Last weekend, I started a batch of limoncello. I spent some time looking at recipes on the internet, and decided a combination of techniques that I thought would work for me. I took the peel — no pith — from about ten lemons and dumped it in a pitcher with a bottle of Everclear (151 proof) and let it sit for a week.
Digression: Have you ever read the label on a bottle of Everclear? I think there are less warnings on common household cleaning chemicals. WARNING!! Overconsumption may endanger your health. CAUTION!! Extremely Flammable Handle with Care. There is a whole paragraph of warnings:
Caution: Do not apply to open flame. Keep away from fire, heat, and open flame. Contents may ignite or explode. Do not consume in excessive quantities. Not intended for consumption unless mixed with non-alcoholic beverage.
(Emphasis added.) So I guess it makes sense that this stuff is illegal in some states, as it is explosive and not suitable for human consumption. But back to the real story.
Today, satisfied that the alcohol had stripped the lemon peels of all their lemony goodness, I finished the limoncello. First, I strained out the lemon peels, leaving me with some strong lemon-infused grain alcohol. Then I made a pseudo- simple syrup. I decided to make limoncello crema, so I made the syrup with milk and half and half instead of water. This involved a little bit of experimentation on my part. I found a number of variations of the recipe, some calling from milk and some calling for half and half. So I split the alcohol mixture in half and made half with whole milk and half with half and half (say that three times fast). For anyone that wants to attempt, that was one pint of either whole milk or half and half simmered with 1.5 cups sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved for HALF of the alcohol. Let the sugar mixture cool and add to the alcohol. Bottle and refrigerate/freeze. I haven’t tasted either version chilled yet, so the jury’s still out as to whether milk or half and half is the better choice.
When I was finished, I was left with a sieve full of brittle lemon peels. One of the internet recipes I read suggested putting them through the garbage disposal to “freshen” it up, which seemed to make sense to me since I’ve heard before you can put some citrus wedges down it to make it smell fresher. So — and here’s the REAL point of the post — I put the lemon peels down the garbage disposal and fired it up. Seemed to work just fine, until the next time I used the disposal.
I washed the dishes later in the day, and when I drained the sink, I switched on the disposal to clear out any stray bits of food. Suddenly, the water stopped draining and murky black stuff started to come up through the drain. Insert random expletive here. I was pretty sure this was not something I could fix myself. I’m handy, but just not that handy. And now is really not a good time to be staying home from work to wait for a plumber. Steve stepped in about here, but he knows about as much about fixing a disposal as I do. We cut the power to the disposal and I reached my hand in to see if there was something jammed in it. He pressed the reset button. Still spewing black stuff. We were resigned to calling a plumber.
In a last ditch effort to to DIO (do it ourselves), I called my dad for advice. I explained to him that the motor appeared to be working when we turned the disposal on, but nothing was going down the drain. This led him to believe it was a clog, not a problem with the disposal itself, and he suggested a plunger. Five minutes later, water was flowing freely down the drain and there was no black stuff to be seen. Woohoo!
Dad can pretty much always save the day, can’t he?
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But what was all that black murky stuff? Gross! And when do I get to offer my opinion about milk vs. half and half?