In February we went to Menton, France for Robert's birthday. The town is famous for it's lemons. We happened to be there while they were setting up for their annual Lemon festival. Our last day there we bought some lemons to take home and to try and make our first ever batch of Limoncello.

The Recipe is from our neighbour, Pina, she makes it every year in the spring.

Crema di Limoncello di Pina

Ingredients:

5 lemons
1/2 litter pure alcohol 95 proof
1 litter whole milk
1 kg sugar
1 vanilla bean

Directions:

Cut off the lemon peel, careful not also cut off the white part part, and put in alcohol for a minimum of 10 days.

After 10+ days, combine the milk, sugar and vanilla bean (cut in half and scrape, add whole bean and scrapings to the milk) and bring to a boil. Boil until the sugar is dissolved.
Let the milk mixture completely cool before adding to the alcohol and lemon peels.

When it has cooled, add the milk mixture to the alcohol and let sit for 20 minutes, then pass it through a fine mesh strainer before putting it in the bottles.
Immediately store all bottles in a freezer.

This is a great after dinner drink on a hot summer day in Italy.

Tags: Limoncello