Chamomile Cordial
A sweetened chamomile infusion, made by steeping the flowers and cutting the result with sugar and a little acid. It brings apple-and-honey florality and a faint bitterness, and it is the ingredient that makes the official Ve.N.To taste of something other than lemon.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Soft apple and honey florality with the distinctive dry, faintly bitter chamomile note underneath, sweet but not cloying and finishing clean.
Storage & Handling
Refrigerated in a sealed bottle. With citric acid it keeps around three weeks; without, closer to one. Freeze it in an ice tray if you have made more than you will drink, because it thaws without losing much.
Usage
The official Ve.N.To takes 15ml alongside a chamomile honey mix, which doubles down on the flavour deliberately. It also works in gin sours and spritzes, anywhere a drink wants florality that is not elderflower.
What a Cordial Is
The word does a lot of work behind a bar and it is worth pinning down.
A syrup is sugar and water with a flavour in it. A cordial carries acid as well — traditionally citric — which brightens the flavour, balances the sweetness and roughly doubles the keeping time. That acid is why a cordial can be poured into a drink as a single ingredient doing two jobs, and it is the reason Rose's lime cordial and fresh lime juice with sugar are not interchangeable in a Gimlet. A chamomile cordial follows the same logic.
Making It
Steep rather than boil, and keep the quantities small.
Bring 250ml of water to just off the boil, take it off the heat, add around 15g of dried chamomile flowers and cover it for ten minutes — no longer, because chamomile turns bitter and hay-like if it is pushed. Strain it, dissolve 250g of caster sugar into the warm liquid, then add about 3g of citric acid and let it cool. It will keep three weeks refrigerated and it is worth making in the quantity you plan to drink rather than the quantity the pan holds.
The Flavour
Chamomile is more interesting than its reputation as a bedtime tea suggests.
The flowers carry apple and honey notes — the name comes from Greek for earth-apple — with a dry, faintly bitter finish that stops the sweetness running away. In a drink that bitterness is doing structural work: it is what lets a cordial this sweet sit in a sour without tipping the balance. Elderflower, the obvious comparison, is sweeter and more perfumed and has no equivalent edge.
Where It Belongs
The Ve.N.To is the official case, and it uses chamomile twice over.
Fifteen millilitres of cordial alongside fifteen of a honey mix made with chamomile instead of water, against grappa and lemon: the drink is built on the flavour rather than seasoned with it. Beyond that it suits gin, which shares its floral register, and it works in a spritz for anyone who has grown tired of elderflower. It does not suit dark spirits, where the delicacy simply disappears.
Top Tips
- Steep, do not boil. Boiling chamomile turns it bitter and hay-like.
- A little citric acid keeps it bright and roughly doubles how long it keeps.
- It is not the same as chamomile syrup: a cordial carries acid as well as sugar.
Common Questions
What is chamomile cordial?
A sweetened chamomile infusion carrying acid as well as sugar, usually citric. The acid brightens the flavour, balances the sweetness and extends the keeping time, which is what separates a cordial from a plain syrup.
How do I make chamomile cordial?
Steep 15g of dried flowers in 250ml of just-off-boiling water for ten minutes, strain, dissolve 250g of caster sugar into the warm liquid, then stir in about 3g of citric acid and cool. Do not boil the flowers: chamomile turns bitter and hay-like when pushed.
How long does chamomile cordial keep?
Around three weeks refrigerated with citric acid in it, and closer to one without. It freezes well in an ice tray if you have made more than you will use, and thaws without losing much of the florality.
Is chamomile cordial the same as elderflower cordial?
No. Both are floral, but chamomile brings apple and honey with a dry, faintly bitter finish, where elderflower is sweeter and more perfumed with no equivalent edge. Chamomile sits more comfortably in a sour for that reason.