;)

Rhubarb & strawberry cordial: 

Ingredients:

– 250g Rhubarb (roughly chopped in to chunks)

– 100g ripe British strawberries – they’re the sweetest and of course the best! (cut in to halves)

– 600g water

– 5 tablespoons caster sugar

(stir in 3 level tablespoons of citric acid to the hot mixture before straining if you’d like your cordial to be preserved for longer – personally I think it can affect the taste a little so prefer to not include and just use within 4 days of bottling.) 

– makes around 1 pint of coridal –

Instructions: 

1. Place the rhubarb, strawberries and water in to a saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. once boiling, turn the hob down and leave to simmer for 10 minutes or until all of the fruit is nice and soft.

3. Give the fruit a good mash with a potato masher so that all of the juices are extracted from the fruits.

4. Add the sugar and give it a good stir until it dissolves. Taste, and if you think it requires a little more sweetness, add a little more sugar to taste (remember this will be used as a cordial so it should taste pretty sweet at this stage!)

5. Leave to simmer for a further 5 minutes

6. Place a piece of muslin inside a sieve and strain the juices from the fruit over a bowl – this might take around 10 minutes as there’s a lot of fruit for it to seep through.

7. Pour the still hot strained fluid in to a sterilised bottle, seal and place in the fridge.

(Consume within 4 days if not adding citric acid)

Rhubarb & Strawberry Gin Fizz Cocktail:

1. Place lots of ice in to a nice tall glass

2. Add 1 part gin (use a good one! there are so many great British gins around at the moment)

3. Add 2 parts of your rhubarb and strawberry cordial

4. Add 3 parts tonic water

– stir, kick back, and enjoy :)