Home Made Blackcurrant Cordial
For some strange reason I can’t drink neat water so I always need to flavour the water with something slightly sweet and tasty. After another trip to the local PYO I came back with a bucket of blackcurrants. I tried eating them straight from the bush but I wish I hadn’t as they were quite strong and bitter. Now I know why the birds rather go for the raspberries, I would too!
I always wanted to try and recreate the flavour of good old Ribena and thought that this was my chance. After de-stalking, cleaning and boiling the fruit I nearly ended up with a jelly. Blackcurrants are packed with natural pectin and therefore set naturally and for that reason blackcurrants are a good choice of fruit for jam making.
The colour of this home made cordial is magnificent, almost electric mauve but be careful as any splashes will stain.
It is ideal for the annual village fete, fill small bottles and hand them out with tiny straws. It makes a pretty picture and make little people very happy.
I like my blackcurrant drink diluted with carbonated water, however if you prefer use ice cold lemonade.
- 450g blackcurrants
- 250g caster sugar
- 260ml water
- Whole lemon
De-stalk and wash the blackcurrants.
Place the blackcurrants, sugar and water into a medium saucepan. Melt the sugar over low heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.
Once the sugar has dissolved bring the syrup to a gentle simmer.
Simmer the fruits for 5 minutes, add the juice and skin of the lemon.
Bring the syrup back to simmer for further 5 minutes.
Let the cordial cool for 10 minutes and sterilise glass bottle.
Pass the cordial through a fine sieve, pour the cordial into the sterilised bottle, cool and keep refrigerated until needed.
To serve, dilute the chilled cordial to taste with chilled sparkling water and plenty of ice cubes.
Makes 750ml cordial
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Brilliant served with lemonade!!!!
I make blackcurrant cordial every year, wonderful for colds, chesty coughs and extra special with a drop of rum! or so my husband says! Is more pure and genuinely full of Vitc (I think better than ‘commercial’ cordials that are not all they make out to be!
loved it, thankyou!!
This freezes well in plastic containers but remember to leave enough space at the top for expansion .
I wonder how long this cordial keeps…? Will it see us through the winter months if we make enough?
About to make this recipe as the children need to do something and we have our own blackcurrant bushes!
Made this cordial recently and it’s a real winner. I needed to use up the remainder of last year’s blackcurrants (to make space for this year’s harvest). My husband thinks it’s lovely. Thanks very much.