Blackcurrant Cordial

After such a good start to the month August has been going downhill ever since and Monday was no exception. Although we had some sunshine it was cool and windy. Not really a very August like day.

Our blackcurrants, Ben Connan and Ben Lommond, planted in 2010 have produced an excellent crop of fruit this year. One great benefit is that the fruit remains on the bushes in good condition over a long period of time. As blackcurrants are time consuming to pick this is a big advantage.

By the 08 July we had berries starting to turn black and we've been picked blackcurrants on a regular basis since and we still have a few berries left to pick.

Jostaberries on the left and blackcurrants to the right

With lots of berries to use, encouraged by the success of our elderflower cordial made a few weeks earlier, I decided to have a try at making some blackcurrant cordial. The recipe I chose to use can be found here. It seemed a good choice as it’s easy to adjust the quantities based on how much juice is extracted from the fruit.

A word of caution. If you're worried about a little staining stay clear of blackcurrants as everything takes on the black colour of the fruit. I thought my faithful muslin bag was a gonna but after several sessions of being boiled in a pan of water it’s restored to a useable state.

The process is straightforward but I think it’s a matter of luck whether or not your cordial sets like a jelly or remains liquid. Having tried ours out it does make a delicious drink diluted with ice cold sparkling water.  

It does need a bit of a stir to mix up the thick undiluted cordial. The cordial that settles out towards the bottom of the glass is especially tasty a sort of sweet blackcurrant goo that takes its time to slide down the glass and into your mouth.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett