What is cordial? (2024)

What is cordial?

Cordial is a non-alcoholic concentrated syrup used in beverage making. It is usually fruit-flavoured, made from fruit juice, water, and sugar or a sugar substitute. Modern cordials may also contain food colouring and additional flavouring. Some traditional cordials contain herbal extracts, most notably elderflower and ginger. When consuming cordial it should be mixed with water or carbonated water. Therefore they are used very little at a time. So the container should be re-closable. And also these cordials should contain preservatives (normally Sodium Benzoate) to prevent spoilage after open the container.

Cordial Making Process

1.Making the fruit pulp – Before making the pulp the fruit should be prepared well. Fruit should be washed in clean water, peeled and the stones removed. All fruit should be ripe and free from bruising. Any rotten or bruised fruit should be thrown away as Making the fruit pulp Filtering the fruit pulp Heat the filtered fruit pulp Mix with the sugar syrup Fill and seal in clean bottles Heat, Cool, Label, and Store this will spoil the flavour of the cordial. Soft fruits such as berries, passion fruit and papaya can be pulped by hand, whereas harder and more fibrous fruits such as pineapple and mango require mechanized pulping. Manually operated pulpers are available for places where there is no electricity and there are also a wide range of powered pulpers and blenders. At higher production rates, pulper-finishers brush fruit through a sieve and separate seeds, skins etc. from the pulp.

2.Filtering the fruit pulp – For cordial preparation crystal clear fruit juice is needed. To obtain that type of fruit juice the fruit pulp which was made in the previous step should be filtered. For that, there are special juice filters. If not coarse muslin cloth, fine filter cloth or strainer can be used. However, it is important to make sure that the muslin cloth or strainer is regularly cleaned and sterilized. Otherwise, microorganisms can enter into the fruit pulp and spoilage can be happened. Pectic enzymes are sometimes added to the juice to break down the pectin which is naturally present and which gives the juice a cloudy appearance.

3.Heat the filtered fruit pulp – This heat treatment is done to pasteurize the filtered fruit pulp. From this the available microorganisms in fruit pulp can be destroyed and that leads to a long shelf life of the cordial. Here the temperature and timing of the heat treatment is important this should be heated at 80 ºC – 90 ºC temperature for 10- 20 minutes. This heat treatment can be done in a stainless steel heating pan.

4.Mix with the sugar syrup – To make a sugar syrup sugar and boiling water should be added 1 : 1 ratio and stirred well. Then after the fruit pulp should be mixed with the clear sugar syrup. Before mixing sugar syrup also should be filtered through a muslin cloth to remove particles. Then sugar and fruit pulp can be mix in a water bath which is at around 90 ºC. Sugar syrup should be added to give a final concentration of 12%-14% of sugar. The amount of sugar present in the fruit has to be taken into account when calculating the amount of sugar to add. Then after citric acid should be added. The citric acid concentration of final product should not more than 3.5%. And also preservatives can be added. Normally Sodium Benzoate is the preservative and the final concentration should not more than 600 ppm.

5.Fill and seal in clean bottles - At a small scale, containers can be filled simply using a funnel and a jug. For larger-scale operations a range of filling machines is available. The juice containers should be thoroughly washed and sterilized before filling. Bottles that are recycled should be checked for cracks and chips. Only new caps should be used for sealing the bottles. The weight should be checked whether it is correct or not.

6.Heat, cool, label & store – then the sealed bottled should be heated. At the small[1]scale, the filled bottles of juice can be pasteurized in stainless steel, enamelled or aluminium pan over a gas flame. Care should be taken to avoid localized overheating. The filled bottles are heated in boiling water for 5-10 minutes depending on the size of the bottle. Both the time and temperature of pasteurization are critical to achieving the correct shelf life and retaining the colour and flavour of the juice. After heating, the bottles are cooled to room temperature by immersing them in clean cold water. If the bottles are cooled too quickly they will crack and break. Then it should be labelled and stored in a dry cool atmosphere.

Content of cordial

Content Maximum concentration of final product

Total soluble solids (TSS) 30%

Fruit pulp 25%

Citric acid 3.5%