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Blueberry lemonade concentrate is an easy way to put fresh summer berries on the pantry shelf in a form that is easy to use later. It captures the flavor of ripe blueberries and tart lemon in a simple homemade concentrate that turns into a pitcher of lemonade whenever you need it.
Table of Contents
- Notes From My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate Ingredients
- Adjust the Ratio to Your Taste
- Yield Notes
- How to Make Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate
- Canning Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate
- Waterbath Canning Altitude Adjustments
- Serving Ideas
- Blueberry Lemonade FAQs
- Blueberry Canning Recipes
- Canning Blueberry 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.
I’m always looking for more blueberry canning recipes, since a good picking session gives you more berries than you can eat fresh. Blueberry jam is the classic, and variations like blueberry pie filling, blueberry syrup, and blueberry butter change things up, but they’re all still sweet and spreadable.
This homemade blueberry lemonade concentrate is something completely different, and it’s a good way to use up a flush of fruit before it goes soft. And, of course, you’ll appreciate that fresh flavor by the pitcher full all year long.
This recipe is based on a tested canning method for fruit purees from the NCHFP, and it’s one of more than a dozen lemonade concentrate canning recipes I’ve built on those guidelines, from strawberry lemonade concentrate to rhubarb lemonade concentrate and plum lemonade.
Blueberry works the same way as the strawberry version. Instead of straining juice through a jelly bag, you puree the berries, which keeps the process quick and gives the finished drink more body and berry flavor than blueberry juice alone.
Notes From My Kitchen
This is the kind of recipe I reach for when the berries are coming in faster than we can eat them. It comes together quickly, uses three simple ingredients, and gives me something that feels a little special tucked away on the shelf.
I also like that each jar goes a long way. A single pint makes a whole half gallon of prepared lemonade, which makes it handy for family meals, summer gatherings, or just pulling together a cold drink without much fuss.
It’s a lovely lemon canning recipe, but you can also make it as a lime canning recipe by substituting lime juice in place of lemon for blueberry limeade concentrate.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Canning Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate
- Recipe Type: Fruit Drink Concentrate
- Canning Method: Waterbath Canning
- Prep/Cook Time: About 30 minutes
- Canning Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: About 5 pints
- Jar Sizes: Half Pint, Pint or Quart
- Headspace: 1/4 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Blueberries, lemon juice and sugar
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: Fruit puree canning times consistent with National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance
- Difficulty: Easy! The fruit is pureed, everything is heated together, and then it is ladled into jars for processing
- Similar Recipes: The process is similar to other fruit based lemonade concentrates, including Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate and Plum Lemonade, and you can put up the plain version with Canning Lemonade.
Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate Ingredients
This recipe uses just a few ingredients, but each one matters. The blueberries bring sweetness, color, and body, the lemon juice provides both flavor and the acidity needed for a bright lemonade base, and the sugar balances the tartness while helping create a stable concentrate.
- Blueberries: Provide the main fruit flavor, color, and natural body of the concentrate
- Lemon Juice: Adds tart lemonade flavor and acidity
- Sugar: Sweetens the concentrate and balances the sharp lemon flavor
You can use fresh or bottled lemon juice here. Fresh, strained well, gives the fullest flavor, while bottled is convenient and has a consistent acidity.
Adjust the Ratio to Your Taste
Both the blueberries and the lemon juice are safe to can on their own, so the exact ratio is up to you. Lean toward more blueberry for a fruitier drink or more lemon for a sharper one, and raise or lower the sugar however you like, all without affecting whether the concentrate is safe to can.
The sugar is there for flavor and body, not preservation, so cutting it back changes only the taste and yield. The same goes for straining: leave the puree in for more blueberry flavor, or strain it down to juice for a smoother, lighter drink.
Yield Notes
A “batch” of lemonade concentrate uses:
- 6 cups whole cleaned blueberries, pureed down into about 3 cups
- 4 cups lemon juice (from 16 to 20 lemons, or bottled)
- 6 cups sugar
That should make a canner batch of about 5 pints. (See notes on yields)
How to Make Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate
Once your ingredients are ready, the process is quick.
Juice and Strain the Lemons
Start by juicing the lemons, then strain the juice well to remove seeds and pulp. The blueberry puree belongs in the finished concentrate, but lemon pulp can add bitterness, so it is best to strain it out before combining everything.
Prepare the Blueberries
Puree the blueberries until smooth. A food processor or blender makes quick work of this. If you’d prefer a smooth, seedless drink, you can strain the puree down to juice the way you would for blueberry jelly, though that lowers the yield a little. Straining is a quality choice, not a safety one, so leave the puree in for more body if you like.
Heat the Concentrate
Combine the blueberry puree, 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, but not cooked hard.
Canning Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate
Since there’s blueberry puree in this recipe, the canning time is a bit longer than when you’re canning plain lemonade.
Prepare a water bath canner, jars, lids, and rings before you begin filling jars. Keep the jars hot until needed.
Ladle the hot concentrate into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. 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 seals and store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator. Properly sealed jars can be stored in the pantry, and you should refrigerate after opening.
