Tuscany Vacations: Arancello (orange liqueur) for our customers on holiday!

Tuscany vacation means a stress-free life.

Toscana is not only one of the most beautiful Italian regions, but it’s also the temple of relaxing and Dolce Vita.

Here you can forget queues and long waits:

small shops where to buy local products
unpaved back roads that run through the wheat fields
white roads that run among the olive groves and vineyards
Tuscan countryside and woods where you can picnic and feel free to pick blackberries (plentiful in season)

In a few words, during your Tuscany vacations just relax, enjoy views, and drink with your family and friends.

This is one of the first reasons why I love my job: Cuoche in Vacanza (Chefs on Vacation). Ours is a seasonal job: we come to wherever you’re staying in Tuscany for Private Cooking Classes and Private Dinners.

While you’re at your holiday home you can share these experiences with your family and friends:

Taking a cooking class in Tuscany means you’re bringing home one of the best souvenirs
Having a Private Dinner at your holiday home in Tuscany means an authentic food experience to share and enjoy with your family and friends.

With Cuoche in Vacanza, they’ll be both “homemade” experiences and you’ll taste the same flavors that our grannies passed down to us.

You’ll have to see and taste to believe!

Well, while we often offer a bottle of Prosecco during our Cooking Classes in Tuscany, our private dinners often end with a shot of ice-cold homemade Arancello or Limoncello. In my opinion one of the perfect ways to enjoy the Tuscany vacation 😀 !

Before coming to my job season, every year I pick oranges and lemons from my trees (can be sure they’re not treated with chemical products!) and I start the preparation of this amazing liqueur so aromatic and digestive.

While peeling zests and pouring alcohol, I’m thinking about our next customers on their Tuscany vacations.

What kind of people will we meet next Summer?
From which countries?
Will you be able to keep in touch even after their Tuscany Vacations?

In fact, after a 15-year job, I’ve now a lot of friends from everywhere in the world (most of all from the USA and North Europe). I’m sure that Friends is the right word, not customers because we’re in touch during Wintertime, we share our doubts and opinions and we help each other even if far away.

While the scent of Orange pervades my kitchen I think to my past customers as well:

their smiles while tasting our homemade dishes
our laughs while making fresh pasta from scratch
our drinks and cheers at the end of a dinner in Tuscany

Arancello and Limoncello are like a symbol of Tuscany vacations when the protagonist is the food; a bit like the cypress trees for the walkers in Tuscan nature.

The method to make this fantastic liqueur is the same for both Arancello and Limoncello and the number of ingredients is as well.

Watch the video to make the perfect Arancello!

Some important tips:

Buy only organic Oranges or Lemons (the alcohol will absorb all the “essentials” of the zests; don’t risk drinking pesticides or chemical products)
Choose (if you can) Oranges with thick skin. You’ll not risk cutting the white part of the skin that’s very bitter and will give a bad flavor to your liqueur. Here in Italy they’re called “Arance da Tavola” or table Oranges, to distinguish from “Arance da Spremuta” Oranges for juice.
Don’t keep the zests in alcohol for more than 5 days. It’s a mistake to leave them for a week or more. After 4 or 5 days, the essential oils start to exit and separate from alcohol. This will give your liqueur a too much “spicy” flavor.
This is the alcohol that we use here in Italy to make Arancello and Limoncello. We can buy the supermarket the bottle that you see in the picture. In many countries, you can’t buy pure alcohol, in this case, you can use VODKA. Someone is telling me that is even better to use this: EVERCLEAR.

Arancello (orange liqueur) or Limoncello (Lemon liqueur)

Recipe by Erika Elia (CuocheinVacanza.com)

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes
Total time: 38 minutes
Serves: 3 bottles

Ingredients

5 organic oranges (or organic Lemons)
500 gr (2 cups) Caster Sugar
500 ml (2 cups) Water
500 ml (2 cups) pure grain alcohol (you can use 100% pure vodka, or Everclear)

Instructions

Peel the Oranges (make sure you don’t get the white part)
Place the orange skins in a big jar and pour in the grain (pure) alcohol
Seal the jar and let it infuse for about 4 days in a dark place
On the fourth day make a simple syrup: pour the sugar in a pot with the water, let it dissolve, and boil for about 5 minutes
Let it cold
The day after, using a strainer, add the “orange” alcohol to the syrup (so that orange skins don’t go into the Arancello)
Mix it well for a couple of minutes
Fill up some glass empty bottles
Arancello is now ready! Just drink it when is very cold, better if you put it in the freezer
Serve it in small glasses
Store the other bottles in a dry and dark place