My husband Pete makes a wicked lemon cordial, thought I'd share the recipe. "Cordial" is an English invention (I think), and is basically a sugar syrup that you dilute with water or soda water to make fizzy lemon drink.
Ingredients :
1 lemon (juice and rind)
1 Tbsp Tartaric Acid (powdered)
2 cups boiling water
2 cups white sugar
10 drops of lemon essence or extract (optional)
In a LARGE measuring jug (pyrex), put lemon rind (doesn't need to be finely grated, can be just strips of lemon zest). Pour in the 2 cups of boiling water (make sure you do this BEFORE you add sugar, so that you extract all the oil from the lemon rind). THEN add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add tartaric acid and unstrained lemon juice (pips and all is fine) and lemon essence (optional - we don't usually put this in). Strain into a clean bottle (chuck out all the bits), and keep in fridge. Mix with cold water or soda water as desired (about 1 part cordial to 5 parts water is good).