Brooklyn-to-Berkeley transplant Allison Arevalo, who writes the blog Local Lemons, wishes she had gotten around to making local limoncello sooner, given her blog’s name. But she wanted to write a food blog, not a booze blog, so she probably was better off beginning with things like her Fast Food Slow series, where she’s already made local, organic versions of the Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish, and a Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza. Inspired by an Italian aunt as well as her apparently lemon-rich neighborhood, Allison used Meyer lemons mixed with 100-proof vodka, and she’s experimenting with mandarin and lime infusions as well.
She mixes the zest of six lemons with every two cups of Absolut 100 (you could also use Everclear), and she seems to be making quite a bit of the stuff, with five bottles of vodka total in her batches. It gets stored like this in Mason jars, in a cool dark place, for up to eight weeks. Ultimately, to finish the liqueur, she’ll be adding simple syrup.
If you prefer to live vicariously rather than try it yourself, you can monitor the progress of her limoncello on her Facebook page.
Local Limoncello [Local Lemons]
Earlier: Berkeley Blogger Slows Down Fast Food [Grub Street]
