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Strawberry lemonade is a special summertime treat, but you can enjoy it year-round with this simple canning recipe. Since it’s canned as a concentrate, a single jar will make a whole pitcher, and it’s a real crowd-pleaser.
I’m always looking for more strawberry canning recipes, as these little beauties tend to be prolific in season. Strawberries don’t store well, so I’m always rushing to find a way to put them up in a jar. We’ll make strawberry jam, and strawberry jelly for the kids, and we even make strawberry wine…but still, they keep coming.
I was delighted to come across this tested recipe for strawberry lemonade concentrate in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.
At first, I assumed it was going to be the same as just canning strawberry juice but then adding a bunch of lemons (and sugar). That’d be great too, but the downside there is you need to spend time straining the strawberry juice through a jelly bag.
Instead, this strawberry lemonade concentrate just uses pureed strawberries, which saves time and gives you more strawberry goodness in the finished drink.
That means you’ll get a really fruit-filled lemonade without going through the trouble of extracting strawberry juice in a jelly bag.
What I love about this recipe is its simplicity, and all the ingredients just go into the pot to heat before canning. It’s a great way to put up strawberries without a lot of work, and it’s ideal for those years when you’re just buried in fruit but don’t have much time on your hands.
All you need to do is hull the strawberries and then process them in a food processor (or just mash them really well).
Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate Ingredients
The basic ingredients for strawberry lemonade concentrate are as follows:
- 6 cups hulled strawberries
- 4 cups fresh lemon juice (from 16 to 20 lemons)
- 6 cups sugar
That should make a full canner batch of 7 pint jars.
Each pint of concentrate will make a gallon of strawberry lemonade. Just add 1 pint of home-canned concentrate to 3 pints water, and serve over ice.
Making Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate
Once you’ve assembled your ingredients, the process is quite simple.
Start by juicing the lemons and then straining the lemon juice to remove pulp and seeds. This strawberry lemonade concentrate will contain strawberry pulp, but the added lemon pulp will make the drink bitter. It’s best to strain that out with the seeds.
Next, hull the strawberries and puree them. Lacking a food processor or blender, you can just mash them really well, removing all clumps.
Mix the strawberry pulp, lemon juice, and sugar in a saucepan and gently heat it to around 190 degrees, but do not boil. The sugar should dissolve easily, but continue stirring until it’s completely dissolved.
Canning Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate
Since there’s strawberry fruit puree in this recipe, the canning time is a bit longer than when you’re canning plain lemonade.
Fill jars with hot (but not boiling) strawberry lemonade concentrate, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Seal with 2 part canning lids and load into a water bath canner.
Process half pints and pints in a water bath canner for 15 minutes (below 1,000 feet in elevation). Between 1,000 and 3,000 feet, increase the processing time to 20 minutes. Between 3,000 and 6,000 feet, the jars should be processed for 25 minutes. Process for 30 minutes above 6,000 feet in elevation. This recipe has not been tested in quarts and should only be canned in pints and half pints.
(This exact same recipe could also be frozen in freezer-safe jars with appropriate 1” headspace.)
Preparing Strawberry Lemonade from Concentrate
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 lemonade” flavor that’s strong but not too strong. You can adjust to your own tastes.
Canning Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate
Ingredients
- 6 cups hulled strawberries
- 4 cups fresh lemon juice, from 16 to 20 lemons
- 6 cups sugar
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.
- Hull and puree the strawberries.
- Mix the strawberries, 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 strawberry lemonade concentrate into prepared jars, leaving 1/2 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 store in the pantry. Refrigerate after opening.
- To reconstitute, mix 1 part concentrate with 3 parts water. For a 1 pint jar, you'd add 3 pints 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 lemonade" flavor that's strong, but not too strong. You can adjust to your own tastes.
Notes
Altitude Adjustments
Process half pints and pints in a water bath canner for 15 minutes (below 1,000 feet in elevation). Between 1,000 and 3,000 feet, increase the processing time to 20 minutes. Between 3,000 and 6,000 feet, the jars should be processed for 25 minutes. Process for 30 minutes above 6,000 feet in elevation. This recipe has not been tested in quarts and should only be canned in pints and half pints.Ways to Preserve Strawberries
Looking for more ways to preserve strawberries?
- Canning Strawberry Pie Filling
- Strawberry Jelly
- Pickled Strawberries
- Strawberry Wine
- Canning Strawberry Syrup
Drink Canning Recipes
Canning up more quick and easy drinks and drink concentrates?
Can pour warm mixture in a jar and let it cool and put it in the fridge to use with a week with out water bathing it?
Yup, if you keep it in the fridge it’ll be good for about a week.
Can this be made without white sugar?
Yes, the sugar here is for flavor, not preservation, and you can just can strawberry puree with lemon juice, no problem.
How long will a reconstituted jar last in the fridge? Thank you!
Probably about 2 weeks I’d guess? That’s a guess. At least a week though, if in the fridge.
Could I make a double
Or triple batch at one time?
Yes, you can double or triple this batch size for canning.
How long is the shelf life for this once canned?
This should maintain peak quality for around 12-18 months, but be safe to eat so long as they’re sealed.
Can I use strawberries that have been frozen?
Yup, that works just fine.
This is one of my favorite recipes! I have made it many times using fresh lemon juice, but decided today to use the bottled. My husband and I cannot tell the difference. Its delicious! I have also made the raspberry version. I do take the time to remove most of the seeds from the raspberries before adding the lemon juice and the sugar. We did a taste test between the raspberry and strawberry versions when my sister and her family were visiting. Hand down, the raspberry was the winner! But everyone loved the strawberry, too. We really like it mixed with sparking water.
Can I use a pressure canner for this? Or does it have to be water bath?
Yes, you can use a pressure canner for this if you’d like.
How long should this be pressure canned? Can’t wait to try it!
Ball canning doens’t actually give pressure canning instructions for this recipe, only water bath canning instructions. That said, it looks like they’re using the same canning times as for whole strawberries. In that case, the pressure canning time is 8 minutes for pints and 10 minutes for quarts at 5 pounds pressure (under 2,000 feet in elevation) or 10 pounds pressure at higher elevations. Enjoy!
Could you use raspberries instead? Thanks.
Yes, you can use raspberries in place of the strawberries, that’s fine. You might want to strain out the raspberry seeds and just use pulp though, as raspberry seeds tend to bother people more than strawberry seeds. That’s optional though, you can just do the exact same process with raspberries instead of strawberries and that’s fine for canning.
Could you use lemon juice rather than real lemons?
Yes!