Betti shows you how to make Lemoncrema
Ingredients:
8 organic lemons
1 liter Everclear (about 1/4 gallon)
2 kg white sugar (about 4.4 pounds)
2 liters of milk (about 1/2 gallon)
1 envelope Vanilla flavouring (Vanillina)
A good alternative to limoncello for those who want to end the meal with something tasty but not overly alcoholic is “lemoncrema” that having a lot of milk in the recipe is much less strong.The recipe requires very few ingredients but not all them are of easy availability. Once you find them though it’s very easy to follow.
First you need to find organic lemons. They have to be free from chemicals because you are going to exploit their peels which is the part of the fruit which collects most of them.
The second hard to find ingredient is alimentary pure alcohol. In Italy you can buy it in every supermarket but it can represent a problem outside of Europe. For the US market you can use Everclear that is a rectified spirit sold by Luxco.
It is bottled at 151-proof (75.5% ABV) and 190-proof (95% ABV).The second one which corresponds to the one we use in this recipe might be more difficult to find and even prohibited in many U.S. states (California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, New York, Virginia and Washington) but we reckon the first version will be good enough for the purpose.
In my afternoons spent trying to find the right ingredients when I lived in Miami years ago I never saw vanilla powder for desserts at the stores. Here in Italy we can buy vanilla flavouring in tiny envelops that are the right proportion for this reparation. If you need to use the liquid form which is commonly available in the States you’ll have to balance it yourself with a few drops (10/15), paying attention not to overwhelm the delicate taste of the other natural ingredients.
As we said once passed the first obstacle the rest is very easy. Wash thoroughly your lemons with baking soda to remove any remaining dirt. Peel the lemons making sure you only cut the yellow part, while avoiding all the white portion of the skin which would make the liqueur taste very bitter (this process requires quite a bit of patience but please observe the rule!).Once you’ve obtained the yellow peels add them to the alcohol in a closable container and let it rest for three days remembering to stir it once or twice a day.
After three days buy the milk you need (do not buy it in advance… it has to be very, very fresh otherwise it will get lumpy as soon as it gets in contact with the alcohol, believe me, I’ve already went through this frustration).
Take a big pot and bring the milk to boil but turn off the fire just before it starts bubbling. If necessary remove the film of cream on the surface with a strainer. Melt all the sugar (you will feel awfully guilty at this point but remember you will only have a sip at a time!!!) in the hot milk, add the vanilla flavouring /drops and let it cool for a while. At this point you can pour the alcohol obviously filtering the peels and mix everything with a hand blender.
Once you have stirred it with the blender till you have a consistent creamy texture you can bottle it and store in the fridge. We like it nice and chilly.Enjoy!
Elisabetta
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