Raspberry Cordial

Inspired by the classic novel Anne of Green Gables, this raspberry cordial is a sweet, fruit-infused drink to be served as a summer treat or as a base for cocktails. 

Yield: 6 servings 

Ingredients

• 750 grams fresh raspberries (3x 6 oz ½ pint containers or 5 cups fresh berries)
• 1.5 cups white sugar
• 6 cups water
• 1 lemon, juiced and strained

Directions

1. In a large pot, combine the fresh raspberries, sugar and a splash of water and heat over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring periodically to prevent scorching.
2. As the sugar dissolves and the mixture heats up, the raspberries will start to break up and create a sort of puree. Add the remainder of water and bring the pot to a low simmer.
3. Once the pot starts to simmer, turn the heat down to low. Gently simmer for 15 minutes to extract all the flavor from the fresh raspberries. Keep the temperature as low as possible to retain as much of the natural flavor of the raspberries and to keep the mixture from boiling over.
4. Strain the entire mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Gently mash the hot berry pulp to squeeze as much juice and flavor out of the raspberries as possible.
5. Once the juice is strained, place it in the refrigerator. Once cooled, add the strained lemon juice and mix well. Pour into clean glass bottles and serve or store in the refrigerator for a week.  

Tips

• By mashing the raspberries, the cordial will be cloudy, though this will not affect the flavor. To remove cloudiness, strain the juice a second time through a food-grade microfilter or clean linen cloth.
• To keep your raspberry cordial fresh for as long as possible when storing in the fridge, fill bottles as close to the top as possible, leaving less than an inch of headspace (for a lesser chance of bacteria growth).
• For longer-term storage, the raspberry cordial can be bottled and canned as per standardized canning methods for fruit juices.

Recipe and image courtesy of Earth, Food & Fire