Inject some cool summer freshness into your glass with these satisfying and easy-to-make cordial recipes

For summer, I love serving cordials made from ingredients picked fresh from the garden.

A couple of weeks ago I got into a cordial frenzy and it was so much fun.

The elderflower buds were at its best and I just love the sensual experience of collecting them, as the flowers smell sweet and honey-like.

There is something quite satisfying about foraging, and creating something from the generous gifts of nature.

I also decided to trim the lovage plants, which have benefited from so much rain and warmth and most of the mint in the garden needed cutting back.

Making herb cordials is a lot easier than making fruit cordials, and I thought that I would share a couple of recipes.

The downside of cordials is the sugar content but if you are making cordials to consume over the next few weeks you don’t need to use so much.

Lemony Mint Cordial
Place the mint in a large bowl, and pour over 1.2 litres of boiling water.

Add the zest; mix well and leave infusing overnight.

Line a sieve with muslin and decant the lemon-mint water through the sieve into a pan.

Once all the liquid has strained squeeze the contents of the muslin, trying to get as much juicy flavour as possible.

Add the lemon juice and sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.

Transfer to hot sterilised bottles. Seal them and label. Best kept refrigerated.

As an alternative to cordials you can use the syrup to make hot mint tea.

Serve with cold sparkling water, ice, fresh mint leaves and chopped fruit for an alternative to alcoholic summer drinks.

Lovage and Orange Cordial

A few good handfuls of lovage including stalks (about 150g).

5 medium oranges, first grate the zest and then juice them.

800g of caster sugar and one cinnamon stick.

Following the Lemony Mint Cordial recipe, infuse the lovage with the water and zest and the cinnamon stick.

After infusing, follow the procedure as indicated above.

-  Florencia Clifford is a zen cook and the author of Feeding Orchids To The Slugs: Tales Of The Zen Kitchen. For more information, visit feedingorchidstotheslugs.wordpress.com.