Damson or Bullace Cordial
We have a wide variety of Damson/Bullace in the hedgerows of Cookham. For this recipe I pick from the trees that bear larger fleshier fruit … which I think ar Bullace … but it doesn't really matter.
Servings 1 Litres
Ingredients
- 1 kg Damsons
- 300 ml Water
- 1 kg Caster Sugar
Instructions
- Place the fruit and water in a large saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Mash the fruit with a potato masher and then simmer for about 45 mins.
- Line a large sieve with a fine cotton teatowel over a large bowl. Tip the fruit in and allow to drip overnight. NOTE : I have a very fruit stained tea towel I keep for making cordials and jellies.
- In the morning, squeeze the teatowel to get out a wee bit more juice.
- Measure the resulting juice and pour into a large pan. For each 1 litre of juice add 700g of sugar. Heat the mixture gently to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat.
- Pour into warm, sterilized bottles leaving a 1cm gap at the top. Seal the bottles. I use Kilner bottles with the spring top stopper.
Notes
For more details on making cordials from various fruits, see teh excellent River Cottage Handbook No. 2, Preserves by Pam Corbin