I've reviewed several varieties of Five Valleys Cordials already and loved all of them. You can see my reviews of the Coconut & Kaffir Lime cordial, the Lemon & Mint and the Pomegranate & Rose varieties. They make lovely grown-up soft drinks with interesting blends of flavours and can be added to still or sparkling water, lemonade or even alcoholic cocktails or white wine spritzers. They're so versatile that I've even used them several times in both sweet and savoury recipes - all three cordials in a fabulous multi-layered Dream Cake for World Baking Day, the Lemon & Mint in some ultra-simple Raita and the Pomegranate & Rose in icing for cupcakes.
When they offered to send through their newest flavours to try out, I was keen to see what combinations they'd come up with this time. They always seem to think outside of the box and create unusual blends and that is certainly true of their new Cherry & Beetroot flavour. Hmmm I had serious misgivings about this one before I'd even opened the bottle - could they really go together ?! Well, they do actually, but I'm still not too keen on this one. It tastes mainly of cherries with only the merest hint of beetroot coming through afterwards but it has quite a bitter, sharp taste that I wasn't keen on. The website says : "Cherry & Beetroot Cordial is a marriage of tree picked cherries with earthy sweet beetroot. The refreshing sour cherries balance perfectly with the sweet beetroot leaving a comforting cherry aroma." I think that says it all - sour cherries, and my tastebuds wanted sweetness. I'm thinking that this may well be an acquired taste though so I'm going to be experimenting with this one.
Peach & Lychee, however, immediately got a huge thumbs up from the whole family (unfortunately - this one is disappearing far too quickly !). It is beautifully sweet and fruity and really refreshing on a hot day with still water over ice. I'd define it as the taste of summer in a glass. We think this would be lovely poured over ice cream or fruit salad too. If there's any left the next time we have ice cream or fruit salad !
If you want unusual flavoured cordials to wow your grown-up guests or bring exciting combinations of flavours to your cooking, I'd definitely suggest trying out the whole range.
star rating : 5/5 for the peach & lychee, 3.5/5 for the beetroot & cherry
RRP : £3.19 for 375ml (but currently on offer - 2 for £5)
Available exclusively at Waitrose.
Disclosure : We received two bottles of Five Valleys Cordial in order to write an honest review.
Other reviews you may be interested in :
Beetroot and cherry sounds lovely! Haven't seen it in the shops yet. Our Waitrose has only 3 varieties. They are lovely (I was less keen on apricot & ginger and coconut & lime though with Mint and lemon and Pomegranate & Rose being our favourites).
ReplyDeleteThese two are the brand new flavours so they might not have arrived yet. I loved the coconut and lime one, reminded me of Malibu !
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