Quince cordial

As I received a relative large portion of Japanese quinces, I would have made so many glasses of quince jelly, that never my colleagues or myself would be able to eat us through all this quince jelly. As the boiling part of the process to soften the quinces is similar to that of many jelly, I decide to try to make quince cordial as well.

The preparation of the Japanese quinces before boiling them is to wash the quinces and cut them into smaller size. You do not need to peel the quines. As usual I decided to remove the core with the seeds from the inner part as well, as I do not like the bitterness from the seeds of apples and quinces. If this is not concern for you, you can just cut the quinces into halves.

I did not weigh the amount of Japanese quinces, while making this cordial, as I started by boiling the quines soft in enough water to cover the quine pieces in the cooking pot. And when you have the quince juice, you measure the amount in order to calculate the amount of needed sugar to make cordial. I used the same ratio between juice and sugar as in this black currant cordial, crossing my fingers, that it would not gel like this red currant cordial.
It is quiet interesting to see, how the colour of the quince juice change from darker yellow to peach red after the addition of the sugar to the juice.

Now I just hope, that this cordial taste great !!!

Quinces jelly:

• Japanese quinces - washed, cut into 4 pieces, core & seeds removed
• Water - enough to cover the quince pieces in the cooking pot
• 1 teaspoon of citric acid
• 300 g sugar per 500 ml quince juice
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Place the fruit and water in large cooking pan. Enough water to cover the quines pieces. Add citric acid as well. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat.
2. Let the quinces pieces simmer under lid for approx 1-1½ hour, until the quines pieces are soft enough to be mashed.
3. Mash the quines pieces.
4. Pour the quince mash into a sieve, and press the juice through the sieves using a cooking spoon.
5. Afterwards pour the cordial through into a jelly bag to remove the un-clarity/ruit pieces from the juice. 
6.  Measure the amount of fruit juice and weight out 300 g sugar per 500 ml juice.
7. Dissolve the sugar over low heat. The cordial should not be boiled.
8. Let the cordial cool down, so it is not to hot for the bottles, which it will be poured into. You can pour the cordial into glass bottles at higher temperatures compared to plastic bottles, which the cordial needs to be colder.
9. Store at ambient temperature. 
10. Dilute the quince cordial with water upon serving it.
11. Enjoy :-)

Week-end DIY project with Japanese quince

Last Autumn it was the first time for me to work with quinces in form of the big pear quinces, which I turned into quince jam. It is pretty difficult to work these big quinces into smaller pieces prior to the boiling process. However, but the flavour of the raw quinces as well as during the cooking is fantastic and naturally the taste of the final jam is just great.

This time I have a cardboard box full of Japanese quinces from a colleagues garden. And on the way from work I had the most fantastic smell of quinces in the car.

As the Japanese quinces are much smaller in size compared to the bigger pear quinces, I decided to turn these Japanese quinces into quince jelly as well as quinces cordial, so I did not have to peel all these small quinces. However, I did decide to remove all of the seeds from the core, as I really dislike the bitterness from these type of seeds.

I will share the recipes on both quince jelly quince jelly and quince cordial in the upcoming week.

Tricolore de currant cordial

It started with, that I first found this recipe on black currant cordial in the latest issue of Country Living. As I had easy access to plenty of black currants in the garden of my good friends in Horsens, it was an easy task to test out this recipe.

Besides from black currant there is also red and white currants, so I thought it could be funny to make individual currants cordial, simply replacing the black currants with either red or white currants. And this away around create my very own "tricolore de currant cordial".

Perhaps due to too high pectin content in the red currants, the red currant cordial did gel in the bottle, while the remaining two cordials still are liquid. So fare I have enjoyed the black currant cordial both at home as well at work.

So to make your own "tricolore de currant cordial" you should make:

• black currant cordial
• white currant cordial
• red currant cordial

Red currant cordial

As I have some red currants in surplus after making both this red & black currant jelly and all currant jelly, I decided to turn the last red currants into cordial using this recipe in black currant cordial replacing the black currants with red currants instead of.

Adjust the ratio of water and sugar to the amount of white currants, which you have picked as well as the amount of white currant juice, which you have after the cooking process.It is an easy recipe to scale up as well as down.

