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Makes 1Litre cordialDifficulty:
Easy
I am not fond of drinking water, tap, filtered or bottles. For this reason 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. They are plump packed with tart blackcurrant goodness and perfect for this recipe.
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.
I like my blackcurrant drink diluted with carbonated water, however if you prefer use ice cold tap water or lemonade if it’s not sweet enough for you.
Ingredients & Method
- 450g blackcurrants. stalks removed and washed
- 250g caster sugar
- 500ml water
- Juice of one lemon
Place the blackcurrants, sugar and water into a medium saucepan. Dissolve the sugar over low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Once the sugar has dissolved bring the syrup to a gentle simmer.
Simmer the fruits for 10 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 or still water and plenty of ice cubes.