Blackcurrant Cordial

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy-bottomed saucepan
• •Wooden spoon or potato masher
• •Fine sieve and muslin cloth (or clean tea towel)
• •Sterilised glass bottles with tight-fitting lids
• •Funnel

Instructions

1. 1

   Strip and rinse the currants

   Pull the blackcurrants from their stalks. The fine ones can stay, they'll be strained out later, but the bigger woody stems need to go. This is the sort of job you do at the kitchen table with the radio on. It takes as long as it takes. Rinse the fruit briefly in a colander and shake it dry.

   A fork run down the stems strips the currants quickly if you're impatient. I usually just use my fingers and stain them purple for the rest of the afternoon.
2. 2

   Crush and heat

   Tip the currants into a wide saucepan with the water. Crush them gently with the back of a wooden spoon or a potato masher. You're not making a puree, just breaking the skins so the fruit can give up its colour. Bring to a bare simmer over a medium heat. The water will turn from clear to pink to a deep, inky purple in about ten minutes. The kitchen should smell sharp and green and slightly floral, like a hedgerow after rain.

3. 3

   Simmer until softened

   Once it's simmering, turn the heat down and let the currants bubble gently for ten to fifteen minutes. The fruit will collapse into the liquid and the whole pan will go a colour so dark it looks almost black against the side of the pot. Take it off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes. Taste a spoonful of the juice. It should be bracingly tart, almost too much. That's right. The sugar is coming.

4. 4

   Steep overnight

   Cover the pan and leave it on the side overnight, or for at least eight hours. You can skip this if you're in a hurry, but the cordial is better for the wait. The flavour deepens and the colour darkens further. I usually do this last thing in the evening and strain it first thing the next morning, which feels like a very civilised way to start a day.

5. 5

   Strain the juice

   Line a sieve with a piece of muslin or a clean tea towel and set it over a large bowl. Tip the fruit and juice in and let it drip. Resist the urge to squeeze the muslin, it clouds the cordial. Let gravity do its work. An hour is usually enough, longer if you have it. You should end up with a glossy, dark juice the colour of a stained-glass window.

   Don't throw the pulp away. It's still full of flavour. Stir a spoonful through yoghurt, or fold it into a sponge batter. The notebook has a scribble next to this one: 'blackcurrant crumble cake, Wednesday.'
6. 6

   Sweeten and bottle

   Measure the strained juice and pour it back into a clean saucepan. Add the sugar and the lemon juice, and the citric acid if you're using it. Warm gently, stirring, until every grain of sugar has dissolved. Don't let it boil. You're making cordial, not jam. When it's glossy and smooth, pour into sterilised bottles and seal. It'll keep in the fridge for a month or so, longer with the citric acid. If you want to keep it for winter, decant into smaller bottles and freeze what you can't drink now.

Chef Tips

• •The fruit has to be properly ripe. A blackcurrant that's still reddish at the stalk end will give you a thin, sour cordial. Wait for them to go glossy and almost black, with a slight give when you press one between your fingers. Unripe fruit is the commonest reason a first attempt disappoints.
• •Sterilise your bottles properly. Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse, and dry them in a low oven for fifteen minutes. Cordial with sugar in it will keep for a long while, but only in a clean bottle. This is not the place to cut corners.
• •If you want to turn a bottle into a very good drink on a summer evening, pour a generous measure of cordial over ice, top with cold sparkling water, and add a slice of lemon. For something more serious, the same with a good gin. The cordial is also remarkable poured over vanilla ice cream.
• •Freeze what you can't drink within the month. A small bottle of blackcurrant cordial pulled out of the freezer in January is one of the better arguments for planning ahead.

Advance Preparation

• •The cordial needs at least eight hours of overnight steeping after the initial simmer, and straining takes another hour. Plan for a two-day project, even though the active work is small.
• •Sealed in sterilised bottles and refrigerated, the cordial keeps for about a month. With citric acid added, closer to three months.
• •Freezes beautifully in small bottles or even ice cube trays for up to a year. Leave headspace in the bottles for expansion.
• •The strained pulp can be refrigerated for a few days and stirred into yoghurt, folded through cake batter, or cooked briefly with a little more sugar into a rough compote for breakfast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)