I think, that you from the photo at the top you can see, that my red currant cordial sometime after the filling decided to make itself into a jelly instead of a cordial. It could be because, the pectin content in the red currants liquid was higher compared to the two other cordials (black & white). I am certain, that I have been using the same amount of sugar to liquid. So next year, I think I should either use less sugar or try a different recipe on red currant cordial. It could also the addition of the citric acid, which resulted in the jelling of the cordial.

I also think, that my work colleagues will have a good laugh, when they see these photos and start to talk about pre-gelling (the lumps on the side of the bottle).

Red currant cordial:

• 1000 g red currant - washed and cleaned, the stalks removed
• 300 ml water
• 300 g sugar per 500 ml black currant juice
• 1 teaspoon citric acid per 500 ml black currant juice

1. Place the prepared red currants together with the water in cooking pot.
2. Bring the red currants to the boil, let the red currant simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Mask the red currants to release all of the fruit juice.
4. Pour the red currants either into a jelly bag or into a sieve. It is easier to press the red currants with a cooking spoon, when placed in a sieve based on my experience.
5. Measure the amount of red currant juice. Add the red currant juice in a cooking pot with 300 g sugar per 500 ml red currant as well as 1 teaspoon citric.
6. Dissolve the sugar over low heat. The cordial should not be boiled.
7. Pour the red currant cordial into cleaned bottles.
8. Dilute the red cordial with water upon serving it.
9. Enjoy :-)

White currant cordial

Again I have been inviting myself around to the garden of my good friends in Horsens to pick some more white currants as well as black currant, so I could make both this white currant cordial, this black currant cordial and finally this all currant jelly. This time my friends were at home, so after my picking currants for my many kitchen projects (look by the coming time to see, what I have been up to), I was served a cup of tea and home-made cake with red currants.

I decided to use the recipe on black currant cordial replacing all the black currants with white curant instead of.

Adjust the ratio of water and sugar to the amount of white currants, which you have picked as well as the amount of white currant juice, which you have after the cooking process.It is an easy recipe to scale up as well as down.

White currant cordial:

• 1000 g white currant - washed and cleaned, the stalks removed
• 300 ml water
• 300 g sugar per 500 ml black currant juice
• 1 teaspoon citric acid per 500 ml black currant juice

1. Place the prepared white currants together with the water in cooking pot.
2. Bring the white currants to the boil, let the white currant simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Mask the white currants to release all of the fruit juice.
4. Pour the white currants either into a jelly bag or into a sieve. It is easier to press the white currants with a cooking spoon, when placed in a sieve based on my experience.
5. Measure the amount of white currant juice. Add the white currant juice in a cooking pot with 300 g sugar per 500 ml white currant as well as 1 teaspoon citric.
6. Dissolve the sugar over low heat. The cordial should not be boiled.
7. Pour the white currant cordial into cleaned bottles.
8. Dilute the white cordial with water upon serving it.
9. Enjoy :-)

Black currant cordial

Again I have been inviting myself around to the garden of my good friends in Horsens to pick some more black currants as well as white currants, (so I could make this black currant cordial as well as this all currant jelly). This time my friends were at home, so after my picking currants for my many kitchen projects (look by the coming time to see, what I have been up to), I was served a cup of tea and home-made cake with red currants.

I have located this recipe on black currant cordial in the latest issue for Country Living issue August 2019. And I have made no changes to the recipes. I think, I will test this recipe as well on red and white currants.

Adjust the ratio of water and sugar to the amount of the black currant, which you have picked as well as the amount of black currant juice, which you have after the cooking process.It is an easy recipe to scale up as well as down.

Black currant cordial:

• 1000 g black currant - washed and cleaned, the stalks removed
• 300 ml water
• 300 g sugar per 500 ml black currant juice
• 1 teaspoon citric acid per 500 ml black currant juice

1. Place the prepared black currants together with the water in cooking pot.
2. Bring the black currants to the boil, let the black currant simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Mask the black currants to release all of the fruit juice.
4. Pour the black currants either into a jelly bag or into a sieve. It is easier to press the black currants with a cooking spoon, when placed in a sieve based on my experience.
5. Measure the amount of black currant juice. Add the black currant juice in a cooking pot with 300 g sugar per 500 ml black currant as well as 1 teaspoon citric.
6. Dissolve the sugar over low heat. The cordial should not be boiled.
7. Pour the black currant cordial into cleaned bottles.
8. Dilute the black cordial with water upon serving it.
9. Enjoy :-)

Lønnestræde elderflower cordial with less bitterness

It is this time again of the year, where you in Denmark can make your own elder flower cordial. Many Danes are actually making their own elder flower cordial, some you can quiet frequently during this time experience, that your local supermarket runs out of citric acid !!!

