I visit 🙂
My guy’s mom has made a few batches of limoncello and it’s delicious. I’m so going to have to try your recipe!
Btw I’m super jealous of your aunt and uncle … I want a lemon tree!
That’s one of the things I’m loving about moving to CA – everyone has fruit trees in their yard! 🙂
Haha! A few weeks ago I did exactly what you did. One of our friends brought over some limoncello and we all did a shot. Our bad! I love this recipe. It would be fun to make your own.
Lol! No judgments here, Thao 🙂 Taken as a shot or just leisurely sipping, it’s still a great drink! 🙂
I made limoncello for Christmas gifts about 5 years ago. I’ve since lost that recipe and so glad to have yours now to put in my recipe box! Can’t wait to make this 🙂 Didn’t even think about being able to store it in the freezer to last longer. Reason enough to make a huge batch!
Ooo… that sounds like a wonderful Christmas gift – how do I get on that list! 😉
Limoncello stays wonderfully in the freezer. I’ve actually kept it longer than a year in that state – so yes, make a big batch! The more the merrier 😛
Great story! I would have totally slammed the shot too! Limoncello is so delish!
Ha! Thanks, Rachelle! Sipping or taking a shot – it’s good either way 😉
I love limoncello! Ever since I visited Italy last summer I’ve been wanting to try making my own! Found the recipe to try, thanks for sharing Kathleen! Pinning! 😀
Isn’t Italy wonderful! Seriously, every time I go, I never want to leave 🙂 I hope you enjoy, Jess!
Gorgeous pictures Kathleen! And a great story, love Italy! I’m pretty sure it was fun to live there! Never thought of how easy it was to make limoncello! Pinning!
Thanks, Mira! I honestly had the BEST time there, a total life-changing experience.
Hahahaha! I totally would have been EXACTLY like you and downed that glass of lemoncello! (As a matter of fact, I think I did a bunch of that back in my wild child college days… but unless anyone out there has proof, I refrain from actually “remembering” that! Lol) Anyways, that picture of you with that Lemon is Crazy!! That IS the size of your head!! Not only is this absolutely beautiful in color, I bet this lemoncello is SO amazingly delicious with supa-fresh-supa-sized lemons! I’ll have to settle for just supa’ fresh lemons for this, but either way I can’t wait to sip on this sizzurp! 😉 <–HAD to say that! <3 Cheers, my sweets! Xo. Oh and pinned!
Yeah… I did my fair share of that in my wild college days too! I probably would have taken a shot of Macallan single malt Scotch without being any the wiser – such a gauche child 😉
Very nice! Limoncello is popular in my house during the holidays 🙂
Thanks, Sabrina! I love it around the holidays too, Christmas in particular! I don’t know what it is – maybe it’s wanting a taste of summer in the middle of winter 😉
We’ve been making our own limoncello for several years – we use Everclear instead of vodka, and our proportions are a bit different. But this is a great drink, and you can also do it with oranges or limes (we’ve got all three sitting in our freezer). BTW, ours has been in the freezer for several years and is still good… 🙂
That’s great, Susan! I’ve heard of using Everclear, but I’ve always been a vodka kind of girl 😉 If you’ve got a stockpile of homemade limoncello with different varieties, I’m coming to your house!
Kathleen, this is such an adorable post. This limoncello, these gorgeous photos and that cute drink me tag! I need this in my life. So good!
Thanks! The ‘drink me’ tag was my nod to Alice in Wonderland 😉
Kathleen this is such a great post!!! I love that you took a shot of it! We all would 🙂 And I do so love Italian men… they adore women…it’s a great feeling 🙂 I cannot believe how easy it is to make limencello!!!
Thank you my dear. I really enjoyed creating this post because of all of the wonderful memories associated with it 🙂 Careful, now that you know how easy it is to make limoncello, you’ll always have a bottle around… at least that’s what we do 😉
Kathleen I like having delicious bottles of alcohol around 😉
I think you and I would get into trouble with a bottle 😉
I think we should try 🙂
My favorite drink. I was hooked the first time I had it in Italy but I haven’t made it myself, I need to try your recipe. The Italians really know how to live and eat 🙂
I was totally hooked too! Not just on the limoncello but how the entire country seems to revolve around food! What’s not to love about that? 🙂