Learn to make stunning cordials at home using fresh fruit, herbs, and native Australian ingredients — simpler than you think and infinitely more rewarding.
Making cordial at home is one of the simplest and most rewarding kitchen projects you can try. At its core, it's just three things: fruit (or flavouring), sugar, and water — simmered together and strained into bottles. The result is a concentrate that tastes fresher, brighter, and more vibrant than anything you can buy in a supermarket.
Homemade cordial also gives you complete control over sweetness, flavour intensity, and ingredients. You can use organic fruit, reduce sugar, swap in honey or agave, and experiment with herbs and spices that commercial brands would never attempt.
This base method works for almost any fruit cordial. Once you've mastered it, you can adapt it to any flavour combination.
500g lemons (zest and juice), 300g sugar, 500ml water. Simmer zest with sugar and water for 10 mins, add juice, strain. The benchmark cordial — nothing beats fresh.
250g strawberries + 150g blueberries + 100g raspberries, 250g sugar, 500ml water. Deep, jewel-coloured, and irresistibly fruity.
20 fresh elderflower heads, 500g sugar, 1L water, 2 lemons (sliced), 1 tbsp citric acid. Steep for 24 hours, strain. Ethereal, floral, and utterly elegant.
Handful of dried lemon myrtle leaves, 4 limes (juice + zest), 250g sugar, 500ml water. A uniquely Australian flavour — bright, citrusy, with a eucalyptus hint.
500g ripe peaches, 200g sugar, 500ml water, 1 vanilla bean (split). Summer in a bottle. Use the ripest, most fragrant peaches you can find.
200g fresh ginger (sliced), 250g honey, 500ml water, juice of 2 lemons. Spicy, warming, and brilliant with sparkling water or as a hot drink in winter.