Penny Choose: Five Valleys Cordials Pomegranate & Rose

Ah, the joys of the small, affordable treat. Today’s Treat Under a Tenner is a tiny taste of luxury, for your summer refreshment needs.

This beauty is the Pomegrante & Rose cordial made by Five Valleys Cordials. It’s unique, delicious and fragrant, mixing the fruit perfectly with the flowers so that neither of the flavours become overpowering. No nasties in here either, it’s all natural flavours, and the sugar balance is not too sweet either so the drink’s very grown up.

As with most cordials, the directions say to use 1 part cordial to 10 parts water. On hotter days I’ve been drinking it with just a couple of drops in the bottom of a glass of water, as it still flavours the drink nicely but it’s also much more thirst quenching. On colder days I’ve been adding it to hot water too, like posh hot Ribena.

And of course this is beautiful mixed into other drinks and cocktails, as you might expect. For starters, it suits sparkling water and a squeeze of lemon for a sophisticated rose-lemonade style drink, and it’s good in apple juice as well.

It’s also handy for sexing up any cheap French white or rose wine in the same way as you’d make Kir with blackcurrant liqueur, or for pepping up cava and other dry sparkling wines for an aperitif. Oh, and this stuff was positively born for adding to gin, maybe with a few strawberries or slices of cucumber mixed in with soda water for a tall drink, or in a martini with a touch of fruit liqueur.

You can also add it to food, like a slightly sweeter version of rosewater. Drizzle a few drops over a fruit platter of melon, peach slices, redcurrants and anything else you can think of, mix it into sorbets or whipped cream, or spoon a tiny amount over icecream. You can even add a drop or two to salad dressings where there’s a mixture of sweet and savoury ingredients in the bowl.

The Pomegranate & Rose cordial by Five Valleys costs £3.19 for a 375ml bottle, and it keeps for up to a month after opening if you store it in the fridge. I completely love this stuff.

It’s relatively hard to find, but you can currently buy it at Waitrose and Ocado.

Have you tried this yet? Is it one you’re going to add to the shopping basket?