27 May 2014

Libraries, cordial and second radio interview

I'm starting my library talks today at the Coolum Library and looking forward to meeting the people who come along. It's booked out. No doubt there will be some who read this blog. If you're going, please introduce yourself. I'm not sure how many posts I'll be able to do this week but I'll leave you today with this recipe for passionfruit and orange cordial and a link to yesterday's podcast of my second talk on ABC radio.


We have a glut of passionfruit at the moment and our navel oranges are having a very good year. I think we had rain exactly when the fruit needed it. Jamie loves passionfruit but he's still in Korea so I decided to use some of the passions to make cordial for him. Otherwise they'd be a faded memory by the time he's home again.

Most cordials are made the same way. You need a simple sugar syrup and you combine that with the fruit you have. Most fruits need to be juiced, or in the case of pineapple, crushed. The sweeter the fruit, the less sugar you add to the mix. You'll have to use your own common sense by tasting it as you go. Remember, all cordials are mixed with water - either cold tap water, sparkling mineral water or soda water. Again, you decide how strong you want your drinks to be and add less or more of the cordial to water, according to your taste.



PASSIONFRUIT AND ORANGE CORDIAL
8 oranges, juiced
12 passionfruits, scooped out

SUGAR SYRUP
Regular sugar syrup is one cup of water to one cup of sugar but I am using sweet fruit in this one, so I made a weaker syrup. This syrup is two cups of water to one cup of sugar.

I made up 1½ litres/quarts of fruit juice and added 1½ litres/quarts of weak sugar syrup.  Simply mix it together, pour it into a bottle and that's it. It will keep in the fridge for a about six weeks. The sugar preserves the drink. Remember to dilute the cordial with water before you drink it.

And finally, this is the link to the second ABC radio interview I did with Jess Hinchliffe recently. They'll be running on Monday afternoons for the next two months on Mary-Lou Stevens' Drive program.

Enjoy your day.

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10 comments

  1. Félicitations pour votre travail. Good job!
    Lucie

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  2. Your passion fruit and orange cordial looks so colourful. I will be trying this.
    Rosezeeta.

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  3. I made a lot of lime cordial last year and thought it would last me months- not a chance! My husband got into it and it barely lasted a week. At least I know it was successful! I'll have to give this recipe a go if I come across cheap passionfruit (no vine here unfortunately).

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  4. Rhonda you have a wonderful voice, how I wish I could sit on your verandah and listen to your wisdom.

    cheers Kate

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  5. Rhonda I listened to the second interview yesterday & it was fantastic thank you. What resonated with me was the need to teach the importance of money & budgeting with my children setting them up for success from an early age. Growing up I came from a well off family & material things were the norm but this set me up in a negative way as an adult & no budgeting skills etc. Tracking my spending is something I still need to work on & love the idea of using the notebook for 3 months. Like many looking at were I can save money & cut our cost

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  6. The cordial looks yummy! I have never had it before, so I am curious about the flavor. We are still working on getting our garden in as it is still in the 40s at night here in NC. The oranges make me yearn to be in Florida in December for fresh ones!

    BTW, I love the new photo on your side bar!

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  7. I have recently discovered your blog, and find it amazing. Thanks for sharing all the wonderful ideas.

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  8. Rhonda your cordial looks so good! I loved your talk on the radio and could listen to you all day. I too wished that we would have started a budget when we were a young married couple but we do now follow a budget. Thanks for the wonderful talk!
    Carol

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  9. I'd like to tell you that you have given me the courage to resurrect my blog. The original use was to post deals and sales, but when my husband passed I lost interest. Since I am almost healed I thought if you can consistently blog, so can I. I'm having so much fun! I now blog about my interests and growth. Today I harvested my first 2 beets. You have no idea what an accomplishment that is for me. I'm so excited that I posted about it this morning. I'd appreciate it if you took a look and left a comment. I don't have any comments yet. You can be the first! Thank you for everything you do for your world wide community. Angie.

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    Replies
    1. I can't look Angie, it tells me your "profile is not available". Can you fix it or email me your link and I'll have a look.

      Delete

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