This recipe follows the canning times for “fruit purees” as set out by the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Their times for all three jar sizes are the same. Do not can this in half gallon jars, the largest size jar allowable is quart.
(This exact same recipe could also be frozen in freezer-safe jars with appropriate 1” headspace.)
Waterbath Canning Altitude Adjustments
The altitude adjustments for water bath canning Blueberry 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’d 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 up the rest of the way with cold water.
That should give you a “basic blueberry lemonade” flavor that’s strong but not too strong, and you can adjust to your own tastes. It’s also good mixed with sparkling water, stirred into iced tea, or frozen into popsicles.
Blueberry Lemonade FAQs
A pint jar (2 cups) of blueberry 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.
No, this recipe uses blueberry puree rather than strained juice, which gives the finished concentrate more berry flavor and makes the process faster. If you prefer to remove the skins and seeds, it’s perfectly fine to strain the puree down to juice instead, but your finished yield will be lower and it won’t have quite as much blueberry flavor.
Both fresh and bottled lemon juice work here. Fresh, strained well, gives the fullest flavor. If you choose bottled juice, make sure it is plain lemon juice with no added ingredients that would affect flavor. Santa Cruz Organic or Lakewood Organic work well and taste much better than the “real lemon” style brands.
If you’re looking for other ways to put up a blueberry harvest, Canning Blueberry Pie Filling is another good option, or try Blueberry Rhubarb Jam if you have rhubarb on hand too.
Blueberry Canning Recipes
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Canning Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate
Equipment
- Blender or immersion blender
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
- 6 cups blueberries
- 6 cups sugar
- 4 cups lemon juice, preferably fresh, but bottled works too
Instructions
- Prepare a water bath canner, jars, rings and lids before beginning. The canner should be pre-heated to around 180 degrees F (barely simmering) for hot pack.
- Juice the lemons and strain to remove any pulp and seeds.
- Puree the blueberries. (Straining the puree to remove skins and seeds is optional, and only affects texture, not safety. I don't strain for with blueberries, as the seeds are so small they're not noticeable and the skins puree completely.)
- Mix the blueberry puree, strained lemon juice, and sugar in a saucepan.
- Gently heat the mixture on the stove to around 190 degrees F, but do not boil.
- Ladle the blueberry lemonade concentrate into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Seal with 2 part canning lids.
- Process the jars in a water bath canner for 15 minutes, adjusting to the altitude (see notes).
- Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the canner for an additional 5 minutes to cool slightly before removing them with a canning jar lifter to cool completely on a towel on the counter.
- Wait 12 to 24 hours, then check seals. Store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator for immediate use. Properly canned and sealed jars may be stored in the pantry. Refrigerate after opening.
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.
Drink Canning Recipes
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Blueberries and lemon are a classic combination, and this lemonade concentrate is perfect for preserving a bumper crop of blueberries.
If just using blueberry juice does the recipe change or do you just use the amount of juice you get from the 6 cups of berries?
I’d go with about 4 cups juice and then otherwise keep the recipe the same. It’s all up to your personal taste, since all the ingredients here are safe for canning on their own. You can use more blueberry, or less.
Good Morning,
I’m excited to try this recipe! I’ll be using marionberries. 😊 Can I use honey or raw sugar vs granulated white sugar?
Thank You in advance😊
Heather
Yes, you can definitely use honey or raw sugar, either will work fine. (Maple is great too.). Enjoy!
Question: I would like to make it straight blueberry concentrate (in other words no lemon). Do I just delete lemon juice and add amount of water.
You don’t want to add water when canning blueberry juice or puree, but you can put it up as a stronger concentrate (or straight juice) without the lemon juice.
Here are instructions for canning blueberry juice alone: https://creativecanning.com/canning-blueberry-juice/
And here’s what you need if you want to put up blueberry puree without straining it: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-fruits-and-fruit-products/fruit-purees/
Would this work well with frozen blueberries?
This would work just fine with frozen blueberries. Enjoy!
Hi there ! I just finished canning this recipe is it normal for it to look a little separated (dark liquid on bottom , lighter on top) I did pour it through a mesh strainer when filling thank you so much!
Yes, a little separation can happen. The blueberries have a good bit of pectin and that can settle to the bottom in jars sometimes. That’s totally fine, just give it a shake before you serve it. Enjoy!
I would love to try this receipe. Can you use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh?
Thanks.
Yes, in this recipe you can use either bottled or fresh. Enjoy!
I love this recipe! I used 6c of fresh-picked bluerries, 6lbs of lemons (one 5lb and half of a 2lb bag of lemons), and 6c of sugar. I finger-taste-tested before i put into jars and OMG it was delicious and I can guarantee will make amazing lemonade when diluted with water. When dissolving the sugar into the blueberries and lemon juice, i used a small strainer and took out about 5 scoops of the pulp and seeds. As mentioned in the recipe, it of course dwindled the amount there was left to can. I ended up with 4-pints and one half-pint. Still super happy! *tip, I cut the rind off (not perfectly) of the lemons and juiced in my electric juicer. Worked like a charm. Don’t forget to strain the pulp of your lemons.
Wonderful! So glad you liked it =)