It’s lemon season in Australia — and this old-fashioned lemon barley cordial is the best thing you can do with a surplus

Lemons are in season in Australia right now, which is awesome because I am a big fan. I love all things lemony. Slices, cakes, tarts, curd, I love them preserved, dehydrated and strung up on pretty strings, mixed with honey in a cup of hot water and most of all as a cordial.

I first made lemon barley cordial when we moved home to the farm many years ago, and I inherited the most productive lemon tree in the world. The tree is almost as old as I am, and most years produces massive amounts of juicy fruit.

Every house needs a lemon tree, don’t you think? Put one in a pot if you have no space, I’ve seen them growing perfectly in tiny courtyards and on narrow verandas.

Having a lemon tree gives me a lovely sense of security:  we will always have a generous supply of fruit right through winter, enough to share, and lemons stay ripe on the tree for ages, so it’s not like you must harvest the whole lot in one go. You’ll be picking lemons to accompany fish, or to make a slice, or clean your barbecue, or to make someone with a sore throat a hot lemon and honey, for months and months.

And when you find yourself with leftover lemons, make a batch of this totally delicious lemon barley cordial and stash it in your pantry. Make enough to last you into next Summer because made up with lots of ice on a hot day, this cordial is incredibly refreshing, a bit nostalgic and a little bit fancy (although really simple to make.) Enjoy!

Makes 1.25 litres (5 cups)

Ingredients

250 g pearled barley
zest and juice of 4 lemons (approx. 200 ml)
495 g (2 ¼ cups) white sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid

Method

Put the barley into a large saucepan with the water. Add the lemon zest thinly peeled with a potato peeler. Juice the lemons and set aside.
Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for 40 minutes.
Pour the barley water through a sieve, keeping both the water and the barley (use the barley in a salad, or in bread-baking, or you can toast it in the oven and eat it for breakfast with berries.) Discard the zest.
Put the barley water back into the saucepan and add the lemon juice, sugar and citric acid. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Ladle the cordial into hot sterilised bottles (see note below) and close the lids tightly.
Serve to taste with still or sparkling water, approximately 1 part cordial to 4 parts water. Once opened, keep in the fridge.

Note: to sterilise jars or bottles, wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water, then put the jars on a tray in a moderate oven (150° C or 300° F) for 15 minutes. Put the lids into a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Carefully lift the lids out with tongs after a minute and dry them on a clean teatowel. (We don’t put lids in the oven because they usually have an inner rubber lining for sealing that will degrade in high heat, if your lid or cap is just metal, pop it in the oven with the jars.)

Recipe adapted from Fiona Weir’s book “From Scratch” published by Hardie Grant 2022, photography by Alan Benson