Friday, April 29, 2011

Canning Lemon Squash (Lemonade Concentrate)


Lemon Squash... it's what the British call Lemonade! I like the name Lemon Squash better I think... and in honor of the Royal Wedding of William and Kate, I made a batch of Lemon Squash... well, really I bought too many lemons and was looking for a way to use them up. This recipe is a Lemonade (or Lemon Squash) concentrate, so after opening up a jar, it's mixed with 3 or 4 parts water (depending on how strong you like your Squash!)

The first thing I did was wash my lemons. You need 7-10 lemons for this recipe, the finished Lemon Squash concentrate will fill 3 pint jars.

Next, using my lemon zester, I zested (is that a word?) four of the lemons.


I brought a pot of water to a full boil, then added all my lemons to the boiling water and left them for a minute or two. This step loosens up the lemons and will allow me to squeeze the most juice possible from them. Don't throw out the lemon infused water... it will be used later!


Next I juiced lemons until I had 2 cups of lemon juice.


I strained out the seeds and the biggest pieces of pulp using a fine wire mesh strainer.


Now, back to the stove... in a saucepan I poured in 2 cups of that lemon-infused water I had saved.


To the saucepan I added 3 cups of granulated sugar.


... and the zest from the four lemons


I brought the mixture slowly to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve all the sugar. Then I added the two cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice and brought the entire mixture back just to a boil.


I strained the mixture through a fine wire mesh strainer (cheesecloth would work as well).


Meanwhile I had heated my pint jars, lids and rings to sterilize them... I poured the hot Lemon Squash concentrate into the hot sterilized jars.


I wiped the jar rims with a damp cloth, tightened the lids onto them, and processed them for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath... (place jars into large pot or water bath canner and cover with water, bring the water to a boil, then boil gently for 10 minutes)


Once the jars had processed for 10 minutes, I used my jar lifter and removed them from the hot water, placing them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool.


Then I sat back and listened for the beautiful, satisfying sound of the PING! of a successfully sealed jar.
And I didn't let all those lemon peels go to waste either... after squeezing the juice out, the ones I didn't zest I popped into the dehydrator and dried them, ground them up, and will use them in recipes that call for dried lemon peel.


Lemon Squash concentrate, just add water!
Now that's my cup o' tea! Cheers!

Canning Granny©2011 All Rights Reserved
















37 comments:

  1. you can also And then when you are finished with this, take all of the left over lemon peels and stack them tightly in a mason jar. Cover with white vinegar, add the lid, and store for 3-4 weeks. After that, strain the peels from the solution and discard the peels. Fill a spray bottle half full with solution and top off with water. You'll have a natural, cheap, lemon-scented all purpose cleaner that works wonders! Also works great with oranges.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing such detailed step by step instructions! I am making this tomorrow, but am reducing the sugar to 2 cups so I would be doing the ratios 1c sugar, to 1 c water, to 1c lemon, as my lemon tree is not as sour as most lemons Thanks again!
    Sincerely,
    Mrs VanDeKamp ☺

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cool. I'd not thought of canning lemons but I'll keep this in mind should I end up with too many! I do dehydrate them though :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. When you make your drink, do you mix it 1 part concentrate to 1 part water?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda, you mix it one part concentrate to 3 or 4 parts water, depending on how strong you like it. ~~Granny

      Delete
  5. You are awesome! Last year when my neighbor gave up 50 lbs of lemons from his trees just one month after we moved to CA from NJ, I stopped all unpacking, bought new jars (no way to locate my stash)and made lemonade concentrate. I couldn't find my canner among the boxes in the garage, so i did the next best thing. Plugged in the freezer and put my jars inside. Made the best lemonade. Oh how I hope he gives us more this year. I will use this recipe for sure because the freezer in jammed packed this year.

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  23. Hi.
    So I was wondering if you knew whether its possible to bottle/can just regular lemonade, and not the concentrate.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I was just wandering how you store this. Can I put it in my pantry or does it have to be refigerated.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is shelf stable and can be stored in your pantry. ~~Granny

      Delete
  25. Thank you. I love your blogs, this is one of the best pages I have come across!

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  26. wondering if this could be adapted to add rhubarb to the mix? would that still be safe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rhubarb is a high acid fruit, yes, it would be safe! ~~Granny

      Delete
    2. you are awesome! thanks so much :) Do you think this recipe could be doubled as well? would it affect the outcome at all?

      you have been such an awesome help - if you lived closer I would send you over some canning :)

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    3. oops also forgot to ask if honey could be used instead of sugar?

      Delete
    4. Yes, the recipe could certainly be doubled and honey would be great to use instead of sugar... YUM! ~~Granny

      Delete
  27. Hi, Thanks for this awesome recipe. I plan to add some ginger. Could you please tell me how long this concentrate will keep ? We're in June now, will it hold till Christmas ? I live in New Zealand and would like to give the lemonade concentrate as Christmas Presents.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yum! Ginger added sounds delicious! As long as the jars stay sealed after processing, they'll keep pretty much indefinitely (at LEAST 2-5 years!) ~~Granny

      Delete
  28. hey,
    Thanks for the nice and informative blog.
    We make fruit juice in laminate pouches by doing hot fill. So i am making lemon juice with 12% lemon content. But after heating to 70 degree juice is giving slight bitter taste. Can you give me the solution to avoid that bitter taste?
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