Got Fruit? Booze? Sugar? And the time to combine them? You could be making your own cello! Winemaker and hospitality consultant Corey Nyman has been whipping up batches of the sweet Italian fruit liqueur in all sorts of enticing flavor combinations, from his debut “science experiment” with lime peel and nailing a classic limoncello to the far more exotic white apricot, strawberry-mint and grapefruit-ginger with cinnamon. And he is confident that you can do it, too.

For starters, cello is all about hospitality. After dinner in Southern Italy, it’s customary to share a little nip of chilled limoncello. So much the better if the stuff is made with love—your love. “It’s about embracing the past, looking to tradition and being able to give something to friends and family that you made yourself,” Nyman says.

As the founder of Labor Wines and director of operations for the Nyman Group, Nyman travels extensively for business, and has ample time to observe the inner workings of restaurants along the way. It was over a dinner at John Besh’s Domenica in New Orleans’ Roosevelt Hotel that Nyman encountered another tradition, the lagniappe— in Louisiana Creole culture, a treat given gratis. At Domenica, this means cello.

“The bar staff shared with me a tasting of three different cellos and allowed me to enjoy their hospitality.”

Back home, when a friend showed off a bowl of lemons he’d been gifted, Nyman jumped at the chance to make a proper experiment out of it. “I told him that if he gave me the bowl, I would return in six weeks with a treat—and I did. I made him limoncello and really was off and running with my cello passion. I started making cello with whatever fruit was ripe at the time, putting it into glass jars scattered around my house, in any dark place I could find.” With passion comes perfection.

Homemade cello makes a great gift, as does the jam that results from the maceration process. And it’s easy. You’ll need a few key ingredients: ripe fruit, about a bowl full; 1 liter of high-proof vodka or grain spirit; a large glass jar or vessel (at least two gallons); granular sugar; and water. The other crucial element is time. It will take anywhere from two to four weeks for the fruit to macerate in the alcohol, and then another few weeks after the sugar and water has been added (Nyman like 21 days for both).

To make his pineapple cello, Nyman begins with a ripe pineapple, which he cores, skins and cuts into chunks. They don’t have to be perfectly sliced because they’re going tight into a large glass jug with one liter of vodka. (If you’re the type who likes to keep your limoncello in the freezer so that it becomes a little viscous, you’ll want to use something over 100-proof, Nyman advises.) The booze goes in with the fruit and then you wait. You can taste-test along the way, but generally around 21 days later, you’ll be ready to add 1 liter of simple syrup (sugar dissolved into water at a 1:1 ratio). Another 21 days later, strain out the fruit (jam time!) using a cheesecloth and bottle your creation. “You can’t really rush it,” Nyman says. “Forty-two days makes you really respect the tradition of the process and those who’ve made it before you.”

You can personalize your homemade cello by introducing a secondary, complementary flavor during the simple syrup stage, such as vanilla, mint, pink peppercorn, saffron or another fruit altogether. Just remember, Nyman adds, you’ll want to use the rind of any citrus fruits, not the flesh.

Incidentally, pineapple is a great place to start for your first cello. It takes just one really ripe pineapple (sniff the bottom) to make the maceration magic happen. Is it any wonder the pineapple is the international symbol of hospitality?

The post How to Make Top-Shelf Pineapple Cello Liqueur at Home appeared first on Vegas Seven.