End of the Road Ranch

How to make any fruit cordial

Well, yesterday dh came home and said that the same clients sent another box of lemons and a box of oranges.  Oh Boy!!??!!   I think that this is a way to test my resolve on the "Waste not, want not" effort.  I don’t need anymore dried zest - last weeks lemons made three full spice bottles of it, but who couldn’t use more lemon juice.  I think I will use a veggie peeler to remove large chunks of peel (no white pith) and candy both the lemon and the orange peel this way.  We will drink the orange juice right away - I'll just juice a little every morning and I'll continue to freeze the lemon juice in 1/3 cup servings in the muffin tins.  I really like the idea posted by Jamie yesterday about slicing the lemons very thin and soaking them in sugar overnight and just adding water - sounds delicious, but how do you preserve them for the whole summer?

Last year I dehydrated thin slices of grapefruit and orange to drop into punch bowls and pitchers.  I used the grapefruit slices this weekend to decorate some lemonade but found that it made it bitter after it sat for a while (it tasted like grapefruit in the lemonade - duh!).  So next time I used the orange slices; it wasn’t as pretty, but it tasted a lot better.  If I had my dehydrator I would do the same with the lemons. 

Okay - here is the way I make cordial.  It ends up as sweet as you like, butt remember it seems to get smoother after it has sat for a few months.  I have read that you can make it out of any fruit or fruit combo you like.  So far I have done sweet cherries, plum and a combo of the two, and am now trying the lemon.  Get creative - think pineapple & coconut, or strawberries & bananas, or be boring like me and make cordial out of anything you are tired of processing any other way. 

• Cut washed fruit into chunks. 
• Put in a mason jar, a quart size if you want about a quart of finished cordial, a pint if you want a pint, etc.  Just drop them in loosely and don’t fill all the way to the top. 
•  Pour a middle grade vodka over the fruit until fruit is entirely covered (you could use a brandy, or any pure alcohol, but you can really taste the alcohol when it is done, at least with the vodka).  Let this sit about a week, shaking whenever you get the urge.  Pour off the vodka into another clean jar and label Batch 1. 
• Now the fruit has soaked up a large about of the vodka and should not spoil.  With the soaked fruit still in the original jar pour enough sugar over it to thoroughly coat all of the fruit, put the lid back on and put back on the shelf.  This will leach out a lot of the vodka from the fruit within about a day or so.  When it doesn’t appear to be giving off any more juice, pour out the juice into yet another clean jar and label it Batch 2. 
• Repeat this last step by pouring more sugar over the original fruit about 2 more times, labeling the poured off liquid Batch 3 and Batch 4.  Each batch will have progressively less alcohol, but more sugar.  Now I usually discard the fruit, but some people use it as an ice cream topper, or? 
• Now you have 4 jars with liquid in it.  Take another clean large jar and mix the 4 batches to taste.  I use all of the last 2 batches and then play with adding enough of the first two batches to get it to taste right - I like it sweet.  If you have more of batch 1 leftover at the end pour it over more fruit and do the whole thing again. 
• Once you have it right put it in a pretty bottle and put some neatly sliced or whole fruit in it for looks. 
• Let it mellow for a few months - if you can wait.  I serve after dinner in SMALL cordial glasses - about 5 sips each (like I said yesterday - we aren’t big drinkers.)

Have a great morning!  Write a love letter to your husband or wife!

lemonade

{ 06:41 , Tuesday, March 27, 2007 } { Posted by Pattisea }

I have always wanted to get a bunch of lemons so I could can lemonade.

Have you tried that?

Patti