{"id":2480,"date":"2015-09-15T15:14:25","date_gmt":"2015-09-15T14:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merrybower.co.uk\/?p=2480"},"modified":"2020-07-07T19:16:39","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T18:16:39","slug":"simple-white-currant-cordial-sugar-sugar-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merrybower.co.uk\/?p=2480","title":{"rendered":"Simple White Currant Cordial – Sugar & Sugar Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is such a simple recipe for white currant cordial, and one we had a go at last year for a sugar-free version which used red currants instead (essentially the same berry, with more pigmentation).<\/p>\n

Every year we struggle to think of things to do with our white currants. I know there are many things we *can* do, but in reality, there’s only so much jelly you can eat, and we don’t eat enough meat to cook a portion up to accompany it when the berries are ripe. So as I stood by the two bushes we have, taking a break from turning some weeds over, I thought I’d look for a useful recipe that would keep, that didn’t involved freezing the blighters, which can be summed up as a ‘putting the (nice) problem off’ solution.<\/p>\n

Cordial was the answer. Everyone likes a drink, albeit sugar-laden, so at the end of this post I’ve also added a sugar-free version. It won’t keep for long, but as it’s sugar-free you won’t feel guilty gulping it down!<\/p>\n

Step 1 – Pick the currants! Bit obvious, but important, as it’s the step where you make sure you pick as many of the decent currants as possible, and none of the mouldy or dried currants. Just place a bag or similar under the currants and snip them off with a pair of scissors – easiest method. Jay cut ours on the promise that this drink, unlike many recent ones, was suitable for younger people!<\/p>\n

Step 2 – Wash the currants thoroughly – stalks and all. Discard any currants that look dodgy, get rid of stray leaves.<\/p>\n

\"2015<\/a>Step 3 – Place the currants in a pan – we use the invaluable, and much abused, jam pan. We started out with 3kg of white currants – stalks and all – don’t go to the trouble of removing them! We used to for some recipes, and it’s a needless pain if you’re going to seive the liquid anyway. Add 600ml of water for every kg.<\/p>\n

\"2015<\/a>Step 4 – Cook them gently until they’re soft and the skins have broken down. In reality I forgot ours and left them on their initial high heat for a while. Suz saved them, turned them down again, and there were no noticeable adverse effects.<\/p>\n

\"2015<\/a>Step 5 – Strain the juice. Finally, after several years of laying a cloth in a colander, we have invested in a strainer! Posh eh?! It’s one of those things you’d wished you’d done earlier, as we use the technique for so many things. They’ll drain pretty much instantly – I left them overnight and only gained an extra quarter cup of juice – not worth it really.<\/p>\n

\"2015<\/a>Step 6 – Add 700g of sugar to every litre of juice, in a pan, and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. I used demerara sugar, which doesn’t give the most pleasing final colour (dirty dishwater\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 brown!), but does taste delicious. For the sugar-free version I just added 15 sweeteners (Canderel tablets)\u00a0 to a half litre of juice.<\/p>\n

\"2015<\/a>Step 7 – Bottle the cordial in sterilised bottles.<\/p>\n

The final cordial should keep for several months, but the sugar free version I don’t think will last anywhere near that. In fact I popped mine in the fridge and give it a week maximum, to be safe. To see the effect sugar has on the \"2015<\/a>colour – the photograph to the right shows the sugar-free version in the foreground, with the two litres of juice with demerara sugar added behind.<\/p>\n

I used sterlising powder for the bottles, which you can buy at any homebrew shop, and the bottles are some I purchased in a sale at IKEA ages ago – they seem quite sturdy (better than the new Kilner bottles if I’m honest – more metal in the clips).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is such a simple recipe for white currant cordial, and one we had a go at last year for a sugar-free version which used red currants instead (essentially the same berry, with more pigmentation). Every year we struggle to think of things to do with our white currants. I know there are many things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,220,54,72,221,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-preserving","category-produce","category-recipes","category-soft-drinks","category-soft-fruit"],"yoast_head":"\nSimple White Currant Cordial - Sugar & Sugar Free - Merrybower Homestead<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Standard and sugar free white currant cordial recipe - as simple as you can get.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/merrybower.co.uk\/?p=2480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Simple White Currant Cordial - 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