Cordials, syrups and berry drinks
Every self-pick bucket has a bottom layer: the fruit that squashed under everything else, the over-ripe berries you picked because they were the sweetest, and whatever got warm in the car. None of it will make a tart. All of it makes excellent cordial, because appearance stops mattering the moment fruit goes through a sieve.
Sort this fruit out before you refrigerate anything else. It will not last the night.
Base berry cordial
Works with strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries, blackberries, blueberries or any mixture of them.
Ingredients: 1 kg berries, 500 ml water, 600 g sugar, juice of 2 lemons.
Method: Simmer the berries with the water for fifteen minutes, crushing them against the side of the pan. Strain through a fine sieve or a jelly bag. If you want it clear, let it drip and do not press; if you want yield, press hard and accept a cloudy cordial that tastes exactly the same.
Return the juice to the pan with the sugar and lemon, heat until dissolved, then boil for five minutes. Bottle hot into sterilised bottles.
It keeps a month in the fridge, or freeze it in ice-cube trays and bag them. Dilute about one to six with cold water or soda.
Berry shrub
A shrub is a vinegar cordial, and it is much better than that description suggests: sharper than a cordial and very good with soda on a hot day.
Ingredients: 500 g berries, 300 g sugar, 250 ml cider vinegar.
Method: Mash the berries with the sugar, cover, and leave in the fridge for two days, stirring when you remember. Strain, stir the vinegar into the syrup, bottle. It improves for a fortnight and keeps for months.
Berry syrup for pouring
Thicker, for pancakes, ice cream and soda floats.
Ingredients: 500 g berries, 250 g sugar, juice of half a lemon.
Method: Simmer everything for twenty minutes until it coats a spoon, then sieve. Do not add water. It sets slightly when cold; if it sets too far, warm it and stir in a spoonful of water.
What not to bother with
Berry water and infusions made by dropping fresh fruit into a jug look good and taste of almost nothing. The flavour is in the juice, and the juice needs heat, sugar or time to come out. Make the cordial.
Updated 10 September 2026