Bergamot Cordial

INGREDIENTS:
- 75 g Bergamot Peel
- 240 g Sugar
- 350 ml Bergamot Juice

PREPARATION:

• Wash your bergamots thoroughly with a brush and dry them off.
• Peel the bergamots removing as little of the underlying white pif as possible.
• In a non-reactive container put the peels together with sugar and leave it in room temperature for 24 h.
• Next day, juice the bergamots and pour the juice over the peels and oleo saccharum you now have in a container.
• Let it steep in a refrigerator for another 24 h.
• Strain the peels out and pour the cordial into a sterilized container.
• For additional shelf life consider adding a table spoon or two of vodka.
• Store in a refrigerator.

Bergamot is a fantastic citrus for cocktails, but it comes with a little challenge. It is a seasonal fruit, that disappears as quickly from the supermarket shelves as it appeared and stocking it is not an option. In order to overcome the issue and preserve this fruit, I decided to give it a try and make a cordial. I borrowed the idea from lime cordial by Toby Cecchini and cocktail college episode on Gimlet. Since lime cordial has a very long shelf life, I cannot see a reason why it should not be possible to preserve bergamot using the same method. The result was deliciously exciting full of fragrance, bitter and tart notes of bergamot.

So far, it is counting two months in the fridge. It will be interesting to see how long it will last.