Every year
before returning to work, I spend a day or two working on preserving some of
our abundant red currants in the form of jam, cordial, and of course freezing.
Last year I
made a simple cordial with one part vodka, one part sugar, and one part
berries. Several months later when I was
finished I realized it was rather thick and icky sweet, so I mostly used it on
ice-cream -- where it actually was delicious. But not wanting to make an overly
sweetened brew this year, I decided to cut out part of the sugar and use twice
as many berries.
Someone
explained to me that it is important to use alcohol that is at least 40 % for
berry cordials, so this year I bought a slightly stronger vodka than the one I
used last year. Now, I will strain the mix before Christmas so we all will have
to wait to know if the recipe I used this time was any good…..
2013
cordial
-
500
ml 40 % vodka
-
250
g white sugar
-
1
kg ripe red currants
Place all
ingredients in a sterile glass jar and shake daily till the sugar is all
dissolved, then store in a dark cupboard and forget about it till Christmas
when you will then strain it and hopefully
- enjoy !
For red
currant jelly that is easy and keeps well, here is the link to last years post :
I often
read the label of commercial ‘ like homemade’ jams, and am surprised at the
extra ingredients they add to their jams. Mine are made with only berries,
sugar and water and if properly canned keep for a year or two ( we always
manage to eat them before the second year is over, so I cannot say if they last
longer or not ).
People have
a silly phobia of sugar, but pure sugar is less harmful than sweetening agents,
preserving agents, taste enhancer and all the other artificial flavoring and
junk companies add to their products.
If eaten in
small quantities, with moderation and keeping a
normal daily dental hygiene routine, there should be no guilt in eating
home preserves that were made the traditional way.
 |
| Ingredients for cordial- berries, sugar, vodka |
 | |||
| Roland helping to strain the currant purre, a bit mess and stains everything so we have to be careful ! |
 |
| Elodie Lilies |
 |
| Rosy posing with the flowers |
No comments:
Post a Comment