Summer is all about berries. However, I always have way too many to know what to do with. One can only make so many jars of jam. I get tired of jam and think how else can I can these berries so they can be used again later in recipes. I was making berry lemonades and drinking them right after I made them, then I realized they have all the necessary ingredients for canning. I thought to myself, I can can lemonade concentrate so it does not have to be refrigerated and then have lemonade whenever I want it. Here is more about how I do it.
I spend my summers picking blueberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, wineberries, strawberries, cherries, mulberries and blackberries to my hearts content. We have blueberry bushes at my aunts house, black raspberry, strawberry and sweet cherry plants at my house. And I can usually find more raspberries, wineberries, mulberries and blackberries at my local parks, then I know what to do with. I usually cannot use these berries up fast enough before they start to get moldy. So, I discovered a quick way to use a lot of them at once! Make lemonade. Not just make it, but can it!
It is basically like making jam: sugar, water, fruit juice, lemon juice (but no pectin). Its like canning jam without solidification. Since you need acid for water bath canning, lemonade concentrates are perfect. You would not be able to can straight berry juice and berry lemonades taste amazing!
Here is how I make lemonade concentrate:
1) Prepare water bath canner. Heat the jars in the canner. Put lids in a sauce pot with water on low heat. You can boil the jars in the canner, but the lids should not be boiled. This is why they should be processed separately.
2) Fill my Nutri-Bullet to the fill line with berries and puree.
3) Strain out the seeds with fine mesh strainer (optional, but I like it that way). Sometimes a spoon is helpful to stir the pulp to get the juice moving and keep the strainer from getting too clogged up to be able to strain. Once it seems like no more juice will come out and only seeds are left, I stop.
4) Set juice aside. Mix 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water. I use less sugar than the recipe calls for, because no one needs to consume that much sugar, it tastes fine without the 1/4 cup and the berries add a lot of natural sugar right back in. I mix them in a sauce pan and cook them until the mixture becomes clear.
5) I measure out 1/2 cup of berry juice and 1/2 cup of lemon juice and add to my sugar-water mixture. If I have more berry juice, I just repeat the process of making more sugar water and making more berry-lemon juice mixture. I turn the stove back on, if it is not already on and cook the concentrate a little more, until it starts to boil. Once it starts boiling, I turn it off and prepare to fill the jars.
6) I lift the jars out of the canner and dump the water out. I set them on a towel and put the funnel in them and fill them with concentrate one by one. Leave 1/4 inch of head space. I wipe the rims of the jars off afterwards.
7) I pick the lids out of their pot and put them on the filled jars. I make sure they get a good tight seal. I put the bands back on. I screw them on finger tight.
8) I then process the jars in the canner for about 15-20 minutes.
9) I pull the jars out and let them sit until the center of the lids pops inwards, telling me their done. They make a pinging noise when they pop inwards.
10) I let the jars sit until they are dry and cooled off. I screw the lids on as tight as possible and then I label them.
11) When I make lemonade, I open a jar of concentrate and pour it into a pitcher. I add 3-4 cups of cold water. If you like your lemonade less sweet or if you like slightly sweetened water you can pour the amount of lemonade you want into a glass and fill the rest with water. You can also add fresh lemon slices or mint leaves to your pitcher if you want.
That is basically all you need to do to make lemonade. I love it because it is very inexpensive to make and can. It tastes great and I drink it all the time. I like it so much that I have replaced a lot of the soda and other unhealthy drinks I used to drink a lot of, with lemonade. I hope to can lots of lemonade, so I can have it to drink year round. If you were to buy a glass of lemonade like mine at a fancy restaurant, it would cost $2-3 a glass and refills would not be free. Mine costs much less and much more natural.
If you are looking for something unique to can, try lemonade concentrate. When summer gives you berries, make lemonade!
I have made two pitchers of black raspberry lemonade so far, one pitcher of cherry lemonade and canned 3 jars lemonade (2 blackberry and 1 wineberry). I hope to make mulberry, strawberry and blueberry lemonades as well.
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