Oranges – The Navel California variety are available in supermarkets and farmer’s markets all through the year, and all around the world. They look uniform in texture, colour and taste always. But only a person who has tasted a heirloom variety would appreciate the real difference between the two. I got to taste one of those by accident during a drive across California. We had stopped at a farm outlet and purchased a few not so good looking oranges as we were hungry. The juice oozed out as I peeled the orange and till date I have never had an orange that sweet and citrus at the same time.
These heirloom varieties of orange are available in small farms between the end of winter to spring every year. We rarely see them in the supermarkets these days. I learnt later on that, heirloom orange trees grow the most flavorful fruit, as they are grown from old trees. The older trees spend less energy on new growth, giving the best sweet citrus flavours to the fruits. But these heirloom varieties are location specific and adapt to the climate and soil of the region, making it impractical to mass produce and transport to other parts of the world.
Being In India, I came to love the local citrus fruits and its flavours. I have used the California oranges which are available in my next door supermarket and the Nagpur oranges too for many of my recipes. Nagpur oranges have a loose jacket and hence the rind cannot be peeled or used. The juice and pulp can be extracted like any other orange and used for its equivalent portion of it. So for the cordial today, make sure the quantity of the juice matches the proportions mentioned in the recipe if you are using the Indian oranges.
I use the lemons and do not add citric acid in my recipes, because Lemon juice increases your C vitamin intake, while Citric acid is a powder that doesn’t provide much in the way of nutrients. It is a commercial product and is used as a lemon substitute in almost all mass manufactured foods which require a lemon flavour or lemon as a preservative.
Try to buy organic oranges for this recipe as we will be using the rind of the oranges too. The peel is full of healthy minerals such as potassium and magnesium and vitamins B6, B2 and C.
Here is the recipe
Orange Lemon Cordial
Orange lemon cordial.
Ingredients
10 Navel orange washed and clean.
6 Lemon
1 ltr Water
1 kg Sugar
Directions
- 1.Carefully use a citrus grater to lightly grate off only the top layer of the skin. You will get a tablespoon or more of the rind for all the oranges together.
- Lightly roll the oranges on the counter to release the juices. Cut each one in half. Squeeze the juice using a juicer. These oranges should give an approx 700 ml juice. Strain out the seeds and set aside.
- Lightly roll the lemon on the counter to release the juices. Cut each one in half. Squeeze the juice using a juicer. These oranges should give an approx 70 ml juice. Strain out the seeds and set aside.
- Add the lemon juice and the orange rind to the orange juice.
- In a vessel of 3 lt capacity add 1 litre water, and sugar. Set it to boil till the sugar dissolves.
- Set it aside till it comes to room temperature.
- Add the orange lemon juice mixture to the cooled sugar syrup.
- Transfer to the container and refrigerate.
- To make a cordial add ? rd water or plain soda to ? rd of the cordial concentrate we made and serve immediately.
- Buy organic oranges and lemon, as we would be using the rind as well.
- Can be refrigerated and used without loosing flavour for 3 months. 3.Store it in a air tight bottle. http://www.Naturallyhema.com
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