Sweet Raspberry Antioxidant Cordial
Summertime is best spent doing a mixture of fun activities, and doing absolutely nothing at all-and doing absolutely nothing at all is best enjoyed while sipping a nice, cool, refreshing drink. Instead of turning to soda pop or another artificially flavored beverage this summer, try making this bright, flavorful, simple raspberry cordial-we use the term “cordial” loosely, this does not contain alcohol!
Why raspberries?
Raspberries are filled to the brim with antioxidants. And just what are antioxidants? Antioxidants are substances (vitamins, minerals, and enzymes) that can counteract the damaging (but normal) effects of oxidation in animal tissue. Oxidative stress takes place when there are more harmful chemicals, called free-radicals, than antioxidants to defend the body. These free-radicals are unstable, stealing or giving electrons randomly and damaging proteins, DNA, and cells. The same process of oxidation is what causes apples to brown, iron to rust, and oil to go rancid. Antioxidants in raspberries are thought to aid in the prevention of cancer, Alzheimer’s, and lower risk of obesity as well. So the real question is, why not raspberries?
You will need…
-4 ½ cups of organic raspberries
-Juice of ½ of a lemon, or more to taste
-1 cup of white sugar, or more to taste OR 1/3 cup organic honey, or more to taste
-A sprig of rosemary or some fresh mint leaves
Directions
Place your raspberries in a double boiler and stir the berries around until they have given up all of their juice and have slowly been brought to a boil.
Pour through a sieve lined with cheesecloth and press the juice through-using the back of a wooden spoon helps. Return the juice to the pan and add your lemon juice and sugar, stirring over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Slowly pour the liquid into clean, glass bottles and refrigerate until needed. Place a sprig of rosemary or a mint leaf in the sections on an ice cube tray and cover with water, and freeze
.
Serve your drink nice and cold with herb ice-cubes and sparkling water.
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Why would you want to do all that and add sugar when you can just do the raspberries raw in the blender/magic bullet and add peppermint, honey or anything other than sugar? The end result is just as refreshing, less work and healthier 🙂
Sometimes you just need a sweet drink every once and awhile 🙂 Raw with some honey would be delicious as well.
Do you think that it would be good with wild black berries? I have them growing all around my property.
Yes! There is a little bit of a different recipe for blackberries though…
Clean and de-stalk the berries and place them in a bowl, covering with 2 cups water and 1 cup white wine vinegar. Leave in a cool place for 2 days, then strain the berries. If you’re using 1 pound of berries, use 1-2 cups of sugar or adjust the sweetness with honey as a substitute. Boil until the berries have “melted” and the sugar has dissolved, then strain and bottle 🙂
You don’t say how much this makes or how much to add to the sparkling water? Could you use juice to mix it with as well?
What about a diabetic recipe? This sounds yummy but not sure about the sugar.
You could try subbing in stevia extract for the sugar/honey as it has a negligible impact on blood glucose levels. According to https://www.stevia.com/Stevia_Sugar_Substitute.aspx 1 tsp of liquid stevia is equivalent in sweetness to 1 cup of sugar.
I do agree with the comments about the sugar content. I don’t know how the texture would be like if all that sugar wasn’t used?! Drinks like this look and taste wonderful but sugar is so bad for you and it’s in so many things I never realized until I’ve cut out a lot of sugar consumption. We still cheat a little bit with treats but a cup of sugar? Yikes. If anyone has more ideas. I don’t have the liquid Stevia but I do have the small packets.
You can use honey instead of sugar and adjust the flavor how you like. The definition of a cordial is a drink that has been sweetened significantly (usually they have alcohol too, but not in the British definition.) It’s mostly a way to use up a bounty of fruit in the season. All the sugar will dissolve, so its smooth and not grainy at all. If you hesitate about the sweetness though, I’d steer clear of the cordials 😉
I think this looks amazing !! My first thought was Eek, raspberry cordial, just like from, Anne of Green Gables !!! My question is, how much cordial do we use in our sparkling water ?
can you show us how to make something like this with pomegranate juice