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Canning blackberry lemonade concentrate is an easy way to bottle up that sweet tart summer flavor so you can pour a glass of homemade lemonade any time, even when fresh berries are long gone.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate Ingredients
- Adjust the Ratio to Your Taste
- Yield Notes
- How to Make Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate
- Canning Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate
- Waterbath Canning Altitude Adjustments
- Serving Ideas
- Blackberry Lemonade FAQs
- Blackberry Canning Recipes
- Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate Recipe
- Drink Canning Recipes
This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Blackberry season tends to arrive all at once, and a heavy pick leaves you with more fruit than you can eat fresh. Putting some up as concentrate gives you a drink to show for the afternoon, and it sits on the shelf next to the rest of your blackberry canning recipes, whether that is a batch of blackberry jam or a few jars of blackberry syrup.
Most ways of preserving blackberries turn them into something thick and sweet, but this one keeps them pourable. It is a good way to work through a flush of berries, especially the soft or seedy ones that are not quite right for a bowl, and it folds in with the other fruit canning recipes that earn their place in the pantry.
The method comes from the same high-acid lemonade concentrate approach used across the category, processed on the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s fruit puree times. It is one of more than a dozen lemonade concentrate canning recipes built the same way, from strawberry lemonade concentrate to blueberry lemonade concentrate.
The berry versions are usually made with fruit puree, but blackberries are seedy enough that I think it works better to extract the juice first and mix that into the concentrate. I do the same thing when I make plum lemonade concentrate, where straining the juice keeps the finished drink smooth.
Notes from My Kitchen
Blackberry lemonade just tastes like summer, but the concentrate version is even better because it is quick to serve and endlessly flexible. You can mix it with still water, sparkling water, iced tea, or even use it to flavor desserts and marinades.
I also like that it is a practical way to use berries that are a little soft or seedy. I have made this after a family berry-picking afternoon when the fridge was overflowing, and I knew we would never eat them all fresh in time.
When I have a few jars on the shelf, last-minute guests feel easy. I can pour something homemade that looks special in a pitcher, and nobody needs to know it took me less time than brewing a pot of coffee.
It is a lemon canning recipe at heart, but you can make it as a lime canning recipe instead by swapping lime juice for the lemon, which gives you blackberry limeade concentrate with a sharper citrus edge.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Canning Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate
- Recipe Type: Fruit Drink Concentrate
- Canning Method: Waterbath Canning
- Prep/Cook Time: About 1 hour, mostly straining the juice
- Canning Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: About 4 pints (see Yield Notes)
- Jar Sizes: Half Pint, Pint or Quart
- Headspace: 1/4 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Blackberry juice, lemon juice and sugar
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: Fruit puree canning times consistent with National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance
- Difficulty: Easy! Once you have extracted the blackberry juice, everything is heated together and ladled into jars for processing
- Similar Recipes: The process is similar to other fruit lemonade concentrates, including Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate and Plum Lemonade Concentrate, and you can put up the plain version with Canning Lemonade. If you have more blackberries to work through, try Blackberry Juice or Blackberry Syrup.
Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate Ingredients
There are only a few ingredients here, but each one is doing real work. The blackberry juice brings the flavor, color, and body, the lemon juice provides the tartness and the acidity, and the sugar balances the two.
- Blackberry Juice: Carries the berry flavor and the deep color, with a wilder, more tart edge than blueberry. It is extracted from fresh or frozen blackberries simmered with a little water, then strained to leave the seeds behind.
- Lemon Juice: Adds the tart lemonade flavor and the acidity.
- Sugar: Sweetens the concentrate and balances the sharp lemon and tart berry.
You can use fresh or bottled lemon juice here. Bottled is the more consistent option for acidity and flavor from batch to batch, and it is convenient when you are canning larger quantities, while fresh, strained well, tends to taste a little brighter.
Either way, the lemon juice is not what makes this safe to can, since blackberry juice is fine in a water bath on its own, so fresh lemon is a flavor choice rather than a safety one.
Adjust the Ratio to Your Taste
The exact ratio here is not a canning requirement. Both the blackberry juice and the lemon juice are safe to can on their own, using these same instructions and times, so you can lean toward more berry or more lemon to suit your taste, and raise or lower the sugar as much as you like.
Blackberry juice is more intense than most berries, so a little goes a long way, which is why this recipe uses a smaller amount of it than other lemonade concentrate canning recipes. The sugar is here for flavor and balance, not for preservation.
Because the sugar is doing flavor work rather than preserving anything, you have room to move it up or down. The same goes for straining: blackberries are seedy, so I extract the juice and strain it before it goes into the concentrate, which keeps the finished drink smooth. You can run it through a jelly bag a second time for a clearer juice, or leave a little pulp in for more body.
Yield Notes
A batch of blackberry lemonade concentrate uses:
- 2 cups blackberry juice (from about 8 cups blackberries simmered with 1 cup water, roughly 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of fruit)
- 4 cups lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
- 4 cups sugar
That makes a canner batch of about 4 pints. (See the notes on yield in the recipe card.)
How to Make Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate
Once your ingredients are ready, the process is quick.
