THE FOOD GATHERER NOTE: Fancy making a seasonal tipple? Make this wonderful twist on Lemoncello and delight your hosts with this perfect hassle free gift.
CLEMONCELLO
Ingredients
16 clementines
1 litre vodka
250ml water
250ml sugar
Prepare
Wash the clementines and grate the zest.
Put all the zest into a large bottle and pour over half the vodka. Now leave it in a cold dark place for five days. Shake it gently, every day if you can, to make sure the zest is mixing through all the vodka.
Put 280ml water and all the sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has completely dissolved. Now bring to the boil then remove from the heat immediately and leave to cool completely. The liqueur will go cloudy if you don’t let it cool completely, so don’t be tempted to go with a luke warm or tepid syrup as you will be disappointedwith the result!
Strain the clementine infused vodka through a sieve with some layers of muslin into a large jug. Now add the remaining vodka and the cold syrup.
Pour the whole mixture into your prepared cleaned and sterilised bottles. Seal tightly and leave back in your cool dark place for a least 10 days.
Decorate your bottles with homemade labels and ribbons and you will have a wonderful gift that you can all enjoy!