Limoncello – what’s not to like? For me it conjures up memories of a certain bijou hotel bar just off the Spanish Steps in Rome, we nuzzling and snuggling into the velvet sofa to the sound of our multi-talented and heavily-accented Italian crooner twiddling his Moog synthesizer while giving us his vocal stylings of Captain of her Heart, or fond reminiscence of a sweltering afternoon in Vieux Nice when the heavy-set fortune-telling proprietor of Chez Palmyre refilled our espresso cups with a dose of home brewed, brought up in a metal jug dripping cool from his cellar next door…
…so why oh why does my own homemade effort look like piss and taste worse? I’m hoping for limpid and cloudy – lots of mouthfeel thank you very much – but instead it’s a screechy dose of acridity, more of a morning after than a night before and no matter how long I keep the damn stuff it just doesn’t get any better.
Considering I went to the trouble of heaving back a couple of kilos of organic lemons from Menton on the Côte d’Azur, scrubbed them well and used organic sugar I think I might be forgiven for expecting a better result.
My big mistake might have been using alcool pour fruits rather than voddy but seriously, do they use vodka in Sorrento? I imagined this would make it all the more authentic but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
If anyone has managed to produce a classic pale yellow, opaque digestif from lemons, alcohol and sugar I sure would love to know how you did it.
Gastroplod 
I’m sure the stuff you get in Italy must have some sort of thickener. It looks like bloody Advocaat.
That said, I found this page that specifies the precise moment at which the mixture goes from clear to opaque.
http://www.italylogue.com/food-drink/limoncello-recipe-in-pictures.html
Thanks for the link Michele – it’s such a good set of instructions I feel doomed to try again after my next trip.
Hi, this link appeared in my inbox today: http://www.instructables.com/id/How_To_Make_Limoncello/ . Not sure it adds much to the debate but I liked the phrase “a strong but potable nonpolar solvent.” Sounds yummy.
I’ve just got back from Italy with a bottle of Limoncello in hand.
Three things
1. I think the base should be grappa.
2. You must put Limoncello in the freezer before drinking it, for as long as possible, preferably with the shot glasses you are going top drink from too. This thickens as well as chills the drink – magical experience.
3. I have no idea how to infuse the lemons/sugar to make it look bright yellow rather than urinal…