Buddha's Hand Fruit Recipe - Homemade Limoncello

Recipe: Buddha's Hand Limoncello Recipe »

Buddha's Hand citron is known for its incredible fragrance and makes a beautifully aromatic homemade limoncello with just 4 ingredients. This easy Buddha's Hand limoncello recipe is a smooth, sweet liqueur with notes of lemon, jasmine and lavender. I'll show you how to make it here.

About This Buddha's Hand Limoncello

This limoncello drink is made using Buddha's Hand Fruit which is in season during late Autumn/Fall and Winter. This unique looking yellow fruit is a type of citron and looks like gnarled fingers protruding from a hand but did you know that it is prized for its incredible fragrance? In fact Buddha Hands don't contain any juice or flesh inside, they are all about the zest! They are more commonly used as decorative or ornamental than they are used in food.

Once you get a hold of one of these (and nowadays they are available at Coles but not Woolworths when in season which is right now!), take a deeeep breath. The aroma from these is incredibly complex. It has a slight menthol aroma to it but you can also smell zesty lemon and floral notes as well like lavender and jasmine.

Buddha Hands originate from South or East Asia and are used as a perfume, during temple offerings and as New Year's gifts. It is said to represent happiness, longevity and good fortune in Chinese culture. They last for 1-2 weeks at room temperature and 3-4 weeks in the fridge crisper.

We had three of these, so we used two to perfume the house and then used the third one to make a limoncello. It is perfect for limoncello because all you need is the zest to make it and basically that's what Buddha's hands have!

Plus a Buddha Hand limoncello only has 4 ingredients to make at home and makes a fantastic gift as not everyone has tried or seen Buddha Hands.

Video How To Make Buddha's Hand Limoncello

Video: Buddha's Hand Recipe Limoncello Recipe

Ingredients For Buddha's Hand Recipe Limoncello

Vodka - Use your favourite vodka or what your budget allows.

Buddha Hand - Find these at greengrocers and larger supermarkets.

Water - purified water to make a simple syrup

Sugar- white or caster/superfine sugar to make a simple syrup.

Tips For Making Buddha's Hand Limoncello Recipe

1 - This is such a simple recipe that you don't really need any tips - just patience! But during that time that gorgeous aroma will infuse into the vodka.

2 - I used an old Italian recipe for limoncello as the base. It was given to me by Monica and came from her friend Lina. Some limoncello has a reputation for being harsh but this is a smooth, sweet style of limoncello that is wonderful drunk straight, on ice or with soda water. Some people don't want their limoncello as sweet but try adding 3/4 of the syrup and see how it tastes. I always try and add less sugar to things but I feel like the amount of sugar is perfect as given in the recipe.

3 - Feel free to add more zest but I found that this amount gave this a robust aroma and flavour, comparable to commercial or homemade limoncello made with lemons.

4 - Storing limoncello in the freezer or fridge allows it to keep its yellow colour and we love serving it icy cold.

Buddha's Hand Limoncello Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 15 minutes plus 3-4 weeks steeping time

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Makes: around 1.2 litres/1.3 quarts of limoncello

Ingredients Needed

• 600ml/20fl oz Vodka
• 75g/2.6oz Buddha hand zest
• 600ml/20fl oz water
• 600g/21oz white or superfine sugar

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 PEEL & STEEP - Wash the fruit well and dry. Peel the zest from all of the fingers. Steep in a bottle along with the vodka for 3-4 weeks (pop a reminder in your calendar).

Step 2 SYRUP - Make a sugar syrup. Add water and sugar to a medium sized pot and bring to a simmer stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 3 minutes to create a simple syrup. Cool completely.

Step 3 MIX - Drain the zest from the vodka which should be a light yellow colour. Mix with the cooled sugar syrup and bottle.

Store in the freezer.

Personal Note

The reason why I made this limoncello is that Mr NQN brought me home a Buddha Hand. "Have you seen this before?" he asked and I nodded. I see them at greengrocers but never knew what to do with it. If anything I had filed it away to feature in a Halloween cake but had never quite done it as it isn't in season in October.

I like it when he brings me things that he thinks that I will like. However recently he brought home a bag of olives. This was less exciting to me because I was very busy and olives are a labour of love and time. They involve slicing into each olive, steeping them in water, changing the water daily preferably around the same time to remove bitterness and then making a brine and leaving them for a month.

In his defence he had no idea that olives were that much trouble. But I hate wastage so I went through the whole process. He had to change the water for the last few days and almost forgot. And we both agree that olives are underpriced after going through all of this. We've still got a few weeks to go but I don't think that the olives are going to work out as they've turned a mottled brown colour. I think he feels a bit guilty but he has been briefed now: no more olives but more Buddha Hands!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever used Buddha hand citrus? Have you ever tried preserving olives? Any tips?