I have a couple of lime trees in my garden and they’re groaning with fruit. Yesterday I took a bag and picked 8.5 kilos of the suckers up off the ground and the trees are still chockers.  I’ve been forcing them on everyone who walks through my door, squeezing them into cooking instead of lemon juice, and stripping the enamel off my teeth as I ram about 60mls of the straight juice into my gin and tonic. But they’re still piling up.

So today I made my second batch this season of lime juice cordial. It’s good gear. Try it with gin and soda instead of tonic or just with iced water as the ultimate elixir after a big night. Yum cha optional.

Lime juice cordial

2 cups lime juice (about 15 limes)
4 cups water
1.4 kilos sugar
10g citric acid
20g tartaric acid (don’t use cream of tartare, it’s only half as strong)

Microplane the zest from about half of the limes then juice all fruit. Bring the water to the boil with the lime zest. Mix the sugar with the citric and tartaric acids in a big bowl and pour that mix into the boiling water. Stir til dissolved and boil for a few minutes.

Pour the lime juice in, through a sieve if you want a clear result. Bring it back to the boil and simmer for a few more minutes.

Let it cool a bit then pour it through a funnel into sterilised bottles. This makes about 2 litres. That’s a whole lotta limey drinks right there.