Blackcurrant cordial

A combination of having tons of soft fruit to pick in the garden this year, and having a fancy Thermomix machine to test for a magazine article in the kitchen for the next two weeks, has meant that I've been experimenting with lots of different recipes. A huge success this week has been a fruit cordial made, in my case, not from blackcurrants but from a fruit called 'casseille' - a cross between blackcurrants and gooseberries that grows really well here and is literally dripping with fruit at the moment. Its flavour is a perfect combination of the two fruits and the resulting cordial is wonderful. But this recipe also works really well with normal blackcurrants, and is perfectly fine cooked on the hob rather in a fancy-schmanzy machine (although it does make everything super, super easy).

I reckon the recipe would be good with other soft fruits too - trying it with redcurrants will be my next experiment.

Dilute it with still or sparkling water and add lots of ice - just what's needed on a day like today when it's forecast to get as hot as 37C here!

Blackcurrant cordial

450g blackcurrants (no need to top and tail them)
225g caster sugar
Juice of a lemon

Just before you start cooking, sterilise one or more glass bottles by filling them with boiling water, leaving for 1 minute and draining upside down. Cook the blackcurrants and sugar over a low heat with 250ml water until the berries start to break up. Mash with a potato masher and cook for a further 5 mins until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer for another 10 mins. Add the lemon juice then strain through a sieve into jug. Pour into the bottles, seal them and leave to cool. Keeps in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

Makes 900ml

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