Episode 60: A Musing on Lemons, Life and Limoncello, A Recipe for Digestivo, or Whenever

Welcome to Episode #60:

When I think about Limoncello immediately I find myself in Italy. In particular on the Amalfi coast wandering the side streets, following the fragrance of the beautiful sumptuous lemons that seem to be in baskets out the front of every door or shop front.

From memory there are two types of Limoncello, a sweet liquor in a small, thin bottle that is super sweet, or the turbo charged punch in the mouth digestivo that has you reciting poetry to a fellow tourist. This recipe is like the later, but certainly can be diluted or sipped gently, but here you go.

The Scent of Lemons by Helena Attlee

“The scent of lemons I remember when planes were so expensive that people usually make a long journey from England to Italy by ferry and train. Once you got to Paris it was easy because you could catch the Palatino, a sleeper that sped you through the night towards Florence and Rome. I first made that journey over 35 years ago. At dawn I lifted a the corner of the curtain in the stuffy couchette and realized we had already crossed the border. We were somewhere near Ventimiligia on the Italian Riviera, and there were lemons growing beside the station platform, their dark leaves and bright fruit set against the backdrop of nothing but sea. I never forgot those trees, all the way they charged the landscape around them, making it seem intensely foreign to my very English eye”.

The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and its Citrus Fruit by Helena Attlee

Music Composed by Richard Johnston

Time to make some more, I still have many lemons in baskets!

Copyright 2022

All Art and Podcast Material

It’s late winter, and the garden is beautiful and full of spring promise.....