Infusions: Arancello and Limecello

One of the nicest memories from our honeymoon in Italy a couple of years back is of sitting on our private roof deck in Vernazza, sipping locally-made limoncello. Fruit liqueurs and aperitifs are apparently de rigeur (my, what a lot of French words for a post about another country) in Italy - we found them everywhere, and all kinds - strawberry, lime, orange - and they were just perfect for sitting back in the late afternoon and taking everything in. They are inherently summery - sweet, best served chilled, and just...fun.

Joef is somewhat of a mixmaster...no, mixologist, that's it. He understands the ways drinks come together and is great at concoctions. He can taste a delicious mixed drink at a restaurant, then go make it from scratch at home. So, recently he decided to take a crack at making our own fruit liqueurs. He did an arancello and - something we'd never see before - limecello. They took patience - the peeling/grating of the fruit, letting it sit for weeks and checking it daily, adding sugar and letting it sit again - and the patience paid off. So delicious and fun. Now we have fruit liqueur of our very own, and can be tranported back to Vernazza - well, almost - any time we want. Here's how he did it:

ARANCELLO:
Peels from 10 oranges (with as little of the white stuff as possible)
1 liter vodka
Combine, and let sit in a cool, dry, dark place for two weeks. After two weeks, remove the orange peels, and add simple syrup:
2 cups water

15 spoonfuls of white sugar

(Combine water and sugar in a small pot over medium heat, and stir until dissolved. Reduce the mixture to about 1 1/2-3/4 cup.) Allow to cool before adding to vodka. Allow to sit for another week, then refrigerate and enjoy!

LIMECELLO:
Same instructions, but grate the peels of 10 limes.

See? We're back!