Anyone know how to make homemade fruit cordial?

StressedSteph

I make orange squash which in involves, juicing all 8 oranges, simmer 1 bag of sugar, and 2 pints of water and 1 tablespoon of Citric Acid (got from a Healthfood store) and then mix with the orange juice. It makes a great squash to be diluted for the kiddies. I sometimes use unrefined sugar in a bid to make it healthier, but you only need a tiny bit mixed with water so guess the sugar content isn't too bad.

I can't see how you could'nt do something along these lines with the berries. Top & tail them then sqish them and add the sugar/water mix. Just got to make sure you have enough berries so you don't dilute it too much.

Apparently the citric acid is a safe product made from limes and it just concentrates the taste of the fruit.

Best of luck, come on mum you can do it :-)

Pink.

Hi giddykipper,

I found these recipes here and here I picked my currants in a hurry before we went on holiday and bunged them in the freezer so haven't tried ether of the recipes yet.

There are more coridal ideas on this thread:

Anyone know how to make homemade fruit cordial?

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.


Pink

giddykipper

Oh excellent - thanks everyone!

Jo x

Little_miss_sunshine_2

Not sure if this recipe has been given before (it probably has somewhere on this site!) but I make this quick version of lemonade which the family love- squeeze the juice of one lemon in a glass, add one spoonful of sugar, top up with cheap fizzy water and add ice.

This is similar to a drink made widely in India although they use still water and often use limes- it is very refreshing.

ceridwen

I'm just trying my hand at making fruit cordial for the first time - I've boiled up the fruit and am going to strain it and then cook up the juice again with sugar in this time - and then bottle. I have several glass bottles from various things - wine, etc:D.

All the recipe says is "bottle it in clean bottles" - so I'm left wondering if I need to sterilise these bottles and, if so, how. Reason being - these are just ordinary glass bottles - so I'm not sure if they would stand up to boiling hot water or a spell in the oven to sterilise them.

So for those who make things like elderflower cordials - I'd very much appreciate a step-by-step Idiots Guide as to how to bottle that in glass bottles once its ready - as that would obviously be much the same idea:D

Thanks.

tandraig

I would sterilise the bottles ceridwen, personally I beg a couple of milton tabs off new mums and cold water sterilise.

thriftlady_2

Hi Ceridwen,

Me and my eldest son bottled a gallon of home made ginger beer the other day in glass passata bottles. All I did to sterilise them was to put them in the oven at 100 degrees for about 15 mins. Just like I'd do with jam jars. They were fine. I had one odd bottle -an old-fashioned pop bottle with a rubber stopper. This I just filled up with boiling water. That worked fine too.

The other thing you can do is my favourite way of preserving thing -yes, bung it in the freezer. I do this with elderflower cordial. I pour some into a bottle and put it in the fridge for consumption over the next few days. It will last in the fridge for a couple of weeks. The rest I pour into small freezer tubs and then defrost and decant them into the bottle in the fridge when needed.

Seakay

The other thing that you can do is bottle into sterilized bottles but then add 1 teaspoonful of campden solution per pint of cordial. Campden tablets or powder are available from shops that sell wine making stuff. This saves you from heat processing the filled bottle so the cordial/syrup isn't cooked as much and tastes fruitier and fresher. You can use campden solution to sterilize the bottles and tops instead of using hot water and the oven as well, but if you are going to pour hot cordial into cold bottles then make sure that they are standing on wood or they might shatter.

ceridwen

Thanks all - knew I'd be at the right place to find answers:D

Purpleclutterbuck

:hello:My mum says Hi! to everyone and has asked to find out if anyone remembers the Lemon Cordial recipe from the programe with John and Shep and the beeb! you know the one I mean - Bleu Pierre! (get down Shep and all that!)

She has had the recipe for years and says it was really easy with citric acid -:think: but can't remember anything else!
I have checked the recipes on here and there is Lemon squash and a few cordials but I was looking for the specific programme's recipe - I know she would be over the moon if I could find it
Can anyone please help me score brownie points with mummykins:o?