Weekend Project

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CraigC

Master Chef
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Messages
6,486
Went to Restaurant Depot today and bought a 37# case of lemons for $31.79. Stopped at Total Wine and Spirits and got 4, 1.75 liter bottles of Everclear (still need 4 more bottles). Will be zesting lemons all weekend to make a huge batch (at least to us) of Limoncello. In a week, will need enough sugar for 54 cups to make the simple syrup.:ohmy:
 
there should be a sticky thread for everyone's weekend projects (although, what is a week end?), and change this one to craigsy's weekend project so we might see the results without too many other projects muddling it up.

whaddyathink?
 
Why not? We already tell each other what we're doing, what we're having for dinner, what's funny, what makes us smile, what makes us mad. Why not weekend projects, too? :)

I volunteered at the master gardener Fall Festival today. We sold plants, had a yard sale, offered Plant Doctor advice, had children's activities and provided information about water conservation and pruning shrubs. I made a breakfast bread pudding for the volunteers and orange brownies for dessert with lunch. It was a fun day.

I also bought some pansies, Johnny Jump-Ups, and an aloe vera plant. I'll probably plant those tomorrow.
 
Ah, the lemons have all been zested, the zest is resting in an Everclear soak. In a week the zest will be bleached white as bones exposed in the desert! That is when you know all the lemon goodness has been sucked out! Mwahhahaha.:LOL:
 
Well, half of the first batch is bottled. Supposed to wait a week after the simple syrup is added but I don't think that is going to happen before the first bottle gets sampled. :rolleyes: :yum:

Did the math and it ended up being $10.02/750 ml bottle. Course getting 25 lb of sugar for under $10 helped that a lot, as well as the 37 pounds of lemons for $32. Too bad we can't get the booze at wholesale prices. Going to this restaurant supply place is making me really upset at the prices the grocery charges. I know they need to make a profit but jeeze. A 4 lb bag of sugar at the grocery costs almost half of what the 25 lb bag cost and let's not even get into the meat, much less the produce mark-ups and the big grocery chains probably get it less than what the restaurant supply place charges.
 
craig,

please share the complete recipe (so I don't have to do the math :))

Hal

You'll have to multiply by how many bottles of alcohol/lemons you want to buy. Also, you may want to adjust sugar depending on how sweet (or not) you like it.

one 750 ml bottle of grain alcohol
2 pounds lemons
3 cups sugar
2-1/2 cups water

Zest the lemons into a glass container with the grain alcohol. Don't zest into dry container, they zest will dry out quickly. The lemons should still be tinged slightly yellow, you DO NOT want any of the white part. Let the mixture sit for at least a week, mixing/swirling occasionally.

When you are ready to bottle, mix sugar and water together and bring to a rolling boil for 2-3 minutes. You want it to get really hot and boil hard. Let the syrup cool.

Strain the grain alcohol thru a lined sieve. Dampen a single-ply paper towel/coffee filter/cheesecloth and wring out to line the sieve. If it's already damp, the filter material won't soak up the alcohol as much. Let it sit for a while to drain. Do NOT push down and squeeze the last little bit out, makes it bitter.

Once the alcohol is strained and the syrup is cool, mix together and bottle. The mixture should make 2 bottles plus a little more. Let it sit for at least another week, then place in freezer overnight before serving.
 
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