If you’re looking for a quick and easy Christmas gift, this homemade citrus extract is a great option! Keep reading after the recipe!
How to Make Homemade Citrus Extract
Equipment
- glass bottles for gifting
- mason jars for steeping
Ingredients
For every...
- 1 quart high-quality vodka
You'll need:
- 4 medium oranges OR 6 medium-large lemons
or
- 2 medium oranges AND 3 medium-large lemons
or
- 2 cups mint leaves see notes for mint extract instructions
You'll also need:
- gentle soap like Mrs. Meyers; a detergent like Dawn may be too strong and leave a soapy flavor behind
- mason jars for steeping; see link above
- amber glass bottles for gifting; see link above
Instructions
- Select high-quality, fragrant fruit that doesn't smell off or rancid at all. Wash thoroughly in warm water with a gentle soap, like Mrs. Meyers, to remove any wax from the peels.
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel the topmost layer off each piece of fruit. Place the orange peels in one glass mason jar and the lemon peels in another, then cover with vodka. Make sure the peels are completely submerged and then place lids on the jars.
- Allow them to steep for at least a week (as long as the peels are covered, the alcohol will preserve the peels and prevent them from rotting).
- When the extracts are very fragrant, transfer to small bottles for gifting.
Notes
Mint Extract
Gently crush mint, peppermint, or spearmint leaves with your hands, fill a jar half full with mint, and cover with vodka. Takes 7+ days to steep properly. Ways to Use Citrus Extracts Some of our favorite recipes that call for citrus extracts are... Overnight Cream Cheese Stuffed Lemon French Toast with Strawberries Lemon Cheesecake You could slip some into this Almond Poppyseed Bread, which makes another great holiday gift. Add some to the glaze of these rolls. Nutritional information: note that the nutrition information listed is for a quart of vodka.Nutrition
A few years ago, one of our most popular posts, and one of my favorite, go-to homemade Christmas gifts was homemade vanilla. I still think it’s an awesome idea. However, there are a few downsides. Because vanilla beans are tough and dry, it takes months for them to properly brew, so ideally, this is a project to start in June, and in June, Christmas gifts are the last thing on my mind. The other thing is that over the last few years, vanilla bean prices have become ridiculously expensive. For example, in September 2013, I could get half a pound of vanilla beans for $29.95. Those would go a loooong way–I could make gifts for all our neighbors, teachers, friends, and still have plenty leftover for myself.
Today, those same beans are $304.49, plus $4.77 in shipping. Since I don’t like anyone enough to spend $304 on vanilla beans for them, they shall be getting citrus extracts instead. Oranges and lemons do NOT cost $304.49 and these extracts can be done in a week. They’re perfect for adding a nice punch of flavor to whipped creams, puddings, pies, cookies, cakes, icings, ice creams, and frostings.
how to make homemade citrus extracts (mint extract is in recipe notes)
You’ll need some citrus fruit (I’m using lemons and oranges, but you could easily use grapefruit or limes if the Spirit moves you) and high-quality vodka. When I say “high-quality,” I just mean don’t go get that giant jug of the cheapest stuff in the grocery store that comes in a plastic bottle and has probably caused alcohol poisoning among KKK members. You know, the stuff I bought at 11 pm one night when I read online that an environmentally friendly way to kill bedbugs is to add tea tree oil to vodka and spritz it upon your bedding. Take it from me, that doesn’t work. You gotta nuke those suckers with every poison available.
Anyway.
If you’re not a regular vodka purchaser and are wondering what a classy vodka is, my guess is one wearing a sweater.
You’ll also want to select high-quality, fragrant fruit that doesn’t smell off or rancid at all. Wash thoroughly in warm water with a gentle soap like Mrs. Meyers to remove any wax from the peels. If you use a strong detergent like Dawn, there may be remnants of Dawn in your otherwise-delicious citrus extract.
Using a vegetable peeler, peel the topmost layer off each piece of fruit.
Place the orange peels in one glass mason jar
and the lemon peels in another,
(if you’re using a quart of vodka, you’ll want each jar to be about half full of peels. For a quart of extract, use a quart jar, for two separate extracts, use two pint jars).
Pour the vodka over the peels. 
Make sure the peels are completely submerged and then place lids on the jars. Allow them to steep for at least a week (as long as the peels are covered, the alcohol will preserve the peels and prevent them from rotting).
When the extracts are very fragrant, transfer to small bottles for gifting.
Questions & Reviews
Followed the instructions and the gifts turned out great! Thank you!
Left it in the jar for over a year…is it still good?
With the peels in? I’ve never left it that long so I can’t answer for sure. If the peels still look okay and it smells good I would think it would be okay but I can’t answer for sure!
How long will this be good for? Like if I make it now from the abundance of oranges on my trees will it still be good for gift giving 9 months from now at Christmas time?
Definitely! Once it’s in the alcohol, who knows how long it will take to go bad! ????
I’ve got some hard-to-buy-for people on my list who would love these extracts. Are there any specific gifting-sized little bottles you’d recommend? I’m not sure where to find them. Thanks!
Check out the bottles I link to in the vanilla post—those are the perfect size! ????????
great gift ideas as you write, thank you, I love making limoncello too!
I started making the vanilla recipe the second week of November – so I am not sure if I will be giving it away this Christmas. But this is a great back-up plan that I can do this week. Thanks!
“One wearing a sweater” ???? I still make homemade vanilla extract from your recipe, but I don’t give it to anyone anymore. I hide it at the back of the cabinet and, if anyone tries to use it, I wrap my arms around it in true Smeagol fashion and sneer “my precious” until they walk away to get the store bought kind from the pantry. ???? ???? I’m super excited to try these citrus ones!