I have fine tunes this recipe on elder flower cordial to get less bitterness from the citrus fruits into the final cordial. So this year I have peel out the skin of both the lemon & lime. When I cut of all of the white citrus layer and thrown all the white stuff away. And final I have sliced the remaining part of the citrus fruits. So I am still using the citrus peel as well as the inside of the citrus fruits for flavour and taste. The majority of the bitterness is sitting in the white part of the citrus skin.

Elder Flower Cordial a la Lønnestræde with less bitterness:

• 40 elder flowers
• 2 lemons - organic - peeled, white skin removed and fruit part sliced
• 4 limes - organic - peeled, white skin removed and fruit part sliced
• 40 g citric acid
• 1.5  kg cane sugar
• 2 l water - boiling

1. Shake the elder flowers very, very well, so they are free from various insects. DO NOT use water for this cleaning step, as this will reduce the wonderful taste of elder flower significantly as you remove the "yellow" flavour dust/pollen.
2. Use a scissors to cut the flowers from the flower stem, as these apparently will increase the bitterness level in the final cordial.
3. Place the elder flower into a big bowl, which you can close with a lid at the end.
4. Peel the citrus fruits. And the peel into the bowl.
5. Cot of the white part of the skin layer (gives bitterness) and cut the remaining part of the citrus fruit into thin slices. Add into the bowl.
6. Add the cane sugar on top
7. Add the citric acid as well.
8. Add the boiling water into the bowl.
9. Stir the sugar into solution, so it does not form a sediment on the bottom, which is difficult to dissolved later, when the cordial is cold.
10. Cover the bowl with the lid.
11. Let the content cool down to room temperature, before you place the bowl in the refrigerator.
12. Stir or shake the bowl daily during the infusion time.
13. Let the elder flower cordial infuse for 4 days in the refrigerator.
14. Sieve the cordial to remove all the different ingredients.
15. Prepare the glass bottles by by filling them with boiling water. I do not use any preservatives, so this is important to increase shelf-life of your cordial.
16. You can also use plastic bottles, if you want to freeze the cordial as another way of preserving it. Remember NOT to fill these bottles completely, as liquid will increase in volume, when turning into ice.
17. Enjoy the wonderful Summer time using this cordial as "plain" cordial mixing with water (with or without gas), mixing with wine or sparkling wine. Or mix it gin or vodka and lots of ice.

Herb-scented cordial with selection of mint

I have become a great fan of herb-scented cordial, which I continue to make. It is also a great way of using some of the many herbs, which I have in my many green ceramic garden pots. I am using this recipe on herb-scented cordial with geranium as starting point, This time I have been using leaves from my three different mints (peppermint, garden mint and Swiss mint).

The cordial is easy to make, so I can only encourage you to try it out. You have to pick the herbs in your kitchen garden, boil up the water, sugar and lemon juice, when you pour the hot liquid over the herb leaves and let the herb infuse the cordial for minimum 30 minutes. I actually prefer to the infusion either night over or for up to 24 hours.

If you want to turn this cordial into a cocktail, you can after the mixing with sparkling water add into some gin, and when you have refreshing Summer drink.

Instead of a selection of mint leaves, you can also make this cordial either with lemon balm and rosemary or geranium leaves.

Herb-scented cordial with geranium: - 1 bottle

• 300 ml water
• 85 g sugar
• 1 lemon - the juice of it
• 20 small lemon balm leaves
• 2 small rosemary strings

1. Bring the water to the boil in a cooking pot. Add in the lemon juice and sugar and stir until dissolved.
2. Remove the cooking pot from the heat and add in the herbs.
3. Cover the cooking pot with a lid, and let the herb leaves infuse for minimum 30 minutes or night over or up to 24 hours.
4. Sieve the cordial through a sieve lined with thin cotton muslin.
5. Pour the cordial into a clean bottle.
6. Store cold in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
7. When serving dilute one part cordial with five parts of water (still or sparkling).

Herb-scented cordial with lemon balm and rosemary

I have been using this recipe on herb-scented cordial with geranium as starting point, when making this herb-scented cordial. I am actually using the flavour suggestion, which the tutor Vivien Llody shared with us at the Summer preserves course.

