Homemade Limoncello & Old-Fashioned Lemonade ~ Creating Liquid Sunshine

Homemade Limoncello  ~ It's like drinking liquid sunshine

California Lemons
I love lemons!  As I've mentioned before, when you grow up in California, you are surrounded by these golden yellow gems, they are everywhere.  Even more so if you have a huge lemon tree in your own backyard.

My love affair with Limoncello began last summer.  Early in August I bought a big bag of California lemons & began searching the web for interesting recipes that used lemons in unusual ways.  I was intrigued by one recipe for making the Italian liqueur, Limoncello.   The thought of making a homemade version really tripped my trigger.  I like lemons, I like liqueur & I like to make homemade 'hooch' ~ sounds like a trifecta to me.  I placed that bet & happy to say, about 6 weeks after I started the process, it paid off ~ big time. By late September my beautiful lemon nectar was ready to bottle & drink.  I've now got a good supply of homemade Limoncello to play with & I'm loving it!


Limoncello is very easy to make.  You must have patience, but it's worth it to be able to sip a liqueur that you've created yourself.  It's so much more that just a drink, you can add it to recipes & when put in a pretty bottle, it makes a great hostess gift.  I recently used some of this liquid sunshine in a cake recipe I created & it really took the flavor of the cake up to the next level.   I'll share that recipe with you soon, but for now, why not try your hand at making your own Limoncello Lemons are everywhere in the markets right now, so get a bag & try it ~ I think you'll love it, too!

The Limoncello journey begins...


P.S. ~ When you make the Limoncello, you will have a bunch of naked lemons hanging around. I think the best thing to do with all of them is to make some Old-Fashioned Lemonade.  Homemade always tastes so much better than powdered.   It's even cooler when you serve it in vintage 60's glassware. Ahhh, the classic taste of summertime...

Old-Fashioned Lemonade ~ The classic refreshing summertime drink