Homemade cordial?

mlarmour

Has anyone made their own cordial?
Are they are good? Easy to make?

I've been replacing coke with cordial and water, however I can only drink full sugar cordials. I have fibromyalgia, and because of this I can't drink anything with aspartame which is an artificial sweetener used instead of sugar but causes me a great deal of pain. I was looking in the supermarket looking for some cordial I can drink and it turns out that they are just full of sugar and well I want to lose weight so consuming large amounts of sugar wouldn't do losing weight any good.

allybee101

Never tried it - but I would love to be able to. I'm sure there is a resourceful MSE-er who'll come along and tell you.
I used to love Robinson's orange but I was very disappointed to discover that even the normal (non sugar-free) version has Aspartame in it.
In the event that it's not possible how about diluting fruit juice with water, or even popping a slice of lemon, lime or orange in a glass of water?
I tend to stick to plain tap water these days to be honest - remarkably tasty stuff.

button_box

My mother used to make a Lemon Squash and an Orange Squash from a recipe in a Kenwood recipe book. We preferred the Lemon one but it might be a bit " sharp" if you are used to drinking coke. I dug out the recipe book but I don't know how many oranges my mother used when she substituted oranges for lemons in the recipe. I am afraid quantities are in imperial measures because of the age of the book.


Lemon Squash
2 lemons ( un-waxed)
3lb sugar
4pints water
2ounces citric acid. You should be able to get this from a pharmacy or winemaking supplier.


Using a potato peeler thinly peel the rind from the lemons ( no white pith). Put the peel and 1/2 pint of water in a liquidiser. Blitz at top speed for 1 minute. Pour this mix into the rest of the water in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Squeeze the juice from the lemons and pour this with the sugar and citric acid into the pan. Stir to dissolve and then leave aside to cool. When col strain and pour into sterilised bottles. Use as required diluting with water or soda water.


She also used to make a blackcurrant cordial which I think was 1/2 pint of water to every 1lb of Blackcurrants. Heated till the juices run, strained overnight through a jelly bag or old pillowcase and then heated to dissolve sugar. I think she added 1lb sugar to 1pint juice but you could start off adding 1/2 pound sugar to a pint and add more till it suits your taste. Bring to boil and boil for about 3 min. Skim if necessary and bottle into sterilised bottle. Mum kept this in the fridge and we would get it with cold water in summer, hot water in the winter ( and best of all ) sometimes poured over ice cream!

ziggy2004

I make my own and find that it is easy to play around with recipes. Some like lemon you can use the fruit juice and add sugar and water to create the syrup and with others you cook the fruit first in water and then strain off the fluid and make a syrup with that.

I find this is a nice and easy one to start with:

8 lemons

400 ml water

200 grams sugar

Method:

Squeeze all the juice from the lemons and mix it with the water and the sugar in a pan. Slowly bring to the boil whilst stirring and then leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally. Leave to cool and pass through a sieve if needed. If kept in the fridge this will last at least 2 weeks

sweetilemon

I made some once, wont give you the recipe as it was horrible. What about making flavoured water the day before? Throwing fruit in water and chilling overnight? Ive changed to sparkling water to try & avoid sweetners.

happilymarried2013

Hiya!
I freeze wedges of lemon, lime, oranges and put them in bottles of water to take to work (nice and cold then). Sounds mental but cucumber is really nice in water too. Strawberries work well and add just enough to the water to make it taste nice.


I'm going to try it with sparkly water I think.

kippers

Cordial is lovely (as a treat as it has lots of sugar in) and it can be frozen before you dilute it so you can have it in the winter when fruit isn't so cheap. Blackberry cordial is great to make a the moment...there is a great recipe here: http://notjustgreenfingers.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/blackberry-cordial-general-allotment-jobs/

Alnwicklass

Hi mlarmour,

I made some blackcurrant and rosehip cordials a few years back and I was surprised how much sugar went in.

If you are trying to lose weight you might find that many of the recipes have quite a lot of sugar in. This will be partly for the taste, but also I think they may contribute to the preserving of the juice.

One of my students used to make peach juice - she would chop up a peach and put it in a 1.5l bottle of water, then put it in the freezer overnight. She would take this to school the next day and just shake it a bit as the ice began to thaw, creating her own fruit water - it smelled gorgeous, but I haven't tried it myself yet.

arbroath_lass

I make elderflower cordial every year. It tastes fab! There is a lot of sugar in it but remember you are diluting it. Too late for this year but this is the recipe I use :


http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/531660/homemade-elderflower-cordial