Grapefruit Liqueur Recipe. Green Apple Variation
Grapefruit liqueur is fantastic!
For many years, I have made liqueur from etrog. Etrog is also called citron, a rare citrus fruit—“the fruit of a goodly tree,” as it is reverently referred to—used in the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Every year at the end of the holiday, I call all my friends in the nick of time to bum their etrog before it gets discarded and proceed to make gallons of a fascinating liqueur, diligently and resignedly removing the myriad pits contained in the fruit before slicing it and combining it with other ingredients. This year I decided that since the fruit is so rare and the liqueur made from it so labor-intensive, I would experiment with the fruit that comes closest to it in flavor—the more reliable and widely available grapefruit. I even pushed my luck and made it with agave syrup and made a gallon of fabulous liqueur in no time. After about a week, I sampled the delicious dram:
It was a triumph!
Ingredients
- 2 large grapefruit
- 4 cups white agave syrup
- 8 cups vodka (generic brand OK)
Instructions
Scrub the fruit thoroughly with a vegetable brush.
Wash it in warm water. Cut it in eighths, then in thin slices, by hand or using the slicing blade of a food processor. Remove any occasional pits as you go.
Place the fruit in a wide bottom stainless steel pot, add the syrup and vodka, mix thoroughly and bring to just below boiling. Transfer the mixture to clean wide-mouth jars.
Let the mixture sit for a week at room temperature.
Before using, strain the amount you intend to use and leave the rest in the jar, fruit and all.
Don’t just discard the fruit when most of the liquid has been used:
Throw in a little more vodka and agave in the jar and let the mixture steep again a few days. The longer it sits the more intense the flavor. Serve chilled. Makes about 1 gallon mixture, 2 quarts clear liqueur. Store at room temperature.
Variation: Apple Liqueur
Substitute 4 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, cored, quartered and sliced thin, for the grapefruit, and proceed just as above.
Levana,
I just zested 10 lemons for lemoncello. Your way sounds much easier. When the lemoncello runs out, I’ll try your grapefruit idea. Thanks for all of your recipes. You’re the best!
Now, my question is–what can I do with all those naked lemons?? I’m thinking lemon meringue pie…..or???
Barbara LOL now do what we all do when life gives us lemons: lemonade…. Or with a little stretch, key lime pie. Mine is fantastic! https://levanacooks.com/key-lime-pie-recipe-vegan-gluten-free-friendly/
Thank you for the encouragement, I think I will give it a try. If it works out, I will be happy to share!
Sounds wonderful.
My beloved Bubbe z”l, was from Lithuania. She would make a liquor from apricots and possibly with some other fruit as well. A large crock full of fruit in liquor would appear in her fridge.
I will try to re-create Bubbe’s liquor using this method and apricots. Any suggestions?
Ricki, in this post you have 2 major variations. Why not play around with another variations, using my instructions, taking good notes of the amounts you use, so when you arrive at a fantastic results, you have it down pat? That’s the whole idea. Maybe you’ll even share: Apricot sounds great!
Etrog liqueur, brilliant. I found a new variety of etrog at our local farmer’s market last week. I may just make this.
Bon appetit,
Kitty
Kitty it’s fabulous. But as I explained in my cookbook, it was slave labor to remove the seeds, which are ll over the place in the fruit, so I make a fantastic liqueur with the fruit that comes closest: Grapefruit! xoxoxo