Homemade Limoncello on Martha’s Vineyard | The Local Food Report

Years ago, Lou Quattrucci’s neighbor came home from a trip to Italy with a gift.

"She brought me this bottle of creamy limoncello. And I didn't know what to make of it. Like I'd had limoncello at Italian restaurants before."

Lou, as you might be able to tell from his name, comes from an Italian family and is well-versed in both the country’s food and drink.

"You know, sometimes you go to these nice restaurants and like the owner will come out and he's got this like homemade, you know, batch. So I knew what it was, but I'd never seen the creamy stuff before."

I asked Lou to describe the creamy limoncello.

"So it's a good question because a lot of times — I don't know what the percentage is, I'll make it up, probably, you know, for people that have limoncello, probably it's 80 or 90 percent they drink the clear kind, which is simple syrup. But creamy limoncello is also a thing."

It’s creamy as in instead of being made with water and sugar, it’s made with sugar and heavy cream. When he first saw this new-to-him version of the famous Italian after-dinner drink, Lou wasn’t sure what to make of it, put it in the freezer, and for months, completely forgot about it.

"Sometime later I had, you know, I had like a boys weekend and a bunch of guys over and one of them was asking about it. And we decided to crack it open and we loved it and we couldn't stop drinking it. So I always sort of had it in my head that I was going to figure out how to make it. But I didn't. I just thought it was something that you could make and drink. I didn't realize that it was a bit of a process and it took some time."

By time Lou means weeks or even months, which seemed like forever to wait. But then one winter he found himself unexpectedly pretty bored — and a friend in California called saying he had a tree full of ripe lemons.

"He says, don't make it until I send you some lemons. So you know I thought Well, those things were about the size of an egg. Well, his were about the size of a baseball. So the very first batch I made half clear, half creamy because I didn't really know, you know, where this was going to go."

Lou started both batches the same way — by peeling lemons and then soaking the peels in grain alcohol for about a month — and then he added the simple syrup to the clear batch and the heavy cream and sugar to the creamy batch. And finally, he started inviting a series of friends over for taste testing.

"I can't tell you, I don't know, probably like 50 or more friends. I would always give them a taste of each and like 49 out of 50 said, don't even bother with the clear stuff anymore. This creamy stuff is like the greatest thing ever. So stick with that."

So, he has. I spent an afternoon with Lou at his house in Oak Bluffs peeling lemons and starting a batch. You want to get only the yellow part of the peel, he told me — none of the white pith, because that makes the drink bitter — but with two of us peeling, it was very easy work. And bonus, I got to be part of the ongoing taste test.

"So it's a sipper, right? Every once in a while, somebody wants to shoot it, but it's—it's for sipping."

I've never had the cream version and it is infinitely better. It tastes almost like sorbet.

"Yeah, it's definitely a deserty thing. It's really flavorful. And I’m not a food expert, but one of the things that I’ve learned is I really like how the different flavors hit your tongue, you can feel the lemon and the sugar right and everything like the way it fires on your tongue is really kind of interesting."

According to Lou people also make orange cello and melon cello, and once he tried making lime cello, but he said, it just wasn’t the same. So these days, he makes batch after batch of creamy limoncello — because in his opinion, and I have to say, now mine too — it’s the best of the best.

Two Step Creamy Limoncello Recipe

Ingredients

· 15 +/- lemons

· 6 quarts light cream or half & half

· 1.75 liters grain alcohol (or vodka)

· 4 pounds sugar

· Mason Jars and swing top bottles (optional)

Recipe

1. Peel lemons. Be sure to focus on outermost peel and minimize white pith

Soak lemon peels with alcohol in large mason jar(s) or other suitable glass container(s)

Store in cool dark area for a month

Be sure to use the peeled lemons for juice or baking

2. One month later

On stove-top in a large pan (or pans) bring cream to a simmer. Be sure to stir frequently and avoid boiling.

Allow cream to cool to a moderately warm temperature and slowly blend in sugar

While cream is cooling, strain lemon peels from alcohol

Gently stir lemon infused alcohol into lukewarm cream

Bottle in clear mason jars or swing top bottles and store in freezer. Allow one month to age before consuming for smooth tasting limoncello!

Notes

· Grain alcohol typically has double the proof of vodka

· The sugar in this recipe is about half as much as many others found online and is in good proportion.

· Acquire the best lemons possible

· For clear limoncello, substitute water for cream

· Be sure to share and enjoy with your friends and remind them to sip from a small glass! Limoncello is traditionally enjoyed after a meal.

· Notice how the lemon, sugar, alcohol, and cream hit your tongue in different places and timing.