SHF#22: Can You Can? Rhubarb Cordial
Way back when I used to do a regularly scheduled blog, I ALWAYS took part in this brainchild of Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess - The Sugar High Fridays. Then stuff happened, I didn't blog much for a while and well, no SHF for me. Now I am blogging somewhat regularly - so what better way to celebrate that I've been doing more than one post in the past three weeks than to take part in Nicky & Oliver of Delicious Days' version of SHF: Can You Can?
And in fact, yes, I can can, (I can even do the cancan, but that's a whole other thing!) so this time, I chose to bottle instead. Hey, Nicky and Oliver said it was okay - at least that's how I interpreted the rules (there's a "bottle" in there somewhere, isn't there?)
Hence, I give to you: homemade rhubarb cordial. During the warm (wait, make that darn hot, as they have been here this year!) months, I drink a lot of water, as I'm told to do. I like flavoring it with cordial, and usually go for elderflower or the classic Ribena. I've never tried doing cordial myself because faced with the demand of buying sieving-contraptions and a lot of boiling when it's already hot outside, my head starts spinning. But this one was easy. No hoity-toity equipment needed, just a brief boil, a bit of sieving and a drain through some cloth, and you've got a nice, big bottle of homemade good stuff.
Rhubarb Cordial - from Camilla Plum
makes about 1,5 liters
1 kg. rhubarb, cleansed and cut into chunks
600 g. sugar (I'll try cutting it down slightly the next time - this one was very sweet)
1 l. water
Bring everything to a boil in a non-reactive pot. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes, then turn of the heat and leave to infuse for an hour. Sieve. Drain again through a cloth, to make a nice, non-cloudy cordial. You can use the leftover rhubarb in a rhubarb trifli for instance - the compote is a little more liquid than what I usually make, but I hate wasting things, so used it will be!
When I want to drink it, I usually thin it 1:4 cordial to water, but if you like it stronger or weaker, be my guest. You could use sparkling water for thinning. I also like to spritz a little lime in it - it is a very sweet adventure, this, and the lime gives it a little oomph.
What did you can? Or did you just cancan?:-)
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