Birthday and Cordial

This weekend was Liz's grandma's birthday, which meant a big family gathering at Liz's uncle's house. It was a nice day, and it was good to see everyone. Katie made rather an attractive cake:

The cake that Katie made (© Ian 2012)

Yesterday, though, was spent outside, sorting out wood. However, we managed to pop out to collect blackberries, the fourth lot this autumn. Having done so, we amassed the remains of last year's frozen blackberries, bilberries, and damsons, with a view to making a spiced berry cordial for the winter. Last year we had a (roughly) 50:50 split between blackberries and elderberries—but there are almost no elderberries this year. We managed to collect a miserly 100g.

Nonetheless, we pulled together 4.5kg of fruit, made it up to 6l with hot water, and then boiled it down to 4.5l. Tonight, I've added pectolase, which will break down the fruit, and release more juice, and then tomorrow I can squeeze and strain all the juices out. Next, you add 2.25kg of sugar (500g for every original kilo of fruit), and boil it for five minutes with spices (allspice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves).

Bottled, it should store into the new year.