Chopsy Baby is reviewing… Belvoir Fruit Farms Organic Cordial

When doing the family shop, most parents will be reaching for the super sized bottles or even double concentrated fruit squash. It’s a grocery product that goes fast in most families. The cheaper the better: three bottles for two or one pound per litre.

But as mother of four-year-old Reuben, Hayley Wash found out, these deals weren’t doing her any favours and were actually contributing to Reuben’s really bad behaviour.

“I started to notice that after he had a drink of well-diluted squash he would go berserk,” Hayley says. “Reuben won’t drink plain water so I have always flavoured it with whatever the best deal at the supermarket was. But it is only recently I have been able to pinpoint his terrible outbursts and behaviour being triggered by squash. I just thought he was really naughty and out of control. When I started looking for triggers, it was definitely squash related.”

Hayley was keen to test out some of the natural cordials from Belvoir instead of her regular fruit squash to see if a simple brand swap would produce quick results.

Belvoir Fruit Farms produce a range of organic drinks. They grow organic fruit, press, mix and bottle on their dedicated plant in Leicestershire.

They don’t use any artificial colourings, flavours or preservatives, with each bottle pasteurised to prevent the contents from going off. Once opened, drinks should be stored in the fridge. This is because if they are left at room temperature over a couple of weeks, the drinks will naturally ferment becoming alcoholic.

The cordials – particularly the organic blackcurrant – are very rich in their natural colour and darkened slightly by sugar. Even when adding a very small amount of cordial to water the drink is very dark.

While some brands of fruit squash may not contain ‘added sugar’, Belvoir use traditional methods to produce their cordials. They use sugar as a preservative to stop fermentation rather than the more commonly used chemical preservatives. Citric acid – identical to that which makes lemons and limes naturally sour – is used to sharpen the flavour.

Raspberry and Rose Cordial – Turkish Rose
Hayley says: “This cordial is an absolute winner! It taste delicious. The Raspberry flavour is not overpowering and the turkish rose is a lovely subtle after taste.”

Elderflower Cordial – Fresh flowers and fresh lemons
Hayley says: “Fresh, crisp and sweet but not sickly. This cordial is perfect for hot summer days and ideal in a glass of bland cheap wine to pep it up.”

Blackcurrant Cordial
Hayley says: “This blackcurrant was our least favourite. Perhaps because I’m not such a fan of blackcurrant. I found it slightly sour in taste but Reuben still loved it. It has a lovely rich colour, even if you only use a splash. Interestingly, I did find Reuben’s naughtyness did start to increase slightly after drinking this which didn’t happen with the other flavours.”

Final verdict
“I was a little worried to begin with about the sugar content of the cordials. This proved to be unfounded. None of them provoked any kind of reaction in my child in the same way that Robinsons fruit squash did. I can’t explain why this is, only that it didn’t.

“The fruit cordials themselves were absolutely delicious in taste and there is no doubt that I will buying these in the future. Though they are clearly more expensive than other brands of fruit squash, I feel this is a price worth paying because they taste divine and didn’t not cause my child to bounce off walls. I feel that you only need a splash of the cordial to flavour the water anyway.”

Best of All
The Raspberry and Rose Cordial – Turkish Rose is the best cordial/squash available to humanity.

Could improve…
Nothing

Basically…
A lovely range of cordials with a flavour to suit all the family.

You can buy from…

Belvoir has more than 13 cordial varieties, 10 pressés and 5 Fruit Crush drinks, all made without preservatives or artificial ingredients.

Prices start from £2.89 for regular cordial, £3.15 for organic cordial, £2.75 for regular 75cl pressé, £2.50 for elderflower 75cl pressé, £1.65 for 25cl pressé and £1.95 for Fruit Crush.

They are available from leading supermarkets, delicatessens, food halls, farm shops or  www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk