The perfect evening – Plum and Ginger Cordial

Ingredients for a very fine evening

One hot summer evening filled with bats and crickets and the smell of freshly watered earth.

One sturgeon moon rising up over the islands – big and fat and yellow.

The 1971 movie Harold and Maude. (Always my litmus test of a kindred spirit – have you seen it? No? GO DO THAT!)

One 13 year old kid who has never seen Harold and Maude but who you know will love it like you love it.

One best friend who hasn’t seen it for 20 years but who remembers it so well that they will bring you a bunch of flowers filled with daisies and sunflowers and then cackles and cries at all the right bits.

Olives, cheese, crackers, dolmades etc

Plum + Ginger Cocktails made with Plum + Ginger Cordial, made that day and chilled in pretty bottles.

As follows:

Plum + Ginger Cordial
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
10 plums, pitted and sliced
2 generous slices of lemon rind
One 4” piece of fresh ginger, grated
Place the ingredients in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. bring to a simmer and stir the mixture until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Keep the mixture over very low heat for about an hour. Remove from heat and cool. Strain the plum mixture through a fine sieve or muslin and refrigerate the liquid.
We mixed one shot of cordial with one shot of gin and ginger ale and a slice of lime — though I think soda would be fine instead of ginger ale and vodka instead of gin.

Makes about 800ml