A taste of summer: Five Valleys Cordials

There are tiny snowflakes dancing in the open air, and I'm talking of summer. Right. It's not exactly the wishful thinking. I am trying to magic the summer in by exploring the zingy summery tastes of Five Valleys Cordials.

Five Valleys Cordials is an up and coming soft drinks company, based in Stroud, Gloucestershire which was set up by husband and wife team, Chris and Becky, who between them have 25 years shared experience in the drinks industry. 
The company uses the Cotswold countryside as their inspiration for their cordials. Their imaginative range offers uniquely different flavour combinations that aim to tantalise the taste buds & mind!
If you're bored with the standard blackberry & apple, elderflower or ginger cordials, look no further.

Five Valleys Cordials boasts five products in its tempting range - Lemon & Mint, Pomegranate & Rose, Apricot & Ginger, Sloe & Raspberry and Coconut & Kaffir Lime.

All the cordials are made from natural ingredients and are free from artificial flavours, sweeteners, colourings or preservatives.


 

Pomegranate & Rose is an exotic blend mingled with the heady aroma of rose petals. Think of the seductive Scheherazade and her fairy tales The Arabian Nights.

I love the flavour of rose petals (rose tea is one of my old favourites). If you have followed my blog for a while, you might remember my recipes using the rose petal syrup.
So, I was very excited to try a new cordial, and I wasn't disappointed.

Put a few raspberries in a small glass, add a dash of Pomegranate & Rose cordial and top up with the sparkling water. Simple and lovely.

I can easily see both cordials used in the white wine and lemonade spritzer.
Or poured over a good quality vanilla ice cream, mmmm.

I was also curious to try the cordial in baking.
For the Orange cupcakes you will need
100g butter, melted
2 medium eggs
a mug of self-raising flour
a mug of granulated sugar
2 tsp of Pomegranate & Rose cordial
zest and juice of 1 orange
1 tsp baking powder
icing sugar

Zest and juice an orange. Add the sugar to the zest in a medium-sized mixing bowl, then beat in the eggs. Add the flour, juice, baking powder, cordial and melted butter, pour into the cupcake cases and bake in the oven preheated to 180C for about 15 minutes.
Add the icing on top if you like (mix the orange juice with the icing sugar). My standard icing sugar finished, so I used the vanilla icing sugar, which made the icing quite brownish when mixed with the juice.
It was the first time I used the silicone cupcake cases, which was a freebie from Anchor Rewards Club.

Lemon & Mint is a combination of zingy lemons and summery garden mint. The simple drink made of a dash of Lemon & Mint cordial with the lemonade and ice cubes is an absolute delight, very refreshing and reinvigorating.
I think this will be my favourite tipple in summer after spending time in the garden.

For colder days like we have this week, try a hot drink:
The Lemon & Mint Hottie (recipe courtesy of Five Valleys Cordials)
25ml Five Valleys Lemon & Mint Cordial
225ml orange juice
2 tsp honey
Add orange juice & cordial, microwave until hot, then add honey.

Another refreshing drink:
Green tea mocktail
1 teabag of Twinings Jasmine Pearls (green tea)
a dash of Five Valleys Lemon & Mint Cordial
2 strawberries, halved
ice cubes
a slice of blood orange

Make a cup of green tea, let it cool completely. Once cold, pour in a tall glass, add a dash of the Lemon & Mint cordial, ice cubes and strawberry halves. Decorate with a slice of the blood orange.
Close your eyes and imagine yourself lazing in a hammock in the garden. Bliss.

The two flavours I have tried are fantastic, really pleased to discover them. Will be definitely looking for the other flavours to try. A very enthusiastic recommendation from me.

The Five Valleys Cordials are exclusively stocked in Waitrose.

To find more about Five Valleys Cordials and discover more recipe ideas please visit the Five Valleys Cordials website.

I received two bottles of cordials for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are mine.