Red fruit shrub

This recipe is totally not original - all credit must go to Max Miller of Tasting History.  His recipe is also in his eponymous cookery book, which you should absolutely all buy (as well as following his YouTube channel if you like food and history, and the history of food).  Anyway, the first time I made it, I followed Max's recipe exactly, except that I used cider vinegar instead of the white wine vinegar he recommends, and I only made half-quantities, in case we didn't like it.  This time, however, I wanted to make a litre to take away on our forthcoming holiday (and yes, do please follow on my travelblog!), but, needless to say, Lidl was out of frozen raspberries and I only had about 200g of them in my freezer.  I use frozen, by the way, as they are very much cheaper than fresh, and also render a lot of juice when they thaw, adding to the deliciousness of the drink.So, anyway:

About 700--750 g frozen red fruit of various kinds (I used a 500g pack of "summer fruit" and c 200 g raspberries)

500 ml cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.  Whichever you use, get the clear kind, not the one with the "mother" in it.

450 g granulated sugar

Put the fruit into a large saucepan and allow to thaw.  Pour over the vinegar and mash it very thoroughly - you don't want any whole berries left.  Leave for at least 12 hours, and up to 24 hours.

Bring the vinegar and fruit mix to the boil, and then pass it through a sieve or a mouli to extract as much juice as you possibly can from the fruit. 

 Now add the sugar, bring it back to the boil, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Allow to cool, then bottle. Will keep awhile in the fridge.

Dilute to taste with still or sparkling water - and maybe, as Max suggests, add some gin!  Delicious.  I expect one could get away with slightly less sugar, but it's still lovely.

Watermelon yelm

 I do love watermelon at this time of year, and tend to buy whole ones as being less extravagant than the boxes of chunks you can buy.  Okay, someone has to cut it up, but that's not difficult.  But, of course, you end up with boxes full of watermelon chunks in the fridge, and while it's a refreshing dessert, or a delicious salad with feta, but....

And I had run out of "yelm", and although I had the lemons to make more, I didn't have any mint.  While plain yelm is delicious, I am also not averse to experimenting.  I only made a small amount, to see if it worked.

Rind and juice of 2 lemons

About 300 ml watermelon juice (fill a blender goblet and see how much it makes.  Drink whatever is left over!)

25 g citric acid

250 g sugar

About 450 ml boiling water, maybe 500 ml.

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Allow to cool for awhile, then strain and bottle.  Keep in the fridge.  Dilute to taste, either with plain or sparkling water, ideally chilled!

 

Strawberry-watermelon lemonade

 I have just made some "yelm", and one of my favourite drinks, when I can get it, is Lidl's raspberry lemonade.  Or, indeed, their strawberry lemonade.  They are not selling it in my branch at the moment, but they had a coupon for money off strawberries.  And I have (as I frequently do) a craze on watermelon just now, and as boxes of watermelon chunks are expensive, I thought I'd buy a whole watermelon.  I used some in a salad, but used the rest in our drink.

All measurements are approximate - I basically eyeballed it!  

Chunk of watermelon (about 30 grammes, I think; it wasn't a huge chunk)

1/2 punnet strawberries

2 tbs "yelm" concentrate (or a commercial lemon squash)

Iced water

Cut the melon into chunks, and hull the strawberries.  Put them in a blender with the yelm, and whizz until smooth.  Top up with iced water and shake or blend again.  Pour into glasses and serve immediately.

I think it needed the lemon to cut the sweetness a bit, but do experiment.  Maybe a spoonful of lemon juice instead might be nice....  

Ninoo Smoothie

No, I don't know who Ninoo is or was, but I suspect he is/was employed at the café across the road where I first came across this delicious drink.  It is lovely, but at £5 a go, rather expensive for every day, so I thought I would have a go at making my own, and it seems to be very successful!

Blend together in a blender or smoothie maker:

1 banana

1 shot espresso (if you don't have an espresso maker, just make very strong coffee!  You need about the amount you would have in an espresso)

1 heaped tsp drinking chocolate

About 200 ml oat milk.

I didn't know I liked oat milk until I tried this - certainly a great deal nicer than cows' milk, which I am not fond of.

"Yelm", or home-made lemon squash. Updated 10 September 2021 and again 12 August 2022

It was my father, I think, who first called it "Yelm",  as a way of distinguishing it from other kinds of lemon drink.  Certainly my family have been making it for well over 50 years - I remember taking a supply to school in empty whisky bottles, which slightly disconcerted the House Mistress and Matron - it would have been a lot worse had I been bringing in whisky or gin in empty lemon squash bottles, of course.... Yelm, by the way, is very nice mixed with gin if you like gin.

Measurements are in Imperial, as that's what we used back in the day.  I'll put rough metric equivalents in brackets.

Rind and juice of 3 lemons
2 oz citric acid (approx 50g)
2 lbs sugar (a little less than 1 kg) (see note)

3 pints boiling water (1.75 litres)
Optionally, you could add elderflower blossoms or crushed mint (I love mint in lemon drinks so I used the latter).
Empty bottles - to take at least 2.25 litres

You can also use limes as well as, or instead of, lemons; if you use just limes, then use 4 as they are apt to be smaller.  Oranges work if mixed with lemons or limes, but render the finished drink too sweet on their own.   Today (September 2021) I am going to make lime and mint.

PLEASE NOTE: You really don't need 2 lbs of sugar - I'm now using 500g, and my mother just uses 1 lb.  So if you wish to cut down on sugar.... it's really "to taste".  Ordinary squash seems vilely sweet in comparison!

Mix everything together in a large jug or bowl and stir until the sugar and acid have dissolved.  Strain, and pour into bottles (if you don't strain, it doesn't last so long as the citrus peel is apt to go mouldy); keep in the fridge and dilute to taste.  I imagine that if you wanted lemon barley water, you could use this as a base instead of making from scratch......