The Family Lemonchello Recipe

olman Home help FileIf you have a fruit tree you probably will face this question.What to do with your Lemon/Limes?I live in Las Vegas, and have lemon, Grapefruit, Lime, and two cherry trees. Every year I get moreLemons/Limes than I know what to do with (I give away bags and bags of them, but they are ripe inDecember when they are not much in demand). After many years I have developed a system thatprovides the best results and uses most of the lemons and limes in a way that everyone benefits from!Let me share those results with you:Let me preface this by saying I have two kids, so many of these events include them.I buy 1.5 liter bottles of Vodka when I catch them on sale (My local Albertson’s frequently has them for$6). Each bottle will use 20 lemons. I do a few bottles at a time to maximize my efficiency.Step one: pour about a third of the bottle into another container (you will pour half or it back into thebottle after you add the lemon zest.)Step two: Peel just the peel from the lemons, and add Figure 1it to the bottle. Ensure that you DON’T get any of thewhite pith as it will leave a bitter taste to the brew. Ihave had the best luck using a citrus peeler; it operateslike a paring knife but makes the job of getting JUST thepeel much easier. (See figure one) The serrated edge ofthe peeler seems to do the job; I try to get the longestcontinuous peels possible. Figure 3 Step Three: I add the peels to the bottle after I gather each one, to maximize the oils in the liquor. The alcohol helps dissolve them and imbues the vodka with the lemony flavor. I like the way the peels look in the bottle as well, since these are going to be sitting around on shelves for a month or two they might as well look good. (See figure three) Add the peels from all twenty lemons, and then top off the bottle with the Vodka you poured off. If you do a number of bottles at a time, you will be left with some vodka left over. I try to keep an extra empty bottle for this extra. Add the peels of as many lemons to the left over vodka so that the alcohol covers them completely. At the end of this you will need another empty bottle to handle the leftover.

olman Home help FileStep four: Wait. Give the alcohol time to dissolve the oils, give the oils time to seep from the peels.The process can be completed in a few weeks, but (Since this process usually takes place inDecember/January) I let it sit until Easter.Step Five: Pour a cup out of each bottle and add a cup of simple syrup. At this point you will have tomake some tough choices, 1) Do you use the bottle and the peels as is, carefully leaving the peel floatersin the liquor, or 2) Do you drain and filter the liquid and rinse and/or remove the peels but possiblyloose flavor. I have always filtered my brew – (coffee filters work fine) but am going to try the rinse andreturn method this year. Add more syrup if you like it thicker and sweeter (try varying amounts todetermine your preference.) Let the syrup meld with the rest of the liquor for at least two more weeks.Step Six: Share this taste of summer with friends and family! It makes great gifts, is wonderful servedice cold straight from the freezer, as well as mixed with tall pictures of lemonade! This leads to the nextphase.Now that you have harvested the zest from a hundred lemons or so, what do you dowith the lemons that remain? I juice them, add sugar, and seal them into freezablepouches for the summer – when I can add them to 6-8 cups of water and enjoy perfectlemonade. (This is the kid part!)I use an electric juicer (See figure 4); it means that my children can be apart of the process. I cut the lemons in half, and my son juices them. I have a seal-a-meal which is what we Figure 4 use to make the perfect lemonade pack. I add two cups of lemon juice (the juice from 6-8 lemons dependent upon the size. See figure 5). And one cup of sugar to a pouch, Figure 6 before removing the air and sealing the pouch (See Figure six). Mixing the sugar is done with vigorous shaking, which doubles as a seal test. Figure 5 One cup of lemon and one cup cranberry or cherry juice makes a great pink lemonade pack. When a hot summer day rolls around, this is a treat that the kids love, can make themselves, and is better for them than soda pop!