I hope this isn't too confusing. The amount of sugar is helping to preserve, and to make it taste good. I think as long as you keep at least half of the sugar content, you can adjust to your own sweetness preference.

Some people may not be able to tolerate a few of these fruits due to oxalate, blood sugar, or salicylate issues, but there will likely be at least one low histamine fruit on this list that you can tolerate; I can almost guarantee that. In the cordial steamer, layer berries and sugar. Place the lid on and place something heavy on top. Do not open the lid during the steaming process. As with most diets, there are many allowed fruits on the low histamine diet. I generally recommend people start with just blueberries, and work up to apples, raspberries, and kiwis before reintroducing other fruits.Pin the tube so the juice doesn't come out. Place the lid on the steamer and do not take it off at any time during the steaming process. If the pressure lifts the lid, place something heavy on top. Add washed berries to a blender or mash in a large bowl. You may need some water to help mash it. Pour over water and lemon juice (or citric acid/tartaric acid). Let this mixture sit overnight. Storage instructions: Store upright, in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Once opened, use within 1 month. You can also mix some tart berries with some sweet berries and use less sugar. Combining red currants or raspberries with blueberries or strawberries and you can use around 500 grams or 2 ½ cups sugar per 1000 grams of berries.

As discussed in the high histamine foods list, most of the supposedly high histamine fruits are off-diet due to indirect histamine increases rather than directly containing histamine. In fruit much of this is due to the 'histamine liberator' effect, often discussed and rarely explained in the field of histamine intolerance. This is a “no added sugar” squash – I always opt for no added sugar as I prefer to save my calorie indulgences for food-based items and not “waste” them on drinks where I don’t see the benefit. Looking for a different flavour of squash to drink, I spotted the Lindhouse Cherries & Berries in Lidl. This is a double strength squash, which means you need half the water to make it into a cold drink. So I thought I’d give it a go. This method retains the most amount of nutrients in the berries, but it is also the one that keeps the worst. It also needs more sugar to help preserve the cordial. This is super easy though!How long it will steam depends on your berries, but my red currant cordial needs about 80-90 minutes. It’s usually not less than an hour, although raspberries, plums and pears need less, about 45 minutes. Saft is the Scandinavian term for cordial or squash. We drink a lot of saft in Norway, and it's a common drink for kids that don't want to drink water. S ugar free saft, is also very popular, using artificial sweeteners. A Scandinavian saft typically has high fruit concentration (before diluting in water), but it will also depend on the type of berries. Either way - it is delicious!

This sounds like it's been an incredibly harrowing and demoralizing experience for you, and for years on end. I'm so sorry you've had to deal with all of that. But it does sound like you've started to sort out a lot of your triggers and figure out your own way around a lot of your issues, at least for now, but it also sounds like it's getting worse. Unfortunately I'm not a doctor, so I warn you that this is not medical adice but just my own personal research and experieince that say it sounds like your mast cells are also reacting to stress.When Googling cordial, several meanings to the word show up. Excluding "warm and pleasant", but only thinking about the actual drinks, three kinds show up: Buy organic. If you can't buy local produce, at least try to buy organic when purchasing the infamous dirty dozen. I realize not everyone has room for an extra appliance in their kitchen. You can however simply add them to a casserole directly. Make sure the berries are clean, remove vines (and pits for plums and cherries!). Add a damp old kitchen towel or cheesecloth to a large colander and the colander over a new casserole or big bowl. Pour the berry water in. Let this drip for at least one hour, do not help it as this will also make the cordial cloudy.