Michael Pallato travels from abroad to Chicago each year to help his sister Debra make limoncello as client gifts. They produce 30 to 40 bottles per batch, straining the infused liquor, squeezing lemon zest for oils, and mixing with simple syrup until it turns cloudy. The result is a homemade spirit they're proud to share.
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Alright. Mmm, that's good. Ah, that is good. That's really good. Hi, I'm Michael Pallato. I'm Debra's brother, and I'm the guy behind the scenes that helps Debra get found online. I'm her SEO consultant. On top of that, what I do is I also help her with her client gifts. So I'm the guy who makes her pasta, Garniera, seasoned salt, all that kind of good stuff. But what I love the most is coming here and making limoncello. That is our star gift that we give out to friends and family. And today is when we bottle the limoncello. How long have you guys been making the limoncello? Uh, been making it now for 7 years. 7 years. So you live out of the country? Yes, I do. And every year you fly into Chicago specifically specifically to hang out with Debra and to make limoncello? Absolutely. And how much limoncello do you make every time? I probably make about between 30 and 40 bottles on every batch. 30 and 40 bottles. And what do we do with the bottles? Oh, bottles, well, we give them out to friends, family, we drink a lot, and of course to our clients. Okay, now comes the time where we strain out the liquor from the zest. So what I'll do is at the beginning, I'll take all this liquor that's on top and I'll strain that first. Afterwards, we'll get down into all the zest and we'll squeeze out all the goodness, all the oils from the zest. And that's what makes a limoncello more rich when you do it the right traditional way. And what we want to do is we want to take the limoncello, then take our simple syrup Ah, you see the cloudiness? When you do it right, you have all the oils, all that lemon goodness. You'll get a cloudy limoncello. That's what we like. So now let's taste. All right, the best time, another tasting. All right, are you guys ready? Okay, now I got—
here we are, those behind the camera.
These are the experts right here, guys. Well, let's find out.
Cheers! This isn't even chilled. This is just out of the vat, so to speak.
