Rhubarb cordial advice anyone?

[JillStephens7]

Hello

I've got some rhubarb and I've found a cordial recipe, just wondered if anyone had any experience or advice?

Basically recipe is: Chop up 3kg rhubarb & cook slowly with 150ml water til mushy.

Strain through muslin overnight.

Bring juice to 75degC with 750g sugar & 75 ml lemon juice per litre.

I love rhubarb cordial so will give this a whirl unless anyone has a better recipe or shouts "NO"! really loudly

Good wishes, Jill

[MKG]

I'd wait for the cordial gurus rather than listen to me - but that's an awful lot of lemon juice!

Mike

[Millymollymandy]

Ain't no guru but I've made 3 different kinds of cordial and wonder why you would put lemon juice in rhubarb cordial? given how acidic/sour rhubarb is anyway. For flavour? But I don't really get it - unless this is for preserving purposes?

Let us know how it is anyway!

[Shirl]

I found this;
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/515827

Lemon juice often used to aid preserving where no citric or tartaric acid used. That is my guess. I would compare to other recipes.

Hope it helps

[MKG]

Hmmm - I agree that an acid environment aids in preservation. The problem here is that heating sucrose (normal sugar) in the presence of an acid - particularly citric acid - inverts at least some of the sugar. Invert sugar, although sweeter than sucrose, doesn't have the preservation qualities that sucrose has. So it's swings and roundabouts as far as keeping times are concerned. However, citric acid (thus lemon and orange juice) also affects taste markedly.

75 mils of juice is about equivalent to two lemons or oranges, I think. Mix that with rhubarb juice (already pretty acidic) and you have a very acidic mixture which some might like, I suppose, but I certainly wouldn't.

However, all of this is mere opinion. Best thing, I suppose, is to try it - but don't forget to come back and tell us how very wrong we were (or not )

Mike

[Shirl]

Wow...I am impressed....Don't know the science behind it but what an explanation

[JillStephens7]

Well, yum yum

I didn't make much in case it was horrid (about 500mls from 1/2 kg rhubarb? - if this seems way out it probably is as I can't necessarily remember but I think it was something like this).

It is in fact quite delicious . Very sweet and gloopy (sweeter than I usually like but very forgiveable given how rhubabrby it is). I also added some angelica (as I always do when cooking rhubarb as I once read (?) it help counteract the acidity). Maybe that's not so great for preserving it but I don't think itll be around very long this time anyway .

THe only other thing I thought of as to why there is lemon juice is added is if it helps keep the lovely pink colour? (Like you squeeze lemon over things to stop them browning)

Anyway I'll definitely be making some more of this, maybe add some ginger next time or OH likes the idea of plum and rhubarb cordial

MKG I'm struggling to see a way round the 'heating the sugar with an acid' conundrum unless I just froze it instead of bottling, as then I wouldn't need to heat it at all?

Cheers Jill

PS What cordial next?

[Millymollymandy]

Goodo! Now go and make it again without the lemon.......