adroit sparkling old dude makes.....something

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115721853

Oh my.

Fun times in the sparkling household.

Stinky The Clown (49,941 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:44 PM

We finished making Limoncello tonight, It turned out pretty damned good!

About two weeks ago we bought a big sack of really big, nice looking lemons and a sack of small but nice looking limes. We also bought 1.5L of Everclear (190° alcohol).
 
We zested 12 lemons and added the zest to 1L of the Everclear. We did the same to 8 of the limes and added them to the remaining 500ml of the alcohol. This was in glass jars and put into a spot we have under the house that is nice and cool, but never freezes.
 
Tonight we took the bottles up into the kitchen. The lemon mixture was a light, clear yellow. The lime was a brighter green, but still nice and clear.
 
We made a big batch of double simple syrup (2 parts sugar added to one part boiling water, dissolved, and allowed to cool). Our goal was 60°/30%. We started at a 2:1 ratio with the infusions. A small amount of water added at the end tamed the viscosity and the brew was ready.
 
We also did a small test batch with Splenda. It turned out that the water, Splenda, and the infusion was too thin. The viscosity of the sugar is really needed for proper mouth feel. Instead of sugar, though, we added agave syrup. A surprisingly small amount did the trick. The subtle agave taste was unnoticeable.
 
Now . . . does anyone know where we can get pint sized clear bottles with screw caps so we can package this to give away to friends?

msanthrope (15,231 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:49 PM

1. I use a swing-top bottle for limoncello gifts.

Check out the one on the left.

http://www.specialtybottle.com/swingtopbottlesmi.aspx

Stinky The Clown (49,941 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:54 PM

3. Hey! Thanks for that link.

<<<suspects the adroit sparkling old dude's already sampled it.

msanthrope (15,231 posts)    Sun Feb 17, 2013, 12:01 AM

5. You are welcome--I made limoncello for my mother's 60th birthday bash...used the bottle on the left, had stickers made. It was a hit. I used Svedka vodka, not everclear, though.

And then Ugly shows up:

Warpy (67,054 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:50 PM

2. Google is your friend.

http://www.specialtybottle.com/glassbottles-2.aspx?gclid=CKay6IHFvLUCFZE-MgodmS8Axw

Stinky The Clown (49,941 posts)    Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:57 PM

4. Thanks! The clear corked ones look good.

We ruined a batch of this a while back by using some sort of synthetic rubber stopper. The Everclear literally dissolved the cork on the inside of the bottle. That ruined the whole batch.

MADem (82,966 posts)    Sun Feb 17, 2013, 02:00 AM

7. I have participated in the making of limoncello in Italy.

The business with the sugar is just how they did it. I never saw any attempts to use other sweeteners.
 
Good stuff, isn't it--but you have to be careful, because if you have more than one, you will find yourself brushing something off your shoulder, only to discover it is the floor!
 
Here's a bottle place--dunno how good they are but they seem to have some decent inventory....
 
http://www.specialtybottle.com/glassbottles-2.aspx?gclid=CO3Ho7vivLUCFdFT4AodX30AXg

Okay, I had to nadin it, to find out what makes this lemon jello stuff special.

Limoncello (Italian pronunciation: [limonˈtʃɛllo]) is an Italian lemon liqueur mainly produced in Southern Italy, especially in the region around the Gulf of Naples, the Sorrentine Peninsula and the coast of Amalfi and islands of Procida, Ischia and Capri. It is also produced in Sicily, Sardinia, Menton in France, and the Maltese island of Gozo. Though there is debate about the exact origin of the drink, it is at least one hundred years old.
 
Traditionally, it is made from the zest of Femminello St. Teresa lemons, that are also known as Sorrento lemons. Lemon zest, or peels without the pith, are steeped in grain alcohol until the oil is released. The resulting yellow liquid is then mixed with simple syrup. Clarity and viscosity are affected by factors like the relative temperatures of the two liquids. Most lemons, including the more-common Eureka lemon, will produce satisfactory limoncello.

Limoncello is traditionally served chilled as an after-dinner digestivo. Along the Amalfi Coast, it is usually served in small ceramic glasses themselves often chilled, the Amalfi coast being a center of both ceramics and limoncello production. This tradition has been carried into other parts of Italy.
 
Limoncello is the second most popular liqueur in Italy but has recently become popular in other parts of the world. Restaurants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand are increasingly offering limoncello on their beverage and dessert menus. Rometti Limoncello is an increasingly popular ingredient in cocktails. Limoncello imparts a strong lemon flavor without the sourness or bitterness of lemon juice.

An ethanol content of 31.5-32% is considered optimal for Limoncello.

I dunno about anybody else, but to me, it seems more sensible just to head down to the liquor store and purchase a bottle.  Easier, cheaper, cleaner, quicker.

[BadCat]

It's pretty bad when he has to get sparkly drunk on Everclear.

[Skul]

It's pretty bad when he has to get sparkly drunk on Everclear.

I've never seen a picture of Sparkly.
Maybe it's for himself. 

[Aristotelian]

I dunno about anybody else, but to me, it seems more sensible just to head down to the liquor store and purchase a bottle.  Easier, cheaper, cleaner, quicker.

A while ago I was on holiday in Italy and ended up having lunch with some monks at their monastery, at the end of the meal they brought out a bunch of bottles of various liqueurs which were clearly made in-house...they were delicious, but then I suppose that making liqueurs is somewhat of a monastic tradition.

[Delmar]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115721853

Oh my.

Fun times in the sparkling household.

