Drink - Victoria Moore likes her water with a dash of whiskey
Published 02 December 2002
Water needn't be dull. You can always add organic cordial - or a tot of whisky
Now that strictures to drink two litres of water daily or dehydrate have become part of the annual cycle of topics covered in the health supplements, it seems somewhat behind the times to admit I've just seen the light. But I have. And now that I've discovered water will keep me afloat all day long, I am evangelical about it. Whenever I get cross or grumpy or begin to tire, a glass of it lifts me back up again like a drooping daisy resurrected by a shower of rain. How could I have thought, all those years, that Mars Bars were what was required when I began to flag?
The trouble is, drinking water does get a little dull sometimes. The solution: cordials. Elderflower cordial enjoyed a few years' sojourn in chichi Islington kitchens, but smoothies, expensive refrigerated fruit juices from the likes of Tropicana and branded water have seen off a lot of the competition from humble fruit syrups diluted with water.
I keep only Rose's Lime Cordial, and that for emergency gin gimlets, but Belvoir Fruit Farms's delicious range of cordials has made me think again. Belvoir Castle in Lincolnshire has been the home of the Manners family (headed by the Duke of Rutland) since the 14th century. Twenty-one years ago, Lord John Manners founded Belvoir Fruit Farms, a pick-your-own operation, on the family estate. Before long, he was wondering what he could do with all the overripe, unpicked fruit he had on his hands and Belvoir Cordials was born.
The first commercially produced cordial was elderflower - nothing to do with the leftover berries but inspired by the bottles of Lady Mary Manners's home-made elderflower cordial, which were already being passed around like the crown jewels among friends and relatives. Now Belvoir makes roughly a dozen organic and normal cordials. In the organic range, I love the fieriness of the ginger cordial. It has a wonderfully rooty taste and makes a deliciously grown-up version of ginger beer if you add sparkling rather than still water. The lemon is also very good: it tastes as tranquil as if it had just been poured from jugs of freshly sliced lemons steeping in water. Nancy Blackett's cook could not have done better, I am sure.
Of the non-organic cordials, I was keen on the zesty, refreshing lime and lemon grass, as well as the flagship elderflower. I have also bought a bottle of spiced winter berries which tastes like a kind of non-alcoholic mulled wine when you add hot water to it. I like sharp, refreshing drinks, so it's not at all the sort of thing with which I would usually quench my thirst. But I have an idea that if I mix it into warmed red wine or add a tot of whisky it will make a cheat's mulled wine. Well, who said this had to be all about rehydration? You didn't think I'd gone soft, surely?
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
