Peach Melba Cordial

I have been following the British Larder for a few years and love all their recipes. Madalene and Ross have a restaurant in Suffolk, England and how I wish I could eat there. All the meals are made with fresh, in season ingredients. They are beautifully presented and the flavours sound amazing.

Their website is full of wonderful simple yet complex recipes. I think this is the first one I have made at home. Raspberries and peaches were in my refrigerator when this recipe came into my email.

I keep all my vanilla pods after scraping out the seeds. There is still a lot of flavour and they are rather expensive. I used 2 or 3 scraped vanilla pods for this and the flavour was perfect.


Peach Melba Cordial from The British Larder

•  2 cups very ripe peaches, stoned and roughly chopped
• 3 cups  sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
• 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 4 cups cold water
• 1 teaspoon citric acid

Place all the ingredients, apart from the citric acid, in a medium saucepan over a low heat and leave the pan uncovered. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then just leave the pan over the low heat for 20 minutes – the fruits are steeping during this time and the mixture does not need to boil. Don’t be tempted to increase the heat as this will change the flavour.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the citric acid and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Pass the liquid through a piece of muslin cloth into a bowl or jug (use the steeped fruits left in the muslin as a compote served over yoghurt for breakfast). Pour the cordial into sterilised bottles and seal. Keep refrigerated until needed. The unopened bottles of cordial will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. Once opened, keep refrigerated and use within 1 week. Alternatively, freeze the cordial in portions (in freezer bags), then defrost and use as required.
Makes 1 - 2 quarts

Peach Melba Spritzer
For each serving, fill glass with ice, pour about half way with cordial and top up with soda water. For a sweeter drink, use carbonated lemonade. Decorate with fresh raspberries and peach slices. Serve

Peach Melba Collins
For each serving, fill glass half full with ice, pour equal portions cordial and gin, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Then add a few crushed frozen raspberries and a slice of fresh peach. Top the glass up with soda water, stir and serve.

Peach Melba Martini
Place martini glass in refrigerator to chill. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add 1 part gin or vodka, 2 parts Martini Dry and 2 parts cordial. Shake vigorously. Strain into chilled glass and serve immediately. 

After almost a month in the refrigerator this has been fermenting and has become fizzy. I wonder if there is any alcohol content now?