Bright red drinks

"I love bright red drinks, don't you? They taste twice as good as any other colour."

So said Anne Shirley in one of my favourite childhood books, Anne of Green Gables, in the raspberry cordial scene. I was reminded of raspberry cordial yesterday when I took a look around the garden to see it had been overrun with raspberry canes. Nothing else for it but to brave the jungle and pick as many as we can to make raspberry cordial to sip on Christmas Day. A day which certainly calls for a bright red drink.

Here's how I did it.

About 300g raspberries
1 cup of castor sugar
1 litre of boiling water.

In a large bowl, add raspberries and sugar, then pour over boiling water, give it a quick stir and allow to steep overnight. In the morning pour it all through a strainer into a large jug but don't push the fruit through or the cordial will become cloudy. The fruit left in the strainer will be pale but you can eat it on pancakes or stir it through yoghurt.

Pour the syrup into a glass jar or bottle and store in the fridge for two days.

To serve, dilute the cordial with water to taste, still or sparkling, and marvel at how good bright red drinks really do taste.