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Advice on cordial please

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  • #1

    Advice on cordial please

    I have made my first ever cordial. It's redcurrant. Consists of redcurrants water and sugar.
    I think at the dissolving sugar stage I may have heated it a bit much as it seems the top of each bottle is trying to set like jam.
    The easy answer to me is put it back in the pan with a little more water and strain it again but is that really going to work? Is it beyond saving ?

    Redcurrant cordial 1 me 0

    Forgot to say it wasn't bubbling when the sugar was dissolving it was a low heat no boiling at all going on
    Last edited by Llevrah; 21-07-2016, 10:14 PM.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Firstly, did you use an actual recipe?
    Most recipes (for jam or cordial) will ask you to measure the strained juice and add a certain amount of sugar per pint of juice.
    Redcurrants do contain a lot of pectin (which is what makes jam 'set') but if you used the right amount of sugar and then didn't let it reach a rolling boil..it shouldn't set,

    Personally, I wouldn't add water or boil it again.
    Cordial should be concentrated to preserve the fruit so that you add water (or gin ) to taste when you serve it.
    Reheating it is what we do to make runny jam set firmer so don't do that.

    I'm quite new to redcurrant cordial (made my first batch half and half red and black currant this week) but I did worry it was too thick untill the next day when I could see it was still liquid.

    I think if it sets then call it jelly....I'm not sure there will be much else you can do... although Sparrow makes it and she might have a cunning plan.
    http://goneplotterin.blogspot.co.uk/

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    • #3
      Leave it as it is and pour it over ice cream. If you add more water it will be too weak for cordial. You could boil it a bit more and turn it into proper jelly.

      When I make cordial from either black or red currants I add the sugar and stirr until disolved and don't heat it. Then I bottle it and sterilize it.
      Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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      • #4
        My cordial recipes don't dissolve the sugar in hot water either, although it would obviously dissolve easier then . I make a syrup up by mixing a lot of sugar with cold water. I'd not add more water as you won't have the right amount of sugar that way and it won't keep.

        Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

        Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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        • #5
          Originally posted by muddled View Post
          Firstly, did you use an actual recipe?
          Most recipes (for jam or cordial) will ask you to measure the strained juice and add a certain amount of sugar per pint of juice.
          Redcurrants do contain a lot of pectin (which is what makes jam 'set') but if you used the right amount of sugar and then didn't let it reach a rolling boil..it shouldn't set,

          Personally, I wouldn't add water or boil it again.
          Cordial should be concentrated to preserve the fruit so that you add water (or gin ) to taste when you serve it.
          Reheating it is what we do to make runny jam set firmer so don't do that.

          I'm quite new to redcurrant cordial (made my first batch half and half red and black currant this week) but I did worry it was too thick untill the next day when I could see it was still liquid.

          I think if it sets then call it jelly....I'm not sure there will be much else you can do... although Sparrow makes it and she might have a cunning plan.
          Yep I used
          The Quince Tree: Redcurrant Cordial
          That there
          I was careful with the measurements as I wanted to make sure it would keep

          Comment

          • #6
            Originally posted by roitelet View Post
            Leave it as it is and pour it over ice cream. If you add more water it will be too weak for cordial. You could boil it a bit more and turn it into proper jelly.

            When I make cordial from either black or red currants I add the sugar and stirr until disolved and don't heat it. Then I bottle it and sterilize it.
            I'll try not heating it with the sugar in it next time then. Thanks

            Comment

            • #7
              Originally posted by Alison View Post
              My cordial recipes don't dissolve the sugar in hot water either, although it would obviously dissolve easier then . I make a syrup up by mixing a lot of sugar with cold water. I'd not add more water as you won't have the right amount of sugar that way and it won't keep.
              Hadn't thought about the sugar content not preserving it if I added more water. Thanks

              Comment

              • #8
                You may wish to consider using pectinase, sometimes sold as 'pectase'. It is commonly used in home wine making to inhibit the effect of pectin. It's easily and cheaply available from home-brew shops.

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