Homemade Limoncello

Limoncello is not complicated. It is lemons, alcohol, sugar, water, and time. The difficulty lies not in technique but in patience, which Americans find harder than any soufflé.

The lemons must be unwaxed and fragrant. Commercial lemons wear a coat of wax to survive shipping. This wax has no place in your limoncello. Seek out organic lemons, or better yet, find someone with a lemon tree. The lemons of the Amalfi Coast are called sfusato amalfitano, and they are larger, more aromatic, and less acidic than what you find in supermarkets. Do the best you can with what you have.

The pith, the white layer beneath the yellow zest, is your enemy. It is bitter. It will ruin everything. When you peel your lemons, you must remove only the yellow. This requires a steady hand and a sharp peeler. If you see white, you have gone too deep.

Limoncello is a digestivo, served after dinner, ice-cold, in small glasses. It is not a cocktail mixer. It is not poured over ice cream, whatever the restaurants tell you. It is sipped slowly at the end of a meal, when the conversation softens and no one is in a hurry to leave.