This recipe is very easy to make. You only have to pick the herbs in your kitchen garden, boil up the water, sugar and lemon juice, when you pour the hot liquid over the herb leaves and let the herb infuse the cordial for minimum 30 minutes. I actually prefer to the infusion either night over or for up to 24 hours.

The amount of 2 small rosemary strings bring a good taste without being too dominating in my opinion.

Instead of lemon balm and rosemary, you can also make this herb-scented cordial with either geranium leaves or mint leaves.

Herb-scented cordial with geranium: - 1 bottle

• 300 ml water
• 85 g sugar
• 1 lemon - the juice of it
• 20 small lemon balm leaves
• 2 small rosemary strings

1. Bring the water to the boil in a cooking pot. Add in the lemon juice and sugar and stir until dissolved.
2. Remove the cooking pot from the heat and add in the herbs.
3. Cover the cooking pot with a lid, and let the herb leaves infuse for minimum 30 minutes or night over or up to 24 hours.
4. Sieve the cordial through a sieve lined with thin cotton muslin.
5. Pour the cordial into a clean bottle.
6. Store cold in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
7. When serving dilute one part cordial with five parts of water (still or sparkling).

Herb-scented cordial with geranium

I continue to share recipes with you from my participation in the Summer preserves course, this time is a recipe on herb-scented cordial, which is very, very easy to make.

Instead of geranium leaves mint, lemon balm, lemon balm in combination with rosemary could be used for infusion of cordial.

I will use the basic cordial recipe in my little for some other herb-scented cordial version.

Herb-scented cordial with geranium: - 1bottle

• 300 ml water
• 85 g sugar
• 1 lemon - the juice of it
• 10 scented herb leaves - lemon or orange geranium

1. Bring the water to the boil in a cooking pot. Add in the lemon juice and sugar and stir until dissolved.
2. Remove the cooking pot from the heat and add in the herbs.
3. Cover the cooking pot with a lid, and let the herb leaves infuse for minimum 30 minutes or night over.
4. Sieve the cordial through a sieve lined with thin cotton muslin.
5. Pour the cordial into a clean bottle.
6. Store cold in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
7. When serving dilute one part cordial with five parts of water.

Orange syrup

This I have been busy making home-made orange syrup a la Mad og Bolig, as I need this very specific ingredients for something in connection with the upcoming Christmas Calendar 2016 starting from tomorrow.

This orange can be used on top of yogurt, pan cakes, ice cream, however this is not my purpose for making this syrup. Any idea what I need this orange syrup for ?

Orange syrup:

• 100 g water
• 250 g sugar
• ½ vanilla pod - only the corn
• 2½ dl freshly squeezed orange juice

1. Add water and sugar to the cooking pot, bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat, and let it simmer gently under lid for 30 minutes.
2. Add in the vanilla corn and orange juice, bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat, and let it simmer gently under lid for another 30 minutes.
3. Add boiling water into the storage bottle.
4. Drain the water and add the orange syrup into the bottle.
5. Store the bottle cold in the refrigerator.

Blackberry jam & cordial

In the weekly magazine Søndag (issue 31/2016) I found this recipe on blackberry jam & cordial, where I got the opportunity of using some more of by frozen blackberries, and thereby clear the stock in the freezer at work !!

I decided to stick to the recipe without making any modification, despite the fact that no pectin is used for making the jam. The reason is, that the jam is drained from the liquid phase after cooking, and the liquid phase is used as cordial. Normally I would use pectin to jelly the entire fruit and liquid phase into one spreadable/gellified jam.

Blackberry jam& cordial: - 2 glasses of jam and 2 bottles of cordial

• ½ vanilla pod - both corn and pod
• 650 g blackberries
• 390 g sugar
• 130 g water
• 2 strings of thyme

1. Add blackberries, water, sugar, vanilla pod & corn, thyme leaves and water into a cooking pot.
2. Bring to the boil, and let is boil gentle for 15 minutes.
3. Place the blackberry mass in a sieve, so split the mass into liquid and fruit phase.
4. Store the boiled blackberries as jam on glasses, which have been cleaned in boiling water before use.
5. Store the liquid phase as blackberry cordial on bottles, which have cleaned beforehand with boiling water.
6. Store cold.

