Strawberry Cordial and Anne of Green Gables

I'm reading through the Anne of Green Gables series this month as part of the L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge at Reading to Know. Actually, I'm cheating a tad, and listening to some of them in audio form. My plan is to read one, while listening to the next, through the series. That way, I have a chance of getting through them all, without letting the house, and school work go completely.

I thought it might be fun to read the first book, Anne of Green Gables, out loud to the children, too. So, far their not overly enthusiastic about the story, but I think it will grow on them, as they get to know Anne.

To help draw them in, I put a hold on Kate Macdonald's Anne of Green Gables Cookbook, at the library. We'll try out some of the tasty treats from the book, as we read through the story. The cookbook hasn't come in yet, so I'm relying on my memory for tonight. Something, that has always stood out in my mind from the story, or from the movie version of the story, is the raspberry cordial, that Anne is attempts to share with her friend Dianna.

I didn't have any raspberries on hand, so I substituted strawberries, using a recipe from the Recipe Zaar, as a guide.

Strawberry Cordial

• 18 oz of frozen strawberries
  
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
  
• 2 cups of sugar
  
• 1 1/2 cup of water
  

Soak the strawberries in the water, and lemon juice for 24 hours. I cut the time short, because I wasn't paying attention to the recipe, and added the sugar too. Then, I started to worry the sugar might ferment the strawberries, given enough time. While that might be in keeping with the story, I didn't think it would be good to serve the children strawberry wine. But, how stupid is that, because if the sugar was going to ferment the berries, it could just as easily ferment the juice. I'm sure they would have been fine soaking the entire time.

Heat the juice, to dissolve the sugar. Do not let it boil. Here again, I deviated from the original recipe, it called for straining the berries out first, but I left that for later.

Mash the berries.

Strain out the pulp.

Place the strained juice in a clean container, and chill. I chose an old glass pitcher, that had been my grandmother's, because it seemed sentimental, and sappy, and appropriate for Anne, in her younger days.

About the time I reached the cooking, and straining, I realized I'd made this before, though I added more citrus juice, and it was lime instead of lemon, but I called it strawberry lemonade. It's the concoction we froze in communion glasses last July, and turned into fairy pops.

I think Anne Shirley would approve of Strawberry Cordial Frozen Fairy Delights, don't you? Or, maybe I've been spending to much time Hyacinth Bucket.

It's great to be a homeschooler.