Only the Easiest Raspberry Cordial Recipe in the World

In lieu of Writing Gauntlet updates (while Moonrise is chugging along, I can feel the three stories deadline slipping Cliffhanger-like through my fingers): the easiest, raspberriest cordial recipe in the world (shamelessly nicked from Jackie French):--


Raspberry Cordial

Ingredients:
1 cup raspberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp tartaric acid

Method:
1. Put everything in a saucepan, boil for about five minutes (or until everything breaks down into red, red syrup). Do stir as you go, or the sugar will probably burn on the bottom of the pan :).

2. Strain out the seeds (use muslin/cheesecloth, or just a fine sieve).

3. Bottle. Apparently keeps for three weeks in-bottle, but I reckon you can divide into smaller portions and freeze the stuff until needed. If it goes mouldy or cloudy or fizzy, please throw it out - I'm not ready to welcome our Cordial Overlords yet.


What makes this a great recipe - apart from the single pot and five minute cooking time - is that it's scalable. Got two cups of raspberries? Double everything else. Got half a cup? Halve everything else (though a spare half-lemon lying around is just annoying. Find another half-cup of raspberries).

And I can confirm that this is the reddest, most raspberry-flavoured drink you'll ever taste.