Bright red drinks (raspberry cordial)

"I love bright red drinks, don't you? They taste twice as good as any other colour." So said Anne Shirley in one of my favourite childhood books, Anne of Green Gables, in the raspberry cordial scene. I was reminded of raspberry cordial yesterday when I took a look around the garden to see it had been overrun with raspberry canes. Nothing else for it but to brave the jungle and pick as many as we could to make raspberry cordial to sip on Christmas Day – a day that certainly calls for a bright red drink.

• makes

  1 litre

• prep

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 300 g raspberries
• 220 g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 1 litre (4 cups) boiling water
• still or sparkiling water, to serve

Resting time 3 days

Instructions

In a large bowl, place the raspberries and sugar, then pour over the boiling water. Give it a quick stir and allow to steep overnight.

In the morning, pour it all through a strainer into a large jug, but don't push the fruit through or the cordial will become cloudy. The fruit left in the strainer will be pale but you can eat it on pancakes or stir it through yoghurt.

Pour the syrup into a glass jar or bottle and store in the fridge for 2 days.

To serve, dilute the cordial with still or sparkling water still to taste and marvel at how good bright red drinks really do taste.

Recipe from Hugo and Elsa by Michelle Crawford, with photographs by Michelle Crawford.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.