While limoncello might conjure memories of questionable backyard batches for some, South Australian distilleries are feeding the trend by crafting their own offerings.<\/p>\n
The lemon liqueur, which hails from southern Italy, is often consumed as an aperitif or digestif.<\/p>\n
Distillers South Australia executive officer Chloe Reschke-Maguire, who has Italian heritage, said limoncello was often produced by families and presented as a house-warming gift.<\/p>\n
“The actual production of the spirit is steeped in culture and tradition,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Families would have a surplus of lemons that they’d hand-pick together, make the limoncello and finish the day with a feast.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Limoncello products are being rolled out by more brands across Australia. (Supplied: Ambra)<\/p>\n
Ms Reschke-Maguire said the drink was experiencing a global surge in popularity.<\/p>\n
“You’re seeing it here [too], it’s being poured in a lot of cocktails,” she said.<\/p>\n
“There’s over 100 distilleries in South Australia, and I could say very confidently that about 25 per cent of those have limoncello products.”<\/p>\n
How is it made?<\/p>\n
Limoncello is usually made with lemon peel and a high-quality grain spirit.<\/p>\n
But in the wine state of South Australia, distillers are using a neutral grape spirit to produce the beverage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Finn Healey (middle) says demand for their limoncello continues to grow in Australia, with an eye on exports. (Supplied: Ambra)<\/p>\n
Finn Healey, managing director of Adelaide-based Ambra Spirits, said the demand had been driven by people wanting to bring home a taste of the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
“The Australian palate and consumer loves the lemon-forward, well-balanced, kind of sweet, bubbly drink, especially in the sun during summer,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Healey said Ambra used a 100-year-old family recipe, courtesy of founder and former restaurateur Libero De Luca.<\/p>\n
“He went over to the Amalfi coast, learned how to make their family-style limoncello, fell in love with the process and saw the opportunity to bring it back,” he said.<\/p>\n
“To this day that recipe hasn’t changed.”<\/p>\n
Mr Healey said about 70 per cent of their lemons, sourced from the Riverland, were hand-peeled.<\/p>\n
“Peeling season is April to September and we do about a tonne a fortnight.”<\/p>\n
In the Riverland, 23rd Street Distillery head stiller Paul Burnett has also created a limoncello from grape spirit and local lemons, after experimenting with cane and grain spirit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Paul Burnett says making limoncello has required experimentation to get it right. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)<\/p>\n
“Because we have a fortified program, we’re always using a neutral spirit or brandy,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It blended in beautifully with that liquid sugar and the lemons to produce this final product.”<\/p>\n
After a bit of trial and error with lemon varieties, Mr Burnett said the distillery contracted a grower at Bookpurnong to source Eureka lemons.<\/p>\n
“Everything I read about them suggested they’d be the mellow lemon that would be able to rival the Amalfi lemons of Italy,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Burnett said producing a small 1,000-bottle batch of limoncello was a laborious job for about six people.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got a bit of RSI after doing 200 kilograms of lemons but it was fully worth it,” he said.<\/p>\n
Then the alcohol sits on skins for three days to produce a product that is 23 per cent proof.<\/p>\n
“When we first blended it, we quite liked that appearance, as it looked really natural, just like how Nana used to make it,” he said.Zero-waste goal<\/p>\n
While the grape spirit used to make limoncello is a by-product of wine, once the lemons are peeled, the companies need to find a home for them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hand-peeling lemons is a laborious part of making limoncello. (Supplied: Ambra Spirits)<\/p>\n
Mr Burnett said 23rd Street had explored options from lemon puree in dishes on their menu, to lemon juice in their cocktails.<\/p>\n
“I like gin and soda or martinis, so utilising dehydrated fruit in cocktails and drinks with gin is probably the next adventure,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Healey said Ambra offered the lemons to local venues to use in other drinks like cocktails and beers, and was exploring partnerships with food waste organisations, like OzHarvest.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t matter how many bars you give buckets of lemons to, you are still going to have a mountain left,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’re trying to come up with as many ideas as possible to upcycle the spent lemon.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While limoncello might conjure memories of questionable backyard batches for some, South Australian distilleries are feeding the trend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[185687,23321,185686,64,63,99,185684,185685,6878,1124,185688,185689],"class_list":{"0":"post-332029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-23rd-st-distillery","9":"tag-alcohol","10":"tag-ambra","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-lemons","15":"tag-limoncello","16":"tag-riverland","17":"tag-south-australia","18":"tag-what-is-limoncello-made-from","19":"tag-where-is-limoncello-from"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}