Raspberry and peach cordial

The end result can be used for breakfast, with dessert, or to make a very attractive coloured, and flavoured, drink. Frozen Australian raspberries work well in it, too.

Ingredients

• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
• 1.5 litres water
• 2 lemons
• 1 kg ripe peaches, cut into wedges
• 250 g (2 cup) raspberries
• 220 g (1 cup) superfine caster sugar

This recipe makes about 4 cups.

Standing time 2 hours

Instructions

Place the vanilla pod and the water in a very large saucepan and put over a high flame. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes, and then remove the vanilla bean (it can be dried and then used for vanilla sugar or in custard).

Juice the lemons and keep both the juice and the rinds.

Bring the vanilla water back to the boil, turn off, then immediately add the fruit, including the lemon halves but not the lemon juice. The water should just cover the fruit, if not, boil the kettle and top up.

Leave this mixture to stand until cool, about 2 hours at least. Drain out the fruit (don’t press it through the sieve, just let gravity do the work), and whisk in the lemon juice, then whisk sugar into the liquid to taste. It’s a concentrate, so it should be quite sweet and flavoursome, but not cloying. You can keep the steeped fruit for use in breakfast trifle or similar, though it will have lost some of its wonder to the syrup.

Transfer the syrup to sterilised bottles and store in the fridge for up to a month before using.

Original recipe from Not Just Jam by Matthew Evans, photography by Alan Benson (Murdoch Books). 

The brand-new series of Gourmet Farmer airs Thursdays at 8pm on SBS. Visit the Gourmet Farmer program page for recipes and to find out more about the show.

The end result can be used for breakfast, with dessert, or to make a very attractive coloured, and flavoured, drink. Frozen Australian raspberries work well in it, too.