Juice and Strain the Lemon
Juice the lemons and strain the juice well to remove the seeds and pulp. The blackberry juice carries the body in this concentrate, but lemon pulp can turn bitter, so it is worth straining it out before everything goes into the pot. If you are using bottled lemon juice, you can skip straight past this step.
Make the Blackberry Juice
Combine the blackberries with a little water in a saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer, mashing the berries as they heat to help them release their juice. Simmer until the berries are fully softened and the liquid is deeply colored, then strain through a jelly bag or fine mesh strainer and let it drip until you have a clear, seed-free juice. Straining is a quality choice rather than a safety one, so strain it as much or as little as you like.
Heat the Concentrate
Combine the blackberry juice, strained lemon juice, and sugar in a saucepan. Heat the mixture gently, stirring often, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture reaches a hot, nearly simmering stage, around 190 degrees F. Do not boil it. You want it hot and well mixed so it goes into the jars evenly, but not cooked down.
Canning Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate
Since there is blackberry juice in this recipe, the canning time runs a little longer than when you are canning plain lemonade.
Prepare a water bath canner, jars, lids, and rings before you begin filling jars. This recipe is processed long enough that you do not need to pre-sterilize the jars, but keep everything clean and hot so the temperature change is gentle.
Ladle the hot concentrate into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove any bubbles, wipe the rims, adjust the lids, and load the jars into the canner. Process the jars for 15 minutes (half pints, pints, and quarts are all the same), adjusting for altitude.
When the processing time is complete, turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the canner for 5 minutes before removing them. Set them on a towel to cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. After cooling, check the seals and store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator. Sealed jars can go in the pantry, and you should refrigerate after opening.
This recipe follows the canning times for fruit purees set out by the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and their times are the same for all three jar sizes. Do not can this in half gallon jars, since quart is the largest size allowed.
(This same concentrate can also be frozen in freezer-safe jars with 1 inch of headspace.)
Waterbath Canning Altitude Adjustments
The altitude adjustments for water bath canning Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate are as follows:
- For Under 1,000 Feet in Elevation – 15 minutes for half pints, pints, and quarts
- For 1,001 to 6,000 Feet in Elevation – 20 minutes for half pints, pints, and quarts
- Above 6,000 Feet in Elevation – 25 minutes for half pints, pints, and quarts
Once the jars are sealed and shelf-stable, all that is left is turning the concentrate back into lemonade.
Serving Ideas
To reconstitute, mix 1 part concentrate with 3 parts water. For a 1 pint jar, you would add 3 pints of water. For simplicity, you can just add a pint to a half gallon mason jar, which holds 4 pints, and then fill it the rest of the way with cold water. Serve over ice with lemon slices, fresh berries, or a handful of mint.
This concentrate is also good with sparkling water for a fizzy blackberry lemonade, stirred into iced tea for a berry Arnold Palmer, or mixed into cocktails and mocktails. I use a splash of it in fruit salads, and sometimes brush it onto a warm cake as a quick glaze.
Blackberry Lemonade FAQs
A pint jar (2 cups) of blackberry lemonade concentrate makes about 1/2 gallon (8 cups) of prepared lemonade. Mix 1 part concentrate with 3 parts water, then adjust to taste. That’s 2 cups concentrate with 6 cups water.
Yes. Blackberries are seedy, so this recipe uses strained blackberry juice rather than puree. Simmer the berries to release their juice, then strain through a jelly bag or fine mesh strainer to leave the seeds behind. The canning time is the same whether the blackberries go in as strained juice or as puree, so straining is a quality choice that gives you a smoother drink.
Both fresh and bottled lemon juice work here. Bottled is consistent from batch to batch, while fresh, strained well, tastes a little brighter. The lemon juice is not required for canning safety, since blackberry juice is safe to can on its own, so use whichever you prefer. If you choose bottled, make sure it is plain lemon juice with nothing else added.
There are plenty of other ways to put up a blackberry harvest once you have made a few jars of concentrate. A batch of blackberry jelly uses the same kind of strained juice, and blackberry syrup turns the rest into something for pancakes and soda.
Blackberry Canning Recipes
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Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
For the Blackberry Juice
- 8 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup water
For the Concentrate
- 2 cups blackberry juice, from above, see note
- 4 cups lemon juice, fresh or bottled, see note
- 4 cups sugar
Instructions
- Prepare a water bath canner, jars, lids, and rings. Keep everything clean and hot.
- Make the blackberry juice. Simmer the blackberries with a little water, mashing as they heat, until softened and deeply colored. Strain through a jelly bag or fine mesh strainer until you have a clear, seed-free juice.
- Juice the lemons and strain well to remove seeds and pulp, or measure out bottled lemon juice.
- Combine the blackberry juice, lemon juice, and sugar in a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches about 190 degrees F. Do not boil.
- Ladle the hot concentrate into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove bubbles, wipe the rims, and adjust the lids.
- Process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes (half pints, pints, and quarts are the same), adjusting for altitude.
- Turn off the heat and let the jars rest in the canner for 5 minutes, then cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Check the seals and store sealed jars in the pantry.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looking to put up more than just berries? These other drink canning recipes are worth a look.
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