Cookbook challenge, week 1: Lemon Cordial

The theme for the first week of the challenge was citrus. Lemon was an obvious choice for me - I'm moving house and my old place has a lovely lemon tree in the backyard that I wanted to take advantage of. Homemade lemon cordial is wonderfully refreshing and additive-free, and a good way to use up excess fruit.

This recipe comes from a special cookbook - that of my father's! It's not an official cookbook, but I'm hoping I can get away with it this week as my 'real' books are buried deep in moving boxes. I did try another recipe from a Marie Clair cookbook, a prawn and lemon risotto, which I'll post once I find the book.

My dad has compiled a bunch of fantastic recipes over the years. He's especially known for his jams, sauces and relishes, as well as a spectacular abalone lasagne. If I catch any abalone this summer, I'll post it!



Reg's Lemon Cordial
Makes approx. 3 litres

Juice and finely grated rind of 8 medium–large lemons (approx 400mls of lemon juice/rind)
2kgs sugar
25g tartaric acid
50g citric acid
2L boiling water

Put all dry ingredients and lemon juice into a saucepan, then add boiling water slowly.
Bring to a gentle boil, mix to dissolve, then cool.
Bottle, and store in the fridge.
Serve diluted with water or soda-water according to taste.


I quite like it with soda water and a dash of vodka - very refreshing on a hot evening!

For other posts on this week's theme, see this post. I really want to try Gluten Shmooten's preserved lemon recipe to put a dent in the remaining couple of kilos of lemons I bought with me to my new house. I'd also like to make some lemon curd, and I'm sure I have a recipe in one of my cookbooks (actually, probably several!) somewhere.

Week 2's theme: Indian. Time to find and unpack the recipe books!