It’s Friday! Make a Blood Orange Cordial

There are only a handful of fruits that totally capture my imagination. Fruits that when I look at them, all I see are possibilities. Blackberries would fall into that category, so would rhubarb, and ambrosia apples are my favourites. But there is something about blood oranges. Maybe it’s because of the colour, or because there has been nothing interesting growing for months besides apples and pears when these gorgeous citrus start pouring into my local markets.

Maybe it’s because I remember my mom bringing me my first blood orange back from Spain.

Either way, I just love them. But like so many wonderful fruits, they have such a short growing season, and you can only get them for about a month. So today, instead of giving you a drink recipe I’m giving you a recipe so that you can hold on to them a bit longer.

You’ll want to wear an apron for this one, but it’s quite easy. You just juice up a whole slew of blood oranges, and boil the juice with some sugar and water and a squeeze of lemon juice. Then pour the hot liquid into some clean jars and they will keep in your fridge for a couple of months.

And then you can pop out a jar of the stuff when you want to make the world’s prettiest mimosa, or when you feel the need for a bit of gin, or if you want to gift someone something beautiful and, let’s be honest, a little bit impressive looking.

Blood Orange Cordial

1 cup White Sugar

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Water

2 cups Blood Orange Juice

1 Lemon

3x500mL Jars with lids, cleaned very well.

In a large pot, mix your juice with the sugar and water. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice in too.

Bring the mixture up to a boil and stir until all the sugar is dissolved.

Strain the cordial into another container and use that to pour the liquid into the clean jars. Put the lids on and let them cool to room temperature. When they’re cooled, put them in the fridge for up to two months.