<<<suspects the adroit sparkling old dude's already sampled it.

And then Ugly shows up:

Okay, I had to nadin it, to find out what makes this lemon jello stuff special.

I dunno about anybody else, but to me, it seems more sensible just to head down to the liquor store and purchase a bottle.  Easier, cheaper, cleaner, quicker.

The DUmmies all seem to fancy themselves as artists or creative in some way in order to cope with their bleak, impoverished lives.   I know that the Dude is a cut above the average DUmmy, but he has chosen the DUmp as his peer group so he does it to fit in, I suppose.

[franksolich]

A while ago I was on holiday in Italy and ended up having lunch with some monks at their monastery, at the end of the meal they brought out a bunch of bottles of various liqueurs which were clearly made in-house...they were delicious, but then I suppose that making liqueurs is somewhat of a monastic tradition.

The cooking and baking primitives are always trying to replicate foods and rituals of their ethnic parents and grandparents, and coming up dry pretty much all the time, especially around the holidays.

It reminds me of Christmases and a few other holdays spent with the older brothers and sisters and their families after the parents died; something I did at first, but did less and less as time went on.

There were these desperate, pathetic attempts to have things as the parents had had them, and they tended to flop abysmally.

The difference was, with the parents, God had always been a part of such things, while the older brothers and sisters had been hippies, and forgotten God, Who had no part in such gatherings.

Even though the exact same ingredients were used, and the exact same instructions were followed, it wasn't the same.  It was rather bland, as a matter of fact.

[vesta111]

The cooking and baking primitives are always trying to replicate foods and rituals of their ethnic parents and grandparents, and coming up dry pretty much all the time, especially around the holidays.

It reminds me of Christmases and a few other holdays spent with the older brothers and sisters and their families after the parents died; something I did at first, but did less and less as time went on.

There were these desperate, pathetic attempts to have things as the parents had had them, and they tended to flop abysmally.

The difference was, with the parents, God had always been a part of such things, while the older brothers and sisters had been hippies, and forgotten God, Who had no part in such gatherings.

Even though the exact same ingredients were used, and the exact same instructions were followed, it wasn't the same.  It was rather bland, as a matter of fact.

I don't know Frank,I had been gone for about 10 years and  Last time my grandma cooked for me ,as a matter of fact.

I was drooling in antipicapation of a pot roast dinner that I had loved as a child.   Same house, same kitchen same recipe but it did not give me the taste  or smell I expected and remembered.

Mother suggested it could be one of  two things, first is kids when hungry will eat most anything and find it good.     Second was in the years since my eating this food my pallet and sense of taste had changed.

All the new foods I ate now with spices not used back then did make the roast bland.   About the only thing today that tastes and smells identical year to year is roasting turkey and just out of the oven fresh bread with real butter.   Pies are different today as lard was used for the crust.

Smell has allot to do with taste and if you smoke this can change the taste.------Then when grandpa got his dentures he began to use enough salt to make him die rather young.

[Chris_]

I didn't realize you could still buy Everclear.

[Celtic Rose]

My uncle is Sicilian (both of his parents were children of immigrants from Sicily, with connections to the mob in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco  ) and he made Limoncello as gifts one Christmas.  My parents really enjoyed it. 

[Airwolf]

I never got to try it when I was stationed over there. Sounds like it would be good. Then again there are many foods over there  that are regional and wouldn't necessarily be up north where I was near Venice.

[I_B_Perky]

I didn't realize you could still buy Everclear.

You can't get it around here anymore either. Years ago when the drinking age was 18 some fool state legislator got all concerned cause teenagers were making grain and grape juice and he got a law passed outlawing the sale of grain alcohol.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I've never seen a picture of Sparkly.
Maybe it's for himself. 

There's a picture of her floating around, she isn't bad looking, though the harping moonbattery would prove unbearable as soon as she opened her yap.  May be into being the dominant in a dominant-submissive match-up with Stinky, too, which is something I couldn't deal with at all.  I very much like strong and capable women, but as peers, not as overlords.

[franksolich]

There's a picture of her floating around, she isn't bad looking, though the harping moonbattery would prove unbearable as soon as she opened her yap.....

Yeah, the famous self-posted photograph of the adroit sparkling old dude in a ballet tutu; that was his wife, next to him, costumed like a mouse.

She treats him abominably, but because of his lack of a healthy sense of self, he puts up with it, figuring she's the best he can hope to get.

It's very odd, because the adroit sparkling old dude was a juvenile delinquent on the mean streets of organized-crime-infested Bridgeport, Connecticut circa the late 1950s, early 1960s, so he's no Innocent.  And then he was in the U.S. Navy, later some sort of officer with the U.S. Navy Reserve for some years, so he's no Wimp.  And finally he was a sharp business executive with a large food-service company, so he's no Incompetent.

I can't figure it out, and always thought he could've done better, marrying someone of more substance. 

[Karin]

Did anyone else notice that they all recommended the same website, "Specialty bottles," without reading the other comments first?  Why do they always do this? 

[franksolich]

Did anyone else notice that they all recommended the same website, "Specialty bottles," without reading the other comments first?  Why do they always do this? 

Because they're primitives.

Primitives don't care what other primitives say; they just want to jump in right away without listening first, to say their own piece.....even though it's the same piece other primitives have already said.

It's a common trait among primitives, to do that.

[Big Dog]

It's pretty bad when he has to get sparkly drunk on Everclear.

If he gets her drunk enough, she'll let him do that thing he likes.