Homemade Limecello

I’ve been making limoncello for about 10 years, but I had not branched out with other flavors of ‘cellos’ until recently.  I had always wanted to try limes as the base flavor but tended to stick to the tried and true lemon.  This citrus season, I came across these beautiful organic limes and I decided to take the plunge.

Part of my hesitation was a lack of limecello in general, both in stores and restaurants, but also online.  Was there a reason for this?  Have people tried and it doesn’t work with limes?  I had just vacationed in Sicily last fall, and never once saw limecello…and I looked for it.  As these things tend to happen, I was having dinner in Taormina, and started a conversation with the table next to us.  They were a couple from the U.S., I believe Wyoming, and they were doing a self-directed tour of Italy, both the mainland and Sicily.  As we were chatting about Italy, our server brought out complimentary limoncello, so naturally, we began talking about one of my obsessions.  I mentioned that I made my own limoncello, that’s when my new friends told me they had made their own limecello.  I had many questions, but mostly I had a renewed interest in giving this a try.  I took this random crossing of paths with someone who made limecello as a sign.

Cutting to the chase; limecello is delicious.  I’m not sure why it isn’t more prevalent.  In some ways, it is actually easier to make than limoncello, which you can read about and get the recipe <here>.  My best guess as to why we don’t see limecello more frequently is that lemons are sturdier, and limoncello is harder to mess up…but that’s just a guess.

The process to make limecello is similar to limoncello.  You need to start with organic limes.  Buying organic is not a lifestyle choice I’m trying to promote.  The process of infusing alcohol with the citrus flavor requires you to steep the rind of the limes in alcohol for 10 days.  This process extracts the flavorful oils from the rind and flavors the alcohol.  Because of this process, you really want as clean of a slate to work with, and you don’t want any chemicals or pesticides to be included.  For a single batch, you need 12-13 limes.  One of the key differences I found when working with limes is the outer layer is more delicate than lemons.  This became crystal clear when I attempted to use a potato peeler to remove the outer portion of the peel.  I was not able to treat the lime like I do a lemon.  The peeler kept cutting far too deep into the lime, including the white pith along with the desired green colorful outer layer.  I had to switch to a microplane rasp which gave me better control, ensuring I only got the green zest of the lime.

Besides the process of removing the rind of the lime, the biggest difference for making limecello as compared to limoncello is the amount of time needed to infuse the alcohol with the lime flavor.  I recommend 6-8 weeks for limoncello, for limecello you need about 7-10 days.  Again, my unscientific best guess is related to limes being a bit more delicate, allowing for the process to extract the oils in the peel to happen much quicker.  Because of this, it is also a bit more important to not let this infusion process go too long.  You risk developing a more bitter product.  I found that you can see a bright green color in the infusion process within a day.  By day 7-10 you notice it darken a bit, which is the sign that the process has completed, and it is time to move on to the bottling.

As for the alcohol, I share the same opinion here as I do with limoncello, you need grain alcohol 150 proof or higher.  If you use vodka, your end product will be diluted too much to consider this limecello.  You will end up with about 2 ½ liters for a single batch, and although perfect to sip after a meal on a warm summer night, you can add this to other cocktails to add a delicious punch of flavor.  I’ve experimented with a Lime Drop as well as a Key Lime Pie.  Just as is the case with limoncello, limecello is the perfect gift for friends and family.  Unique, homemade and delicious.