I am in the process of making some adjustments 'round these parts. I will be trying out some recipes for tooth powder, laundry detergent and possibly perfume. But today I wanted to try to find a replacement for the drink of choice for the 7 and under crowd around here. They love lemonade. They only drink water (not as much as I would like, this is another story), milk (not much), kefir and lemonade. Trouble is, I don't always have lemons, so often times I rely on bottled lemon juice. Unfortunately, this contains preservatives and that has been really bothering me.
In my search to replace this, I have taken a cue from my favorite Aussie blog, Rhonda Hetzel's
Down to earth, and tried a fruit cordial. It is delicious!
Please check out her blog for recipes as well as many other homemade delights, as it is great! I used what I had on hand: a bag of frozen mixed berries, 2 tsp. citric acid and some sugar. I made a simple syrup of 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar. I put it in the blender with about 300 grams of berries and the citric acid and blended until liquefied. I strained it through a cheesecloth into a glass container. Ahhhh, then I added some of this cordial (to taste) with ice water. So fresh and wonderful! This would be great with mineral water or soda water too. I found it excellent with plain old ice water though, but a squueze of lemon would have made it even better!.
This is supposed to last for 2 weeks, but I think it probably won't be here that long. It would be easy enough to halve this recipe if you only have a couple people in your home. We will see if this becomes a staple around here and will try it with other fruits too. I know some people have an issue with giving their family sugar, but for me, right now, I would be happy just cutting out preservatives.
If you have had experience with making fruit cordials, please comment! This is all new to me :)
