Lemon Barley Cordial
I first made lemon barley cordial when we moved to the farm ten years ago and I inherited the most productive lemon tree in the world. The tree is almost as old as I am, and most years it produces massive amounts of juicy fruit. Every house needs a lemon tree – put one in a pot if you have no space and move it with you until you can put it in the ground. Lemons stay ripe on the tree for ages, so it’s not like you have to harvest the whole lot in one go. You’ll be picking lemons to accompany fish, or to make a slice, or clean your barbecue, or to make someone with a sore throat hot lemon and honey. When you find yourself with leftover lemons, make a batch of this and stash it in the pantry. Made up cold with ice on a hot day, it’s delightful.
Makes 1.25L.
Ingredients 5
250 g pearled barley
1.5 l water
4 lemon, zested, juiced
495 g white sugar
2 tsp citric acid
Your new home
for cooking
Turn your recipe chaos into a plan for the week.
Browse 1000+ inspiring creator recipes
Unlimited recipe import from social media, blogs and more
Generate shopping lists and meal plans in seconds with AI
Method 6
Put the into a large saucepan with the . Add the lemon zest, thinly peeled with a potato peeler. Juice the (approximately 200 ml/7 fl oz) and set aside.
Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for 40 minutes.
Pour the barley water through a sieve, keeping both the and the (see my tips). Discard the zest.
Put the barley water back into the saucepan and add the lemon juice, , and . Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Ladle the cordial into hot sterilised bottles and close the lids tightly. See sterilising notes on my profile.
Serve to taste with still or sparkling , approximately 1 part cordial to 4 parts water. Once opened, keep in the fridge.
Buena Vista Farm's tips
Use the barley in a salad, or in bread-baking, or you can toast it in the oven and eat it for breakfast with berries.
