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!

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