In Regency (Jane Austen) times, cordial was a term used for a sweetened liquid given to invalids. What we refer to as cordial in Australia today was called 'waters'. So the recipe I made would be called:
Strawberry & Cardamom Waters
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups castor sugar
- 2 tab lemon juice
- 2 x 250g punnets of strawberries
- 1/4 tsp cardamom seeds
Hull and halve the strawberries. (Mine were large suckers so I quartered them.)
In a saucepan stir the water, castor sugar and fresh lemon juice over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Raise the heat and simmer the liquid until it has reduced to a light syrup.
Add the strawberries and dried cardamom pods (I put mine in a tea caddy so they wouldn't be hard to remove from the strawberry pulp at the end). Simmer this for about 20 minutes.
Let cool for another 20 - 30 min.
Discard the cardamom seeds. Strain all syrup from the liquid through a fine sieve. (This may take some time!) Bottle in a sterilised bottle and voila! Delicious but very rich cordial.
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