Our Limoncello pastry is quickly becoming a new fan
favorite, which isn’t surprising considering the tasty combination of layers of vanilla cake,
light-as-air lemon mousse and Mr. Joe’s original Lemon Curd recipe. As with everything we do, we thought it
important to honor the history that brought about the inspiration to create this
new addition to the Termini product line, and so delved into understanding the
roots of Limoncello itself.
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| Termini Brothers Limoncello Pastry |
The three towns of Sorrento, Amalfi and Capri, all in
relatively close distance to one another, argue that their people were the
inventors of the lemon-flavored liqueur.
History clearly shows that its existence has been known for at least 100
years, but some put it back much, much further.
Some legend has it that warriors would drink this beverage as a way to
steel themselves against battle as far back as the invasion of the Saracens in
the late 800s!
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| Sorrento Lemons overlooking the coast |
The more recent history of Limoncello is also fraught with
local lore, meaning we’ll likely never know the true origins of the
beverage. One group claims that Vincenza
Canale of Capri created the liqueur as an inventive way to delight her
customers into returning to the Inn she ran.
She would give it freely to customers after they had completed their
meals, hoping that the warming effect of the liqueur would help them sleep more
soundly. The Capri camp has some serious
backing, as Donna Canale’s son later opened a bar where the lemon flavored
drink was a specialty and drew people from surrounding towns. In 1988, his son Massimo Canale, Donna
Canale’s grandson, was the first to patent the beverage and its name. In fact, the Canale family still runs one of
the most profitable producers of the drink: Limoncello de Capri.
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| Island of Capri |
The other group claims that Maria Antonia Farace was a
budding entrepreneur on the island of Azzura
who was looking for ways to improve her boarders’ experience. Donna Farace was a proprietress of a boarding
house that had a large orange and lemon tree garden, so she took it upon
herself to create the drink that would keep sailors coming back to the island
for more.
If you think the stories sound similar, it’s because they
are. Here is where my research led me to
something even more interesting: One of
Donna Farace’s daughters actually married into the Canale family. Her grandson, Salvatore Canale was the man
who opened the popular bar in Capri and the father of Massimo Canale, the man
to patent the beverage. To this day,
both families and their respective towns lay claim to the original recipe, and
neither seems likely to budge anytime soon!
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| Limoncello is one of Danny DeVito's favorite beverages...He actually helped to make the drink more widespread in the United States by talking about his love of the drink on a popular talk show! |
While we don’t know the true origin of Limoncello, we thank
our lucky stars that someone had the sense to come up with the now nearly
ubiquitous beverage. Its sweet, smooth
and strong lemon flavor lacks any sourness or bitterness that can be found in
some lemons, lemon juice or lemon rinds, and so lends itself to be used in
cocktails, desserts or to be enjoyed in an icy cold glass all on its own. And even though we cannot give you the recipe
for our Limoncello pastry, we’re happy to pass along a link to create some of
its eponymous beverage. (Click here to learn more!)
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| Homemade Limoncello |
From our family to yours, Abbondanza!
Termini Brothers Bakery
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