Peach Cordial

Peach cordial

Peach cordial is simple to make and lasts for a long time. It's definitely worth making when there is a glut of peaches. I love the colour! It just makes me think of summer. :-)

You can use any ripe peaches that you happen to find - but it is undoubtedly easier to use free stone peaches so that you is easier to slice them up. 

This is a very simple recipe, but I have heard that you can also put the peach kernels in to give the syrup more depth. Apparently, you crack the stones and remove the inner kernels and simply add these to the recipe. You should strain them out at the end.

I will try that next time, since although this peach cordial smells fantastic, it doesn't have the real depth of flavour that we found in the raspberry cordial.

Peaches

However, it really is delicious in drinks, such as peach iced tea or just with fizzy water - but it's also a great ingredient in baking. We use it to soak over vanilla cake to make a peach sponge. It's sweet and summery. It's also lovely stirred through whipped cream and served with peach scones. And it's very nice served over icecream, especially with some canned peaches in the winter.

When we use this cordial as a drink (either in iced tea, or just as a fizzy drink), it is much improved by serving it with slices of frozen peaches. When we have lots of peaches to process, we always slice quite a few of them and simply freeze them.

Freeze the slices individually on a sheet of baking parchment and then transfer them to a bag or box once they are fully frozen to keep them from sticking together.

Peach Cordial Recipe

Level: Easy
Time: 45 minutes plus cooling
Makes: about 500ml

2 large ripe peaches
250ml (1 cup) water
250ml (1 cup) sugar

  • Cut the peaches into small slices and discard the stones.

  • Put the peaches into a heavy based saucepan along with the sugar and the water.

  • Heat the mixture up until it boils.
Peach cordial
  • When it boils, remove it from the heat and using a slotted spoon or a potato masher, mash the peaches up against the side of the pan as much as you can manage.

  • Leave the peach cordial to cool down.

  • Whilst the cordial is cooling, you can sterilise the jars. Wash them thoroughly in hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Place the jars upright on a baking sheet and place them in the oven at 250F, gas mark 1/2. Turn the oven off after 10 minutes and leave them in the oven until ready to use (it won't be long in this case).

  • Once it is cold, strain it through a fine meshed sieve and then into the sterilized jars. Keep the remaining peach mush. They are delicious stirred into Greek style yogurt for breakfast.

  • Seal the jars and label them.

Peach cordial will last for a year in the jar in the pantry, but once it is opened you should keep it in the fridge.