This is a companion to the recipe for Rhubarb Gin and offers an alternative for those who do not like gin or who do not drink alcohol. Children love it too although sometimes more when they are not told that it has rhubarb in it! There are many recipes for Rhubarb Cordial but this is the very simplest and requires minimal skill or time to make although you do need to leave it overnight before you can enjoy it. It is very versatile and can be used to make non-alcoholic drinks or used as a flavouring in alcoholic cocktails. It can also be used as a flavouring in cooking when making cakes and puddings. As with the Rhubarb Gin, you can add additional flavours to your taste – some are suggested in the recipe but feel free to improvise!
Print
Rhubarb Cordial
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 1 litre 1x
- Category: Cordial
- Cuisine: English
Description
Sweet and zesty Rhubarb Cordial is an easy way of capturing the flavour of rhubarb for use in drinks and food recipes.
Ingredients
- 1 kg rhubarb stalks
- 600 g caster sugar
- 1 litre of water
- Juice of 1 lemon
Ingredients (variations)
- If you wish to try different flavours you could add one of the following additions: 1 vanilla pod or other spices (cardamon and star anise go well with rhubarb) or 5 slices of fresh root ginger
Instructions
- Wash the rhubarb stalks thoroughly. Cut into 3 cm pieces.
- Put the rhubarb pieces, sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Then allow to simmer for 10 minutes until the rhubarb is very soft.
- Take the saucepan off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.
- Strain the mushy juices through a muslin-lined funnel into a bowl or jug. It takes a while for the juice to filter through and the process can be done overnight in your fridge.
- The juice that has filtered through the funnel is your Rhubarb Cordial and is ready to use.
- The Rhubarb Cordial will keep in a sterilised bottle in your fridge for around a month. Alternatively, you can freeze it – best to do this in ice-cube trays – and it will keep for up to six months.
Notes
To sterilise your bottle, you can wash in warm soapy water, rinse thoroughly and then dry off for around 15 minutes in an oven set to 140C/120C fan/gas 1.
Rhubarb Cordial is very versatile and can be combined with soda or tonic to make a non-alcoholic drink or added to a glass of prosecco or added to gin or vodka as a flavouring for cocktails. It can also be poured over vanilla ice-cream to make a quick pudding and used as a culinary ingredient to add flavour.
