Strawberry lemon cordial and Spring!

I know I’m a little late jumping on the bandwagon, but it’s Spring and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

My favourite flower in the entire world happens to be the freesia, which only rears its gorgeous little head for the shortest period of time. Spring is that time. If you’ve not seen a freesia before, I’ll give you a little crash course.

They’re small, predominantly white flowers that grow best in the wild. They like company; four or more flowers will grow, side-by-side, on the same stem. They’re trumpet shaped and tend to have shades of purple and yellow dabbed around the outer edges.

Domesticated versions of the freesia come in vivid reds and yellows, but they’re not as sweetly scented as the wild versions. The wild ones have a perfume that puts other flowers to shame. It’s sweet and light, not as brash as a gardenia, or as refined as a rose. Freesias are delicate, gorgeous and modest.

These next few weeks you’ll find me plucking freesias from nature strips and road sides, where they’ve sprung up without warning and flourished. The ones that I happened to pick also housed this little guy, who managed to hide until the morning after I’d picked them. He gave me quite a fright!

Freesias are just one of the things I love about Spring, though! The increasing amounts of sunshine means that more people are outside – there are picnics to be had, barbecues to fire up and dogs to be walked – I love it!

As well as a recipe for a fresh little batch of homemade cordial  (perfect for picnicking!) I’ve put together a little list of the things that I’m lusting over this Spring. Let me know what Spring means to you!

Lemon strawberry cordial

Makes about 4 cups.

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 250g strawberries
• ¾ cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
• 2 ½ cups water

Blend your strawberries and sugar together for 30 seconds. The moisture in the strawberries should dissolve the sugar, so you won’t end up with crunchy cordial.

Strain your strawberry puree to remove some of the seeds. You won’t get rid of all of them, so don’t worry about being too pedantic, but running it through a sieve once will get rid of a large portion of them and make the finished product less bitty. Squish any pulp left over through the strainer with a wooden spoon to get the most out of your fruit. Discard the seeds.

Pour your lemon juice in with your strawberry puree and mix well.

Add you water to the lemon and strawberry mixture to taste. I recommend ¾ – 1 cup of puree per cup of water.

This cordial is a little bit more grown up than the ones I remember from my youth. It’s tart and cloudy, as opposed to saccharine and neon bright. If it’s too tart for you, add in a couple of extra teaspoons of sugar.

Serve with plenty of ice and enjoy in the sunshine. You could also jazz this cordial up with the addition of delicious things like cucumber and Pimms, or vodka and frozen grapes.

 

 

 

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