Kosher Critic: Ideal reuse for your Etrog

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On Sukkot, we shop for a produce item that most of us have no intent in eating. I am always amused by the parallels between those that want an etrog that is mehadrin min mehadrin and a senior at the grocery store trying to find the best cantaloupe.
There is no fruit on earth that gives of such a powerfully intoxicating aroma, but is essentially inedible. Raw, etrog is so sour and bitter that even as a substitute for lemons it doesn’t really work. Not that it’s stopped anyone from trying. There are plethoras of products that are made from etrogim and I am pretty sure I have tried them all. From the overly tart jams that require far too much sugar to make the etrog palatable to the sickly sweet candied etrog.
I have even used aroma-lacking etrog soap from “gourmet” soap manufacturer Sabon. All of these methods of utilizing etrogs after they have fulfilled their halachic duties have left me wanting.
It wasn’t until a few years ago when I was traveling in Italy that I came up with an idea for how to solve the etrog problem. While in southern Italy I was introduced to a popular liquor made from lemons aptly called Limoncello. Having had firsthand experience with how well alcohol is able to extract flavor and aroma I decided to try and adapt a recipe for Limonchello to work with etrogim. Step one was waiting for Succot to be over. Once it was I went around my shul and collected all of the unwanted etrogs there were to be had. All told I found myself with about fifty. This was far more then I needed but it did make my house smell amazing for several days. I then went out and bought two bottles of high end vodka.
Each bottle was 750 milliliters apiece. I took twenty of the larger etrogim and I used a vegetable peeler to remove long strips of the peel from the etrogim. Once I had done this to all twenty etrogim I placed the peel strips into a very large plastic container and poured both bottles of vodka over them. I sealed the container tightly and let it steep for two weeks. Once the two weeks were over I took 5 (yes five) cups of sugar and added it to a large pot with 7 cups of water.
I put this on the stove at medium heat, stirring gently, until the mixture had become simple syrup. Once the mixture cooled I added it to my etrog vodka, recovered and allowed it to sit for an additional four days. After those four days I strained out the peel and was left with a syrupy yellow liquid that smelled every bit as good as a fresh etrog. I transferred my Etrogcello into individual bottles and put it in the refrigerator to chill. The flavor of the etrogcello is sweet but very bright and really manages to capture the aroma and convert it into a flavor. This recipe goes wonderfully with deserts or even over some vanilla ice cream. So as you go to pick out the perfect etrog remember you’re going to want one that can pull double duty this year.

Zechariah Mehler is a widely published food writer and expert in social marketing. Follow him on Twitter @thekoshercritic