'When Life Gives You Lemons' Limoncello by Adrian Calderbank

Ady, our fabulous Upstairs Bar Manager,  has been using his time in isolation to write. He has put together a collection of recipes from his time spent working in bars and restaurants across the UK. The below is an exclusive excerpt from his currently unpublished book title, 'Sustainably Tipsy; For The Bar Tender & Home Enthusiast.'

'One of the first things to really frustrate me during my bartending career was seeing the amount of fruit we were using for juice, only to throw the spent husk in the bin. Literally cases and cases of lemons and limes came in every day for this purpose, and yes we got through a hell of a lot of juice and made a hell of a lot of drinks, but the rest of the fruits potential was lost forever. I needed a way to preserve those amazing flavours. Well, if life gives you lemons, make…

This is an easy infusion to produce, essentially a sweetened lemon vodka and I personally prefer this to commercially made Limoncello. The finished ABV is a little higher for a start and I find this steeping method to produce a more balanced, less saccharin take on the classic Italian liqueur.

The beauty of this is you can pair off the zest from the fruit to make the liqueur at the start of service and juice them immediately after. It’s very important that your lemons are waxless as you don’t want a waxy liqueur, I’ve known people make that mistake and they only make it once; it’s a horrible feeling when you realise your error after putting in all that effort! If you can’t get waxless lemons, give them a good scrub with a green scourer and cold water first. If you’ve got the budget, you are making this in the colder months and you have the means of getting hold of them, Sicilian Amalfi lemons are the top dogs!

It is also very important that you take the absolute bare minimum of the white pith away with the zest, and if any does come away you should carefully remove it as best you can. The pith will give your infusion an unpleasant bitterness that you want to avoid.'

Yield: Approx. 800g
150g: Caster Sugar
700g: Vodka (Decent quality, if you wouldn’t serve it or drink it, don’t use it!!)
140g: Lemon Zest (around 20-25 lemons dependent on size)

Firstly, whisk the sugar into the vodka to create a light vodka syrup.
Transfer to a sterilised mason jar with the lemon zest and seal.
Label it with the date and come back to it in 10 days.
Your Limoncello will be ready to be strained, and you're good to go.