Robinsons Fruit Cordial, Crushed Lime and Mint, 500ml pack of 8

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I’ve also made it with lemon balm, which gives a lovely, delicate flavour making it ideal to add to a glass of prosecco. It might not even have a lovely golden colour like the photo I took with the sun shining through it. In normal light, it’s probably going to be a rather murky olive green. Cover the pan with a lid and leaving to steep for another hour or so. The liquid will be golden in colour, rather than green.

However, even the first cordial we’d recognise as such, Rose’s Lime Cordial, was originally flogged for its supposed health-giving properties. Read more about the history of cordials. Straight from the bottle, the finished cordial does taste quite sweet. However, bear in mind that it’s going to be diluted for use. By all means reduce the amount of sugar if you prefer. But also remember that it’s sugar that’s doing the work of preserving, so reduced amounts may lower the cordial’s keeping properties. Because this is a very delicately flavoured drink, you can halve the quantity of sugar and drink it neat if you prefer a stronger mint taste. Or, you can freshen it up by adding a couple of bruised stalks of lemon grass for a lemon grass and mint Cordial. Usually a simple mix of juice and sugar, boiled for a short time only, they don’t have the long keeping qualities of jams and chutneys. Store cordials in the fridge and they should last for a month though.You could also make a stronger tasting cordial by increasing the amount of mint but keeping the water and sugar levels the same. Leave to cool before decanting into sterilized bottles and sealing. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Variations By the way, don’t expect your Mint Cordial to be a Crème de Menthe bright green: that’s fake colouring.

This is also the easiest of all cordials to make, so I’ve given you a recipe that makes a fairly small amount as it is worth making it fresh on a regular basis. However, it does keep, and you can even freeze it in small Tupperware containers if you’d rather make one large batch. Simply scale up the quantities and don’t be afraid to adjust the ingredients to better suit your own taste. Mint cordial might sound exotic but it’s fabulously easy to make and helps get rid of vast quantities of mint, which is always nice given how rampant it is in the summer months! The simplest way to enjoy Mint Cordial is of course to pour some in a glass over ice and top up with sparkling water, soda water, lemonade or ginger ale. Due to the scarcity of mint in my garden, the recipe at the end of the post makes a relatively small amount of Mint Cordial: approximately 225ml. But do double or even triple the amounts if you’ve plenty of mint.Despite having to eke it out over the huge amount of dishes I want to use it in right now, I’m so glad I reserved some of my precious mint for this fantastic Mint Cordial. Lightly bruise the mint leaves and two raspberries with a muddler (or small tonic bottle, salt shaker or similar) and leave them in a glass with the cordial for 10 minutes or more. Pour the mixture into two champagne glasses (or short glasses if you would prefer) and top up with sparkling water, for a sweeter drink use lemonade. Garnish with a raspberry. Cheers! Muddle the basil, cucumber and lime in a short glass. Add the Pressed Elderflower & Pear cordial and a squeeze of lime juice from the lime wedge. Fill the glass with ice and top with sparkling water. Stir everything together and garnish with a sprig of basil and a baton of cucumber. If you’ve made Mint Cordial, let me know what you think by rating the recipe and leaving a comment. Mint, closely followed by coriander, is my favourite herb. But I haven’t had a really good bed of mint going since the house we left in 1998.