Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts

Monday, 30 June 2014

Two Batches Of Elderflower Cordial

About two weeks ago I made my first ever batch of elderflower cordial. Once we tried it I set about making another batch a few days later - it tastes so good!
No Elder flowers on our plot this year so we had to go to a friends house and pinch some of theirs!
I picked a bag full of elderflower heads, grated three lemons and then left the whole lot to infuse over night by pouring 2 litres of boiling water over it.
The next day I added the juice of the lemons and added a table spoon of citric acid and a kilo of sugar, I then heated this up in the saucepan until it boiled before adding it to some Kilner bottles that had been sterilised (and warmed) in the oven.
I also made some ice lollies out of the mixture which should be nice and refreshing on a summers day.
 I've read that this will only keep a couple of months but I doubt there's much chance of it lasting that long. I'd like to try and pasteurise some cordials in the future so we could keep them a lot longer without freezing them and maybe reduce the number of the ones that we buy. I thought this might last longer than that due to the sugar content. If I see a Berco boiler at a car boot sale it might be worth me trying it, I think you need to heat it at 70 degrees for a few minutes to kill all the bugs. 
Blackcurrent cordial next I think! Anyone else been making cordials?

Monday, 27 January 2014

Fruit Tea

Or as it affectionately gets called by my workmates "Gay Tea".
I'm not your usual builder -I don't drink tea or coffee.
In fact I've never drunk a full mug of either.
Most of the year I just drink water.
But when it's cold and your working outside you need something to warm you up.
I settle for a fruit tea. I get a lot of stick about my choice of drink (not helped by the fact it says "Fresh and Fruity" on the front of the box) but I really enjoy them and I don't think I would have survived working on a roof the last couple of weeks without them!
But I'm always on the look out to cut costs or try something else, so I wanted to ask if anyone makes their own from scratch and does it cut it when compared to the ones you can buy? If it does give me the recipe or link and I'll try it!
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