Strawberry Cordial

Delicious homemade refreshments arrived!

It's been way waaaay too hot here lately, and instead of drinking plain water or pop, or beer I decided to do something with leftover strawberry I had around. The result is this heavenly strawberry syrup that you can use for mixed drinks, champagne, or homemade lemonade.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb fresh strawberries;
• 1/2-2 cups sugar;
• 2 cardamom pods (optional);
• juice of half a lemon.

Directions:

1. In a saucepan combine sugar, water and lemon juice, simmer for about 5-8 minutes, make sure the sugar is fully dissolved.
2. Clean strawberries and remove the stems. Add into the saucepan, throw in a couple cardamom pods (not sure if makes much of a difference, I tried it and it tasted the same as it would without, might wanna increase the amount of pods).
   Cook at a low-medium heat for approximately 20-30 minutes. Let cool and strain the mixture. Discard the strawberry pulp.
   Keep refrigerated.

Garnish:

• ice cubes;
• fresh mint leaves;
• lemon slices or lemon rind.

Add desired amount of strawberry cordial to filtered water that you normally drink or lemonade, make sure it is not too sweet and enjoy on a hot summer day like today. Works amazingly when you have friends over, they would be into it (hopefully haha).

The images were taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and a Canon EF - 50mm - F/1.8 lens.