Canning Orange Squash (Orangeade Concentrate)

There's nothing more refreshing in the heat and humidity of a Southern summer than a tall, cool glass of Lemon Squash (the British term for Lemonade, I just LOVE the name!)... unless, of course, it's Orange Squash... takes me back to the days of going to the mall for an Orange Julius, my favorite refreshment when I was a teenager.

Combining the Britishness and the Deep South, I canned up my own Orange Squash Concentrate to have on hand on those sweltering summer days.

Here's what I did...

I washed and sterilized half-pint canning jars and kept them hot until I was ready for them.

I put my lids and rings in water to simmer and keep hot on the stove.

I gave my oranges a good wash, I used 10 or 12 oranges.

I zested four of the oranges.

I brought a pot of water to a boil, then added the oranges to the boiling water and left them there for two or three minutes. This loosens them up and will coax the most amount of juice from them. Don't throw out that orange infused water either... it will be used in a bit.

I squeezed the juice from the oranges.

Then strained it through a fine mesh wire strainer to remove the big bits of pulp.

This made 2 cups of juice, which I poured into a saucepan, adding 2 cups of the orange infused water...

... two cups of granulated sugar...

... and the zest from the 4 oranges I zested earlier...

I brought the mixture to just a boil.

...then strained the mixture, once again, through a fine wire mesh strainer to remove the zest.

I filled my jars, leaving a half inch of headspace, added the lids to a fingertip tightness...

... and processed them in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. After the processing, I removed the jars from the boiling water using my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool... and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar!

There was a little bit left over... I made myself a lovely glass of Orange Squash... one part orangeade concentrate to four parts water... I added ice and a sprig of mint and enjoyed my refreshing Orange Squash on the porch in the morning sunshine with the birds singing... Ahhhhh!!! Summertime!!!!

Side Note: When I posted my process for canning Lemon Squash a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I dehydrated the leftover lemon peel. A reader commented that another use for leftover lemon peel or orange peel was to stack the peelings tightly in a canning jar, fill the jar with white vinegar, leaving for 3 or 4 weeks, then discard the peel and fill a spray bottle halfway with the orange scented vinegar, and fill the rest of the bottle with water... Voila! An all natural, inexpensive, effective orange scented cleaner! So I followed this advice...

Thank you, dear reader, for a wonderful idea! Can't wait to use my homemade orange cleaner!

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