How to make orange cordial

The balance problem

A cordial is drunk heavily diluted, which means the balance of sweet to sharp is the whole experience. Orange juice has a sugar-to-acid ratio that is pleasant to drink neat and flat when sweetened further and diluted.

Adding lemon juice restores the sharpness without changing the flavour much, since the aroma is coming from orange zest rather than from either juice. Roughly one lemon to every three or four oranges is a reasonable starting point.

A Seville orange, if you can get them, needs no lemon at all — it has plenty of acid and a bitterness that makes an unusually good cordial. Blood oranges sit between the two.

The method

Zest, rub, steep. FoodHQ does not publish keeping times or preservative quantities for home-made cordials. Those are safety numbers rather than matters of taste, and in the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority — follow its guidance on sterilising bottles and on storing, refrigerating and freezing what you make.

1. Scrub the oranges and the lemons. Zest them all, taking no pith.
2. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until the sugar is damp and orange-scented.
3. Add hot but not boiling water and stir until dissolved.
4. Juice the fruit and add the juice, plus citric acid if you are using it.
5. Steep in a cool place for several hours or overnight.
6. Strain through muslin. Taste, and add more lemon juice if it tastes flat — this is the adjustment that matters.
7. Bottle into sterilised bottles, or freeze in portions.

Which oranges

Valencia

The best juicing orange. Good acidity for a sweet orange and juice that does not turn bitter.

Navel

Sweet and easy to zest. The juice can go bitter within an hour of squeezing, so use it promptly.

Blood orange

Sharper and more aromatic. Makes a superb cordial, though much of the red colour is lost.

Seville

Bitter and very acidic. Needs no lemon and makes a distinctive, grown-up cordial.

Mandarins and clementines

Very sweet and low in acid. They need considerably more lemon.

Variations

• Orange and cardamom, with a few crushed pods in the steep.
• Orange and cinnamon, for a winter cordial served hot.
• Orange and bay, which is unexpected and works.
• Blood orange cordial, made the same way, with a deeper flavour.
• Seville orange cordial in January, which needs no lemon and is worth making for the season alone.
• Orange and rosemary, in the same spirit as lemon and thyme.
• Hot, with water and a cinnamon stick, in winter.

Serving it, and keeping it

A cordial is a concentrate, and almost every disappointment with a homemade one is a dilution problem rather than a recipe problem.

• Start at one part cordial to six or seven parts water and adjust. Homemade cordials are usually stronger than commercial ones.
• Sparkling water changes it considerably, and generally improves a citrus cordial.
• Over ice with a slice, which sounds obvious and makes a real difference to how sweet it reads.
• In cooking: over a sponge cake while warm, in a fruit salad, brushed on a tart, or in a marinade for pork or duck.
• As a sorbet or granita base, diluted rather less than for drinking.
• With gin, vodka or dark rum, where it does the work of both syrup and citrus.
• Refrigerate after opening, and how long any preserve keeps safely is a question for the Food Standards Agency rather than for a recipe.
• Freeze it in an ice cube tray if you have made more than you will drink.

Common questions