5/18/12

13 Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate -Can or Freeze

Mason Jar Mug

This... is summer in a bottle.

Imagine grabbing a bottle of this glorious ruby red liquid off your shelf and adding ice cold water.

Yes, you heard right ...  from the shelf!  It tastes amazingly good!

This is a simple beginner canning project that anyone can do.  If you don't have the canning equipment, you can freeze this concentrate in freezer safe containers.

It starts with fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled.  Hulled simply means coring the top part of the strawberry. I like to wash and rinse my strawberries in my OXO salad spinner.


In batches, puree the strawberries in a food processor, stand or immersion blender.


This part is OPTIONAL.  I do not like seeds of any berry and choose to push the strawberry pulp through a fine mesh strainer.  If you don't mind seeds, you will be able to save some work and time!


TIPS for  Freshly squeezed lemon juice (here)  is added to the strawberry pulp.


An insane amount of sugar is added to the fruit juice mixture. It can be made with as little as 4 cups of sugar instead of 6...


Make this recipe as written the first time.  If you think it is too sweet, you can reduce it by two cups.  I made a batch using Splenda and it tasted great!


Use a candy or digital food thermometer and bring the concentrate to 190°F.  Do not boil.  You want to get it to a steaming point, where the sugar is dissolved and the ingredients are hot enough to put into the water bath canner.


Hot juice is poured into HOT, clean pint size canning jars.


The jar rims are cleaned with a wet paper towel to ensure a good seal.


The canning lids are in a small pot of simmering water and I have a water bath canner filled half way with hot water, ready to go. UPDATE: Did you know you don't have to warm up the canning lids? Yay! 

A canning lid is put onto a clean, filled jar and a ring is screwed on finger tip tight.  Each jar is carefully placed into the hot water.


Water needs to be 1-2" above the jars and brought to boiling. Pu the canning lid on and reduce the heat to medium to continue the boiling.

The recipe states to boil these jars for 15 minutes.  At my altitude of 5,000 feet, I need to add 10 minutes.

At the end of my 25 minutes, the jars are pulled out to cool on a heat safe surface.  You should hear the *ping* from each jar almost immediately or within a few minutes.

The *ping* means your jars have sealed!!

Let the jars cool for 12-24 hours.

Doesn't that look easy?


Label each jar with the name, date and reconstituting instructions:

1 jar concentrate + 3 jars cold water = fabulous strawberry lemonade!


Enjoy!


print recipe

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate - Bottled or freeze
Cool and refreshing, this is a sweet treat that can be enjoyed all year round! You can use freshly squeezed lemons or bottled lemon juice with this recipe. Use the recommended range of sugar for best taste and shelf life. 1 pint jar of concentrate + 3 pint jars of cold water = delicious strawberry lemonade!
Ingredients
  • 6 cups strawberries, rinsed and hulled (2 pounds strawberries = 4 cups puree)
  • 4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (6 pounds lemons; about 20 large lemons)
  • 4-6 cups of granulated sugar
  • Thermometer
Instructions
1. In a food processor or blender, puree strawberries in batches.2. Transfer strawberry puree into a stainless steel pot over medium-high heat.3. Add lemon juice and sugar, stirring well, and bring mixture up to 190°F. DO NOT BOIL. Stir occasionally and keep your eye on your thermometer. Remove from heat.4. Ladle mixture into HOT, clean pint sized jars, to 1/4" from the rim.5. Wipe rims clean, add canning lids, rings, and screw on finger-tip tight.6. Put jars in water bath canner filled half way with HOT water.7. Pour additional HOT water to cover jars by 1". 8. Bring water to a rolling boil over medium-high heat; cover, reduce heat to medium and continue boil for 15 minutes. Add additional time as indicated on the Altitude Chart.9. Using a jar lifter, remove jars and put on a wire rack or heat proof surface to cool for 12-24 hours. Reconstitute as directed above.
ALTITUDE CHART
1,001 - 3,000 add 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 add 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 add 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 add 20 minutes
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: 1Yield: 5 pint jars

13 comments:

  1. I am so making this. How fun. I wonder if I can do it with blackberries.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks so much like my daughters recipe. We love it. Glad you like it too and yes the sugar is almost like making jam :-)

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  3. I gotta ask, before I go all hog wild and make a huge batch of this, what is the shelf life? While I can still get fresh strawberries at $1 a package, I would love to make a large batch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a GREAT question, so I looked it up on the USU extension page. Quality of the food and how it is stored will play a big factor. Vitamins and minerals will decrease over time, as well as taste. When I bottle my grape juice, it tastes best during the first two years, but decreases in quality of taste after that. It doesn't go bad, it just tastes weaker. USU says that high acid foods have a shorter shelf life, which I believe this recipe would fall under that category, due to the lemon juice. So, the bottom line is: can what you would use in 1-2 years for the best taste and quality.

      http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/canned-goods

      Delete
    2. THANKS! I was afraid of it being a shorter shelf life so the potential of 1-2 years is great. I have a feeling Father's Day weekend is going to be spent with me making some of this WoooHoooo

      Delete
    3. You're welcome! That's a great deal on strawberries. Enjoy!

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  4. I would love to do this for Christmas baskets for our neighbors but fresh strawberries aren't in season-could I use frozen?

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  5. What are the steps for freezing? This only gives the canning instructions but you mentioned it can be frozen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pour the concentrate into a freezer safe container with at least one inch headspace to allow for expansion. Ball makes plastic freezer jars with screw on lids that are perfect for this recipe.
      Thanks for asking about freezer directions; I'll update my post to include them.🙂

      Delete
  6. What happens if I accidentally let it boil?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If it's the mixture that you brought to a boil, that's ok. There may be a slight change in taste.
      For canning, you do want the water to come to a boil and continue for the duration of processing.🙂

      Delete

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