Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate – can it now to enjoy later!
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Is it possible to have too much fun canning? Because if so, I’m in that territory. I have been canning like a mad woman, and just yesterday had my pressure canner and water bath canner going at the same time as fresh green beans and peach butter were put up (I’ll bring you the peach butter recipe on Thursday!). Today it is all about Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate!
Today, I’m sharing a fun recipe with you that a lot of folks don’t think to can: a juice concentrate. Now, in the old days folks thought to can everything but nowadays we tend to think canning is just for pickles and jams. So I’m going to change all of that by showing you how to make this delicious strawberry lemonade concentrate that you can store in your pantry and mix up this winter when you find yourself longing for warmer days 🙂
Or you can drink it all next week. The option is there 🙂
The ingredients are simple: Strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar.
You can use fresh squeezed lemon juice if you have the notion. My notion was to go for the easiest option 🙂
Start by filling your water bath canner or a very tall pot with water. Place this over medium to medium high heat to bring the water to a simmer. Place jars and lids in pot.
If using a big pot, you need to make sure it is tall enough to cover your jars by at least an inch of water and it must have a lid. Place a dish towel in the bottom of it. This will prevent the jars from sitting directly on the heat source and lessen the clanking around once they start processing at the end of this recipe.
Rinse your strawberries under cold water and cut the tops off. Place them, in batches, in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
If you fill your blender all the way to the top like I do, add half of your lemon juice to help get things going in there. Just remember that when you go to add the rest and don’t double the amount!
Place pureed strawberries in a large stock pot. Add lemon juice and sugar.
Cook this over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved.
Continue cooking until it almost comes to a boil, but not quite boiling.
Remove from heat. Skim the foam off the top as best you can.
See that picture? I call this “good enough”.
Remove jars from canner, carefully draining as you do so, and place on a dish towel lined counter. Fill jars with hot mixture.
Wipe rims with a damp paper towel and then place lids and rings on jars. Tighten lightly. Place jars back into canner, cover, and bring to a full rolling boil.
When it starts boiling, your process time of 15 minutes begins.
After 15 minutes, carefully remove jars and place them on dish towel lined counter to cool. 24 hours later, check to make sure all jars are sealed. If they aren’t, you can add a new lid and re-process them or just place that jar in the fridge to use.
To serve, dilute concentrate with 2-3 cups of water for every 1 cup of concentrate.
I dilute mine with 3 cups to every 1 but if you prefer it sweeter, you can just use 2. Another fun thing to do is dilute it with club soda, sprite, or ginger ale!
We LOVE this stuff. Hope you do, too!
Ingredients
- 6 cups strawberries washed and tops removed
- 4 cups bottled or freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 6 cups granulated sugar
- 7 Ball® 16 oz pint jars
Instructions
- Fill boiling water canner with hot water and place jars and lids inside.
- Puree fresh strawberries in a blender or food processor (I usually use a blender), working in batches if need be, until they are smooth.
- Place strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved, not bringing them to a boil but just getting them right up to where they are almost boiling. Remove from heat and skim off foam or stir until foam is incorporated back into mixture. .
- Ladle hot concentrate into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim with a damp paper towel or dish cloth. Place lids and rings on jars and tighten lightly.
- Place jars in a boiling water canner, cover, and bring to a boil. One it reaches a full rolling boil, process for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours.
- To reconstitute, mix two parts water, ginger ale, or club soda to one part concentrate. Can mix three parts if you prefer.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Join me this Saturday for National Can It Forward Day! I’ll be canning live from Ball Headquarters in Indiana. To get details on how to watch the webcast this weekend, click here.
Also, follow me on Instagram to see photos from my tour of the Ball Canning Factory by clicking here!
#Canitforward !
For more great canning recipes, visit FreshPreserving.com and Ball Canning on Facebook.
Disclaimer: this post was graciously sponsored by Ball Canning but all opinions contained herein are my own. In other disclaimer news: I like pretzels, farm fresh eggs, and walks in the woods but I still won’t eat seafood. Have a great day!
You might also enjoy this recipe! Fresh Strawberry Pie
Can you use this with low sugar pectin, to use less sugar? If so, what is the amount?
Hi, I made this in the summer for Christmas gifts and noticed that it’s separated both at the top and bottom. Is this typical? I shook the jar and it looks totally normal. Thanks!
Yes, once it sits a while it will separate but shaking it fixes it right up as you found! Hope you are having a wonderful day!
This is awesome! My mom canned everything she could grow in her garden or be given by neighbors. This makes me think of her canning blackberry juice to make jelly later in the year when the weather was not so hot and canning blackberries to use in cakes for Christmas. Thank you for sharing. I enjoy following you on FB!
Thank you so much Pam, I am so glad you are a part of our “family”!!!
I love this recipe and I went to the Ball website because you forgot to say how long is the shelf life. Here is what Ball said,
“Response from Ball Jars:
We recommend that home-canned recipes be consumed within one year.”
I had no idea. I have never canned before. Do you think if I used my “Food Savor” to seal the lid. Would that be ok?
Because isn’t all your doing in putting the full jars in the water and simmer for a while is to seal the lid right?
Hey Sheri! Most experts will tell you to use home canned goods within a year and I agree and recommend that as well, however I will also tell you that I use mine far beyond that as long as they are canned safely. You could use a food saver if you are going to freeze this but vacuum sealing it is just sealing it, not processing it. “Proper” (sorry to use that word but its the only one I can think of to describe the process) canning has to involve boiling water, a lid, and a set amount of time to process your jars. What this is actually doing is bringing the contents up to a certain temperature in order to create a somewhat sterile environment and kill off any spores that can flourish in the low oxygen environment a canned food creates, such as botulism. You can kind of look at it like a form of pasteurization because it is in many ways. The good news is that safely canning things doesn’t require any special equipment and just a little bit of time boiling and you can have complete confidence in the safety of your canned goods. I have a tutorial I did on it a few years back that might be helpful, here is a link: https://www.southernplate.com/2008/09/yes-you-can-can-canning-tutorial-with.html It may seem daunting at first because you haven’t done it before, but I promise you canning is one of the easiest things you’ll ever do! Just make sure you use safe recipes, like the ones on FreshPreserving.com or my website. I have a home economics degree and always make sure I’m using the latest methods when it comes to my canning recipes.
Holler if you have any more questions!
Hi Christy,
Thank-you so much for your reply and explaining to me about the safety about canning also providing the link on how to can. I have always thought that canning was hard work as I saw my Aunt can long time ago. But after hearing from you, it does not sound so hard. I will give it a try. I hope in the future you post more canning goodies!
I am so making this during the upcoming week!
I hope you enjoy it Bri!!
Mmmmm, Christy! This looks so delicious! I love strawberry lemonade. I need to make this while I can still get strawberries on the cheap!
I hope you enjoy it Mary!!
Wow, does this sound GOOD! : )