Raspberry cordial with lime leaves

Besides from using some available frozen raspberries for various type of raspberry such as raspberry jam with star anise or claissic raspberry jam, you could also use frozen raspberries to make a refreshing raspberry cordial.

I have located this recipe on raspberry cordial in the weekly magazine Søndag, issue 32/2015. I have only made small modifications this recipe in form of changing the ratio.

Raspberry cordial with lime leaves:

• 600 g (frozen) raspberries
• 125 g water
• 300 g sugar
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 60 ml lime juice

1. Gentle cook up the raspberries, water, sugar and lime leaves in a cooking pot.
2. Let the cordial gentle cook for 5 mintues. Keep the lid on the cooking pot to keep the flavouring in the cordial.
3. Pour in the lime juice, and cook up the cordial again.
4. Pour the raspberry cordial in storage bottles.
5. Store the raspberry cordial cold in the refrigerator.

Elder flower cordial a la Lønnestræde

I have been twisting this elder flower cordial a la Palle into elder flower cordial a la Lønnestræde. I find this to be a very fitting name, as all the elder flowers are collected in the surrounding of Lønnestræde.

In order to have more classic version and light pale cordial I have been working with lemon, lime and sugar in light colour.

You should really try to make your version of elder flower cordial instead of buying an industry product in the supermarket. It is a very easy thign to make and the taste is just so much better !!!

It is very easy to see in the supermarket, when it is high season for making elder flower cordial at home, as the supermarkets are running out for the citric acid powder.

Elder Flower Cordial a la Lønnestræde:

• 40 elder flowers
• 2 lemons - organic - in thin slices
• 4 limes - organic - in thin slices
• 40 g citric acid
• 1.5  kg cane sugar
• 2 l water - boiling

1. Shake the elder flowers very, very well, so they are free from various insects. DO NOT use water for this cleaning step, as this will reduce the wonderful taste of elder flower significantly as you remove the "yellow" flavour dust/pollen.
2. Use a siccor to cut the flowers from the flower stem, as these apparently will increase the bitterness level in the final cordial.
3. Place the elder flower into a big bowl, which you can close with a lid at the end.
4. Slice the citrus fruit into thin slices. Add into the bowl.
5. Add the cane sugar on top
6. Add the citric acid as well.
7. Add the boiling water into the bowl.
8. Stir the sugar into solution, so it does not form a sediment on the bottom, which is difficult to dissolved later, when the cordial is cold.
9. Cover the bowl with the lid.
10. Let the content cool down to room temperature, before you place the bowl in the refrigerator.
11. Stir or shake the bowl daily during the infusion time.
12. Let the elder flower cordial infuse for 4 days in the refrigerator.
13. Sieve the cordial to remove all the different ingredients.
14. Prepare the glass bottles by by filling them with boiling water. I do not use any preservatives, so this is important to increase shelf-life of your cordial.
15. You can also use plastic bottles, if you want to freeze the cordial as another way of preserving it. Remember NOT to fill these bottles completely, as liquid will increase in volume, when turning into ice.
16. Enjoy the wonderful Summer time using this cordial as "plain" cordial mixing with water (with or without gas), mixing with wine or sparkling wine. Or mix it gin or vodka and lots of ice.

Rose syrup a la "Maden i mit liv"

 Quiet some time a go I found this recipe on rose syrup on the blog "Maden i mit liv". In connection with my "hunt" for lilacs for lilac cordial I passed by a long row of dog rose bush in my neighbourhood, and when I remembered two recipes, which were having dog roses as main and most important ingredient, one being rose syrup and he second being rose sugar.

Typically you will find dog roses along the coastline of Denmark, where this plant is an unwanted invasive plant. Dog roses are blooming in the June, right here and now you actually see, that the dog roses have started to turn their roses into rosehip, but you still have time for collecting your own dog rose petals.

The rose syrup can be used in drink and cocktails, as syrup on pancakes, ice cream or yogurt.




UPDATE June 2014:
This elder flower tea is another match made in heaven for the monthly blogging event Tea Time Treats have the theme of flower. Tea Time Treast is managed by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedge Combers. The theme for June 2014 has been selected by Karen to be "get floral in flaming June".

