Gooseberry & Elderflower (or Ginger) Juice or Cordial

Ingredients

• Freshly gathered clean Gooseberries - no need to top or tail or bother about the odd leaf!
• Either 15 – 25 freshly picked heads of Elderflowers - choose the creamy white blooms which are then layered with the fruit & sugar (avoid old yellowing blooms - they have a nasty aroma of Tom-cat!); or fresh ginger root – 100 - 200g / 3½ - 7oz peeled finely sliced, grated or shredded
• Granulated sugar according to taste: For juice: 150 - 250g / 5½ - 9oz per one kilo of gooseberries; For cordial: 500 - 650g / 18 - 23oz per one kilo of gooseberries

Note: You will need a method of steam juice extraction. We have a number of suitable machines available and you can see here for options.

Method

1. Fill the base pan of the steam juice extractor with water according to the manufacturer's instructions and put the juice collection pot then the steamer basket on top.
2. Put alternate layers of gooseberries, sugar and elderflowers into the steamer basket
3. Steam for approximately 45 minutes.
4. Once the first juice has collected in the collection pot, draw it off into a jug and pour back over the fruit in the steaming basket - this helps to evenly distribute the sugar throughout the juice.
5. When the process is finished tap off into hot screw cap bottles, tighten the closure and invert the bottle – this pasteurises the cap – and leave to cool.
6. Store in a dark place – this helps to keep a good fresh colour.
7. Once juice is opened it should be refrigerated & drunk within 3 days. Cordial, having a higher sugar content than juice, will keep for several weeks once opened.