A refreshing drink is just what we need to quench our thirst during the hot summer days! In the shops you can find a thousand types of interesting drinks: personally I love cedar (and who can resist?). But what about if we try to make it at home, with natural ingredients and without using dyes? The result will be amazing! Let's work!
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Identity Card of the Recipe
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Ingrediants
For 500-600 ml of syrup:
- 1 kg of cedars
- 350 g of sugar
- 350 ml of water
- 10 g of citric acid
To dilute:
- Q.b. of still water or sparkling water
Materials Needed
- Colander
- Vegetable peeler
- Glass blender or immersion mixer
- Scale weighs food
- Gauze
- Jars with screw caps or bottles
- Food brush
Preparation
- Wash the organic cedars thoroughly, brushing them to remove impurities.
- Cut the cedars into 4 pieces and peel them with the potato peeler.
Attention!
It is recommended to remove only the yellow part of the cedar, not the albedo (white, spongy part) because it is bitter.- Squeeze the citron to take the juice, then filter it with a colander to remove the pulp and seeds.
- Gather the peel in a glass of a blender, add the sugar, citric acid, water and lemon juice. Blend for a few moments to mince the peels.
Did you know that
The aromatic active ingredients of cedar are concentrated in the peel, which is very rich in essential oil. By chopping the peels, the breakage of the bags containing the essential oil is favored, which comes out and disperses in the liquid.
Furthermore, sugar favors the escape of essential oils by osmosis.
Citric acid acts as a pH corrector, preservative and antioxidant, thus increasing the shelf-life of the product.- Gather the mixture thus obtained in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to macerate for at least 24 hours.
- The following day, filter the resulting mixture through a strainer lined with gauze.
- The cedar syrup is ready and can be stored or used immediately. For dosages, it is advisable to dilute one part of cedar syrup in 10 parts of fresh, still or sparkling water according to your tastes.
- For storage, pasteurization of the syrup is recommended. After sterilizing the glass jars or the bottles with their screw caps, pour the syrup inside the containers and seal with the cap. Insert the jars in a deep pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil and calculate 10 minutes (starting from the resumption of boiling). Turn off the heat and let the jars cool in the pasteurization liquid, until the vacuum is completed. As an alternative to pasteurization, it is possible to pour the syrup into bottles with crown caps: to seal them, it is necessary to use the appropriate capping machine.
- Cedar syrup, if properly stored, can be consumed even after 6-8 months. It is recommended to store the bottles or jars in a dark and cool environment.
Alice's comment - PersonalCooker
You can follow the same procedure to prepare drinks made with lemon peel, orange, grapefruit, mandarin or other citrus fruits (as long as they are not treated).Serve the drink with ice, cedar peel and a few mint leaves for a "summer of freshness"!
Also try the drink with elderberry syrup!Nutritional values and Health Comment on the recipe
ATTENTION! Due to the impossibility of indirectly estimating, with sufficient accuracy, the chemical values of the food, the table opposite does not show the details of the nutritional translation.
Citron is a sweet drink with a medium energy intake. Calories are mainly provided by carbohydrates, while lipids and proteins should be insignificant. Carbohydrates are mainly of the simple type (disaccharides and monosaccharides). Being a drink made from pureed fruits, it should contain a non-negligible portion of dietary fiber.
The homemade cedar is not suitable for the diet of the subject afflicted with hyperglycemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus or hypertriglyceridemia. The average portion (to be consumed as a snack) is about 200ml.