Rose syrup a la "Maden i mit liv":

• 100 g freshly picked rose hips rose leaves
• 400 g water
• ½ lemon - juice of it
• 200 g sugar

1. Rinse the rose petals well, so there is no unwanted animals left in them.
2. Add rose petals and water into a larger cooking pot. Bring roses and water to the boil and let everything simmer for 5-10 minutes. The cooking process is done with the lid on, so all the wonderful flavours remains inside.
3. Remove the cooking pot from from the heat and pass it through a fine sieve, removing the rose petals. Put pressure on the rose petals to get the every single drop of liquid out of them.
4. Add the liquid back into the cooking pot together with lemon juice and sugar.
5. Once the sugar is dissolved, the rose syrup is actually finished, however, you can boil it in to desired consistency.
6. Pour the hot syrup into bottle, which has been heated in advance with boiling water.
7. Store the rose syrup cold in the refrigerator.

Liliac cordial

One of the lovely smells of springtime here in Denmark is the magic smell of lilac blooming in garden and along the roadside together their wonderful colours of white, light purple, light pink and purple.

I had no idea, that you could use the lilac flowers for making jams or cordial. However I recently found some recipe on such on Facebook.

I first took myself the time yesterday for hunting the wonderful flower lilac. It is really at the end of the blooming season for lilac. And I was luckily to find a white lilac still blooming in the boundary of garden, where I hidden could cut the needed flower heads !!! I did not dare to cut the lilac in my neighbours front gardens !!!

I imaging, that I will use this lilac cordial for ice cream, cake and cocktails.

This lilac cordial is fitting perfect into the monthly blogging event Tea Time Treats, which is managed by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedge Combers. The theme for June 2014 has been selected by Karen to be "get floral in flaming June".

Lilac cordial a la "Mad og Bolig":

• 1½ organic lemon - thinly sliced
• 20 lilac flower heads
• 900 g sugar
• 30 g of citric acid
• 1250 g boiling water
• ¼ teaspoon Atamon (preservative) - optional

1. Remove all the small flower head from the the bunch of lilac flower, as the green part easily can give bitterness to the final cordial.
2. Put flower heads, sugar, citric acid and lemon slices into a big bowl.
3. Pour the boiling water over and stir a few times in it, so the sugar is dissolved.
4. Mix Atamon in some of the hot juice and add it to the mixture.
5. Cover the bowl with a lid or cling film
6. Let the mix stand in refrigerator for 3 days.
7. Sieve the liquid into clean bottles.
8. Store the lilac cordial in the refrigerator.

Pomegranate syrup

It is high season for pomegranates, which is so fully of taste, bursting texture, vitamin C and some active ingredients being of great benefit for your facial look, as they perhaps will remove your wrinkles !!!

I am making pomegranate syrup, as I will be needing this specific syrup for Valentine´s Day this upcoming Friday for two recipes, the first one in the very morning and the second in the evening. Well, you have to look into my kitchen on Valentine´s Day to see, what is going on :-)

Pomegranate syrup:

• 1 pomegranates
• 50 g sugar
• ½ tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Divide the pomegranate into 4 pieces. Remove the kernels. Do this over a cooking pot, so you do not waste the wonderful juice of pomegranate.
2. Add lemon juice, water and sugar to the pomegranate kernels in the cooking pot.
3. Let it boil for approx 10 minutes, while stirring regular.
4. Pass the pomegranate syrup through a sieve and collect the syrup.
5. Cool down the syrup.
6. Store the syrup in the refrigerator.

Classic rhubarb cordial - easy to make

As I still had some rhubarb stems left from my visit to the garden in Horsens, I decided to make the very last portion of rhubarb cordial of 2013 !!!! This time I used another old recipe clipping from a Danish magazine, where I again have no idea of the original source.

Have a look at the picture of this rhubarb cordial, is it not an amazing dark red colour it is having ? Wauuw I am crazy with this red colour, which I know my cousin will be as well.

Classic rhubarb cordial:

• 500 g rinsed rhubarb - chopped in to smaller chunks (fresh or frozen)
• 500 g water
• 600 g sugar

1. Cut the rhubarb into pieces of 2 cm.
2. Add water, sugar and rhubarb into a the cooking pot.
3. Cook it up and left it cook for 5-10 minutes.
4. I prefer to keep the lid on the cooking pot on as much as possible in order to keep the  volatile part of the rhubarb flavour inside the cordial instead of loosing to the air.
5. Remove the cooking pot and place it away from the stove, let it rest for 1 hour
6. Remove the rhubarb pieces from the cordial part using a sieve.
7. Pour the rhubarb cordial into bottles, which have been standing with boiling water for 5-10 minutes.
8. Store the rhubarb cordial in the refrigerator or freeze, as it no anti-microbial have been added.
9. The rhubarb pieces in the sieve can be turned into a rhubarb compote, which I decided to do. I add sugar until desired sweetness level and juice of ½ lemon. Stir everything well together and place the rhubarb compote in the freezer for later use in desserts.

