Cocktails with Jasmine cordial
Jasmine cordial is a sweetened, acidified jasmine infusion — perfumed, fine, and quick to bury whatever it sits next to. The acid is what makes it a cordial rather than a syrup.
Substitutes for Jasmine cordial
Strong jasmine tea sweetened with sugar or honey comes closest and is the practical home version. Elderflower or another light floral syrup keeps the register and changes the flower.
Often confused with
Jasmine tea
The unsweetened infusion. It carries the aroma and none of the sugar, so a drink built on it needs its sweetness from elsewhere.
Elderflower cordial
Rounder and more honeyed where jasmine is perfumed and tea-like, and nearly every bar has it; use it where the drink needs a floral sweetener rather than jasmine specifically.
Storage
Jasmine is the most fugitive of the floral cordials — the aroma is the product, and it fades in the fridge instead of surviving there. Make it in small quantities, keep it cold and closed, and use it within a fortnight.
