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I was very proud of the elderflower cordial I made and it was a big hit with everyone. However, I got a bottle out of the cupboard yesterday and it was fizzing, and the others had mould on top!

The recipe called for tartaric acid, but I wasn't able to find this anywhere, and the chemist assured me that citric acid would do instead. Is this where I went wrong?

No idea about the acid - I always find that if I fill whatever it is (cordial, jam, stewed fruit) into the sterilised jars/bottles boiling hot, it keeps quite well. I made some rhubarb cordial last year, and it was still fine after half a year, without the use of any acid, and not too much sugar, either. I also read somewhere that it keeps better if you let it cool down sitting upside down - of course you need to use screwtop jars for that - so I do that. No idea whether it really is better or not. I still sometimes get a bit of mould on top of jam, but then I generally use less sugar than the recipe says, which is the "natural preservative" in jam (or cordials).

Ina

I never have any problem with jam, and I do pot that hot. I did sterilise the bottles for the cordial, but I don't think the cordial was boiling hot when I bottled it. That may be it.

I need to crack this, as I intend to have another go next year...

Could the fizzing bottle of cordial have turned into elderflower champagne? If it smells slightly alcoholic, it may still be tasty, if not quite in the way you intended.

Concentrate of elderflower champagne - now that would be worth making!!!

Ina

i don't believe that there's any major difference between citric and tartatic acid, and i don't think that the citric acid would prevent mould of pressure. try to wash utensils and equipment before use, and keep thing clean. that will help with the mould.

with the fizzing- why are you trying to stop it??? it means that its most probably alcoholic

ben

While Citric and tartaric acid are two different compounds (obviously) they would be interchangeable in this instance, being in there to give a tart flavour.

The stuf we make at home does not have preservative, so is bound to ferment sooner than the stuff we buy. That is just the nature of things I suppose!

Nev