Lemon cordial is a refreshing summer drink, and making your own using this recipe is surprisingly simple.

It would be a great recipe to do if you ever find crates of lemons being sold off cheap, as can happen on markets towards the end of the day. It's also a good choice for making early in the year, before the elderflowers are ready for  elderflower cordial.

We've been drinking a lot of elderflower cordial recently, and stocks are getting low, so I've been looking round for other cordials to make.

Using the gooseberries from the garden seemed to make sense, they're just starting to ripen and taste wonderfully fresh.

The gooseberries are swelling nicely and early varieties are already in the shops. The fresh fruit is not to everyone's taste, but is delicious when used in jam or chutney. Why not try some of these recipies:

 

I wasn't totally sure about Elderflower Cordial I made a month ago, at the time I had said I thought it tasted too sweet and needed a bit of tartness. After a bit of experimenting with adding lemon juice I decided to go for it and add citric acid to the whole lot.

Citric acid wasn't the easiest stuff to find but I eventually tracked some down it a local independent cookery shop. They had small 100g tubs in the brewing section, but when I took 3 to the till the assistant kindly offered me a 500g bag from under the counter. I didn't realise it was such a sought after ingredient until I was looking round for recipes and found out that others were having trouble finding it too. You can buy it online if you're prepared to wait a few days for delivery.

It was supposed to be the first cricket match of the year on Sunday, but it was raining in the morning so the pitch was too wet. However, the sun came out in the afternoon and we went off (with stepladder) to pick elderflowers, intending to make cordial later that day.