Strawberry Water (Or Strawberry Cordial)

This recipe comes from a 1920s French cookery book called "La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. St-Ange", which I bought recently in a facsimile edition. It makes a delicious non-alcoholic strawberry drink - although you can also use it to flavour champagne or white wine. The recipe is my dodgy translation of the key points of the recipe, supplemented with my own comments - but I've tried it, and it works very well :-)

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 8-10
• Yields: 1500 ml

Ingredients

• 300  g strawberries, ripe and unblemished, washed and hulled, with any damaged sections removed
• 375  g granulated sugar
• 1500  ml water

Directions

1. In a large pan over a low flame, dissolve the sugar in the water.
2. Increase the flame and bring the liquid to a boil, then plunge in the strawberries, put a close-fitting lid on the pot and turn off the heat.
3. Leave the pan undisturbed for at least an hour to infuse.
4. Dampen a piece of muslin cloth (or a jelly bag), and strain off the liquid into a large bowl or jug. Leave the pulp to drip until all the liquid has been collected - do not press the strawberry pulp, or the liquid will turn cloudy. In my experience, the drained pulp is very popular with passing children, despite its rather anaemic appearance!
5. Chill the beautiful ruby-red strawberry water, then serve over ice. You may need to dilute it with water, to taste.
6. Alternative serving suggestion - pour a little of the chilled strawberry water into a wine glass, then top up with chilled sparkling wine.