Perch Hill Rhubarb cordial with orange and star anise

Rhubarb cordial with orange and star anise

I have found this specific recipe on Perch Hill Rhubarb cordial created by Sarah Raven in the Country Living issue May 2013. And more and less at the same time my good friends living in Horsens shared some photos from their garden with me, and here I noticed rhubarb in full growth. I took this a sign, that it was about time I made this season first rhubarb cordial.

My own rhubarbs are also growing, but they are less abundant, so I need a good starting portion from my friends´ garden in Horsens, which were delivered in person by my good girl friend.

If you wonder, why I have placed tulip heads in the cover picture with the rhubarb cordial, the reason is very simple. Hannibal the Cat, my BIG garden lion with a fighting weight of 7 kg, which is a big mouse hunter is also keen on bitting of the tulip heads of the growing tulips in my garden.

You should really try this rhubarb cordial, it has a great taste with an elegant touch of star anise.


Perch Hill Rhubarb cordial with orange and star anise:

• 2 kg rhubarb stems, roughly chopped
• 1.5 kg cold water
• 2 oranges (organic), 8 strips of the peel and juice from both fruits
• 8-10 star anise
• 600-800 g sugar



All the tasty ingredients prior to cooking

• 2-3 lemons

1. Cut the rhubarb stems into larges pieces, into pieces of 2 cm.
2. Add water and rhubarb into a the cooking pot. Add orange peel, orange juice and the star anise.
3. Cook it up and left it simmer gently for 5-10 minutes, until the rhubarb stems starts to look like rhubarb mash.
4. I prefer to keep the lid on the cooking pot on as much as possible in order to keep the  volatile part of the rhubarb flavour inside the cordial instead of loosing to the air.
5. Remove the cooking pot and place it cold away from the stove, let it rest for min. 1 hour
6. Remove the rhubarb pieces, orange peels and star anise from the cordial part using a sieve.
7. Mix rhubarb juice, lemon juice and sugar together, small addition of each ingredients, so you can adjust the sweetness and freshness to your desired preference.
8. Place the cooking pot on low heat and only heat up until, the sugar has been dissolved.
9. Pour the hot rhubarb cordial into bottles, which have been standing with boiling water for 5-10 minutes.
10. Store the rhubarb cordial in the refrigerator or freeze, as no anti-microbial have been added.

Rhubarbs growing in my garden

Lemonade with clementines and bergamot

Some weeks ago I found a recipe on lemonade made from clementines and bergamot in the weekly newsletter issue 6/2013, so when I located a bergamot in my weekly vegetable box, I knew at once, that I wanted to make lemonade.

The peel of the bergamot has a lovely flavour of bergamot, which I recognise from Earl Grey tea. However, the in-side of the bergamote taste of a normal lemon.

This lemonade is a wonderful combination of sweetness and flavour of the clementines with freshness from the bergamote.

Bergamot can also be turned into bergamot-orange jam.

Lemonade with clementines and bergamot:

• 500 g (organic) clementines - peel from ½ the clementines and juice from all clementines
• 1 (organic) bergamot - peel and juice
• 100 g sugar
• 600 g water

1. Peel the clementines (½ of the fruits) and bergamot with potato peeler, avoid to have to much of the white part of the peel.
2. Squeeze all the citrus fruits and add the juice into a small cooking pot together with all the peels.
3. Add sugar and water into the cooking pot as well. You can increase the sugar amount, if you want more sweetness in your lemonade.
4. Cook the lemonade up to the boiling point and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Keep a lid on the cooking pot, so you maintain as much flavour in the lemonade as possible.
5. After 5 minutes cooking, remove the cooking pot from the stove and let it rest for another 15 minutes.
6. Pass the lemonade through a sieve and fill into storage bottles.
7. Cool down the lemonade.
8. Serve the lemonade with plenty of ice cubes.

Cheers :-)