Hearth and Home

The Kitchen at Alberton House, Auckland, NZ

The Kitchen is the engine room of Homestead. We have set out with the intention to provide as much as possible from within the home. 

We do this for several reasons:

-On a practical level making our own supplies at home means we know what is in our food. We also know where our ingredients have come from.

-We are able to control quantity and quality of supplies ourselves. We have little waste, as what we do not use returns to the compost cycle for reuse by other lives. Any surplus we can process for a later season or share with family, friends and neighbours. 

Shared natural abundance builds communities.

-On a spiritual level we are able to be present for the whole process. This enables us to appreciate the lives who help to sustain us – such as the grains, cereals, fruits and vegetables. We also add our light and life force to what we are about to eat, completing a creative partnership loop with the natural world.

Intuitively sourcing food means that supplies come into the house in their season, and from various sources.

Right now we are at the tail end of citrus season in our part of the world. The cellar is bristling with several different flavours of marmalade.

Over the last few days I have turned my attention to cordials, so that we have cool drinks ready to hand in the hot summer months ahead.

My sister gave me this cordial recipe which I share here with you. You will notice we are not recreating any pastiche of the past at Homestead- my food processor is a very good friend of mine.

 The amount of sugar in this recipe seems alarming, but you are making a concentrate here. Dilute about a Tablespoon of the cordial with water in a tall glass. If you are lucky enough to have plenty of liquid honey you may like to try substituting that for the processed white sugar listed here. It makes the cordial a different colour but the flavour is rich and delicious.

Old Fashioned Lemon Cordial

Makes 3 litres of concentrate

To make the cordial you will need the following equipment:

A Food Processor with cutting blade attached

Vegetable peeler

Lemon squeezer

Large preserving pan or saucepan of about 5 litre capacity.

Sufficient sealable bottles to contain 3 litres of cordial.

Oven to sterilise bottles

Ingredients:

1.5 kg bag sugar

 6 large lemons

 1 Tbspn citric acid

Method:

Place the bottles in the oven. Set the temperature to 110C.

Peel rind of 2 lemons, being careful not to get any white pith. Set this to one side.

Extract the juice from all of the lemons

 Place the peel & 2 cups from the 1.5kg bag of sugar into the food processor. Run at high speed until the rind is really ground up and the sugar is yellow/oily looking.

Measure the juice and place it into the preserving pan with sufficient boiling water to make 3 litres. Add the rind and sugar mix from the processor to this liquid. Over a moderate heat stir continuously to dissolve the sugar, adding the rest of the 1.5kg sugar and 25- 50g citric acid as you go. Once all the sugar is dissolved turn off the heat. Remove the bottles from the oven to stand on a wire rack or wooden board. Fill each with cordial and seal immediately. Cool and label each bottle.

Once opened the cordial should be stored in the refrigerator

Use as cordial concentrate, diluted with cold water and garnish with lemon slices or mint leaves.

This method is also successful using oranges, limes or mandarins.

Lemon and Barley cordial can be made by substituting some of the boiling water with water in which pearl barley has been cooked. Barley water darkens the appearance of the cordial, but it adds a deeper flavour and nutritional benefits to your summer drinks.

Enjoy!