Pick of the bunch: How to make the perfect fruit cordial

Sometimes it seems that we wait all year for fruit - there are times when it seems as if there is almost nothing at all growing in the garden here at Petersham. In winter for a couple of months there is not much more than blood oranges and the remains of quince. In very early spring it seems as if we tap our fingers waiting, waiting for the first of the new year's fruit to arrive. But now it is here and here in abundance - there are raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, red and white currants, cherries (both sweet and the sour variety known as morello), nectarines, peaches, apricots, melons from Italy and France, watermelon, figs and rhubarb. It is exciting and overwhelming - so much fruit, all of it delicious and such little time in which to enjoy it.

At the restaurant we have made jams, sorbets and with the really ripe fruit granitas, as well as some simple fruit tarts and crustatas. We have laid some raspberries in brandy for later in the year to serve in the winter with prosecco. We have also pickled the sour cherries from our garden to serve alongside bresaola in the autumn. After they have had time to steep they will taste really good.

Finally there are the fruit cordials that I love making. They are quick, easy and really delicious. It's always nice to have something different to drink, especially if you are like me, and you don't really drink very much. What I love about them all is how the flavour is so much of the fruit from which it was made - it's like a pure, liquid version of the ingredients that go in.

The rhubarb and strawberry is the one I would choose to drink - it always surprises me. Although the proportion of rhubarb in the recipe is greater, the scent of the strawberry is the overriding flavour. Both my children really like the blackcurrant cordial; it tastes very much like Ribena - just a little purer, deeper, slightly more berry-like. I also love the gooseberry and lemon verbena. It's refreshing, slightly sharp and perfect for a hot summer's day. We grow verbena in the garden here at Petersham but you can get it from most good greengrocers. Then there's the raspberry cordial - its flavour is so true and so wonderfully fruity.

All these cordials are delicious diluted either with still or fizzy water and will last in the fridge for a week or so. The least successful, though, is the strawberry and rhubarb - it is very good on the day it is made, but the fragile flavours of the strawberries do not taste completely pure for much longer.

Skye Gyngell is head chef at Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, Richmond, Surrey, tel: 020 8605 3627. Her book 'A Year in My Kitchen' is the 2007 Guild of Food Writers' Cookery Book of the Year

Although I have to say my favourite drink in the whole world is actually water - clean and served just very slightly cold - you can't beat it.

Blackberry cordial

Makes about 1 litre

400g/13oz blackcurrants
1 litre/13/4 pints water
300g/10oz caster sugar

Wash the blackcurrants in cool water, but do not bother to pick over them or remove their stems. The cooked fruit is passed through a colander and so all this is left behind.

Place the washed fruit, sugar and water in a heavy-based pan, place over a medium heat and bring to a boil.

Turn down to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until the blackcurrants have burst and are tender.

At this point remove from the stove and pass through a colander, pressing down on the cooked berries with the bottom of a ladle to extract maximum juice.

Allow to cool, then pour into a vessel and place in the fridge.

Raspberry cordial

This is one of my favourites. To me, it's the taste of an English summer.

Makes just over 1 litre

600g/20oz raspberries
300g/10oz caster sugar
The juice of half a lemon
1 litre/13/4 pints water

Don't bother to wash the raspberries; they are too delicate for running water and will disintegrate. Pick over gently with your hands removing any other little things that sometimes find their way in.

Place in a medium saucepan, cover with the sugar, squeeze over the lemon juice and pour over the water.

Place over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir once or twice so that the sugar dissolves. Turn down and simmer for about 6-7 minutes or until the raspberries disintegrate.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Pass through a colander to strain, pressing down on the fruit. Most of the raspberry flesh is soft enough to pass through leaving the pips behind. Allow to cool then pour into a glass vessel and place in the fridge.

Rhubarb and strawberry cordial

I have made this cordial many times and each and every time I am surprised by just how strong and proud the strawberry remains in the face of such a particular flavour as rhubarb.

Makes about 1 litre

8 sticks of rhubarb
300g/10oz English strawberries
250ml/8fl oz water
280g/8oz caster sugar

Wash and chop the rhubarb into two-inch sticks. Hull the strawberries but leave them whole. Place the rhubarb, water and sugar in a heavy-based pan and place over a medium heat and bring to a fast boil. Boil for two minutes then turn off the heat. When the heat is off, add the strawberries and let sit without the heat for 10 minutes. Strain through a colander, pressing down on the inside with a ladle to extract as much flavour as possible.

At first the liquid will be quite thin, but as you continue to press down with the ladle some of the finest pulp will work its way through the colander allowing the cordial to be slightly thicker. Pour into a sterilised vessel, allow to cool and place in the fridge.

Gooseberry and lemon verbena cordial

Pale and translucent in colour just like raw gooseberries, this cordial has a sharp and fragrant bite to it.

Makes about 1 litre

400g/13oz gooseberries
280g/9oz caster sugar
1 litre/13/4 pints water
6 sprigs lemon verbena

Wash the gooseberries under cold running water, then place in a pan with the sugar and water.

Bruise the lemon verbena by gently hitting it with a rolling pin or the handle of your knife. This helps to intensify and release the flavour. Place the branch in the pan and place over a medium heat.

Bring to the boil. Turn down and simmer for 10 minutes or until the gooseberries are tender.

Remove from the heat and pass through a colander pressing down firmly on the fruit as you do so to release maximum flavour.

The Forager by Wendy Fogarty

Petersham's food sourcer Wendy Fogarty reveals where to find the best British soft fruits...

The Dorset Blueberry Company, Littlemoors Farm Shop, Dorset

Available from their new farm shop in Winbourne and at farmers' markets in the south of England. They sell blueberry plants as well as plenty of fresh fruit.

www.dorset-blueberry.co.uk

Berry Hill Fruit Farm, Coedkernew, Monmouthshire

A pick-your-own farm shop and garden centre which sells all the soft fruit you could need. www.berryhillfruitfarm.co.uk

Secrett's Farm shop, Godalming, Surrey Secrett's Farm's mail order service is currently selling gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries and lemon verbena.

www.secretts.co.uk

Brogdale Horticultural Trust, Kent

Home of the National Fruit Collection.

www.brogdale.org

Bernwode Plants, Buckinghamshire

Specialists in fruit trees including plum, gage, cherries, mulberries as well as white, black and red currants.

www.bernwodeplants.co.uk