Limoncello: guardian of Campania's flavours (recipe)

It's also impossible not to be struck by how the towns, their heritage and their scents manage to be fully translated into the culinary products they have to offer. The emblem of this bond between flavour and territory is undoubtedly limoncello, the typical liqueur of the Sorrento peninsula made from lemons.

by Chiara Scaramella

Travelling any route through the lands of Campania, it's impossible not to be captivated by the stunning views and ancient culture that these places offer to anyone who treads their soil.

It's also impossible not to be struck by how the towns, their heritage and their scents manage to be fully translated into the culinary products they have to offer. The emblem of this bond between flavour and territory is undoubtedly limoncello, the typical liqueur of the Sorrento peninsula made from lemons. This alcoholic drink is hugely successful and has, in fact, become a fundamental product of the Campania economy, both for its delicious flavour and because just one sip is enough to bring back memories of the coastline's scents and images of its lemon groves perched over the sea.

Origins, between history and myth

This sweet liqueur was traditionally born around the turn of the twentieth century, and many areas of Campania lay claim to being its birthplace, especially Sorrento, Amalfi and Capri.

The Neapolitan “yellow liqueur” is so famous and so bound up with tradition that its history even sinks its roots into myth: it's said, in fact, that it was none other than the father of all the Gods, Zeus, who gave a mere mortal, son of the land of the sirens, the ancient recipe for preparing the drink. Others claim instead that the sweet liqueur was first prepared inside a monastery, to delight the palates of the monks between one prayer and the next. A final theory tells that the fishermen of the villages along the Amalfi Coast used to drink an alcoholic lemon beverage on cold mornings to fortify themselves.

Although the dispute over the birthplace of the “yellow liqueur” between Amalfi, Capri and Sorrento is a fierce one, and although this question will probably never be settled, it must be said that Capri was the first to register the limoncello trademark. It was, in fact, on this very island that, in 1988, Massimo Canale began producing limoncello following his grandmother's old recipe, and following its success, registered the trademark.

Recipe

The recipe for the typical lemon liqueur may seem simple, but it is extremely tied to tradition, which is why so many variations exist. The greatest difference to be found between the various versions certainly lies in the raw ingredient: the gold of the Sorrento peninsula, the lemons.

True Campania limoncello is recognisable because it is made exclusively with PGI lemon varieties from Campania (Protected Geographical Indication); however, there are two schools of thought regarding the type of lemon to use. Some claim that the femminiello from Sorrento should be used, also known as the “Sorrento oval” for its shape. This medium-to-large lemon variety has a fairly thick, citrine-yellow peel rich in essential oils; its flesh, meanwhile, is straw-yellow in colour and differs from that of the Amalfi lemon due to its acidity.

Another school of thought holds instead that the limoncello recipe should use “sfusati amalfitani” or “Amalfi Coast lemons”, which differ from their Sorrento “citrus” relatives in organoleptic characteristics and growing methods. The peel of these typical lemons, which grow sheltered from cold winds thanks to the Monti Lattari mountain range, is a pale yellow, rich in essential oils and terpenes that give it its characteristic scent. Inside, the flesh is juicy and much less acidic than that of the Sorrento femminielli, with few seeds.

The second point of debate over limoncello concerns the degree of ripeness of the lemons: this is because a yellow fruit, and therefore a fully ripe one, will produce a rather sweet drink, whereas, on the contrary, when the lemon is still unripe, appearing greenish in colour, it will produce a liqueur with a more sour and slightly bitter flavour. It all depends on the fact that different stages of ripeness correspond to different concentrations of carotenoids, phenolic substances and essential oils and, consequently, different organoleptic characteristics.

One thing, however, that everyone agrees on when it comes to preparing limoncello is that only PGI lemons should be used, and above all lemons that have not been treated with chemical products.

Despite all the discussion over methods and the best raw ingredients to use, then, the recipe more or less always follows the same steps.

INGREDIENTS

- 1 litre of alcohol;
- 1 litre of water;
- 10 medium-sized lemons;
- 600 grams of sugar.

METHOD

First, wash and dry the lemons thoroughly, taking care not to rub them, so as not to spoil the fruit's fragrance.

Next, using a potato peeler, peel the citrus fruits and place the peel you've just obtained into a litre of ethyl alcohol. The peel must not be cut or crushed, to avoid producing a liqueur with an overly tannic flavour.

The peel should then be left to infuse in a container for a minimum of 10 days (maximum 40), depending on how dense you want the final product to be.

Once the infusion period is over, the peel is removed and a litre of water with 600g of sugar is added to the solution, which will have previously been boiled and then left to cool.

Finally comes the filtering stage, in which, with the help of a sieve, all the remaining bits of peel found in the liqueur must be removed.

Once preparation is complete, you move on to bottling and, no less importantly, to storing it in the freezer, so that, whenever the occasion calls for it, it can be enjoyed!

This is exactly the recipe for the drink that has won over palates the world over, so much so that it's even imitated across the ocean, in the United States, where, however, since Californian rather than PGI Campania lemons are used, the drink cannot be called true Limoncello, but can only be classed as a distant relative.