Plum Lemonade Concentrate

5 from 1 vote

Plum lemonade concentrate combines sweet plum juice with tart lemon for a refreshing drink base that's easy to can. Just mix with water or seltzer to serve, and enjoy the taste of summer any time of year.

Prep Time1

Cook Time15

Canning Time15

Total Time1 30

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: canning lemonade concentrate

Servings: servings, makes 5 pints

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Plum Juice

4 lbs plums
1 cup water

For the Concentrate

4 cups plum juice from above
2 cups lemon juice fresh or bottled
6 cups sugar

Instructions

Before you start, prepare a water bath canner and bring the water up to a simmer, and wash your jars and lids in hot soapy water. Keep the jars hot until you fill them so they do not crack when they meet the hot concentrate. There is no need to sterilize, since the jars are processed for more than 10 minutes.
Extract the plum juice. Wash the plums and pull off the stems, then cut them into chunks, with no need to peel or pit. Put them in a stock pot with the water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until soft, mashing as they cook to release the juice.
Strain the cooked fruit through a jelly bag or a cheesecloth-lined strainer and let it drain for at least an hour. For a clear juice, do not press the pulp. For more yield with a little pulp, press gently. Measure out the plum juice you need for the recipe.
Juice the lemons and strain the juice well to remove seeds and pulp, which can add bitterness. Set the strained lemon juice aside.
Combine the plum juice, lemon juice, and sugar in a large saucepan. Stir well so the sugar begins to dissolve before the mixture heats up.
Heat the mixture over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the sugar has fully dissolved and it reaches 190°F. That is hot and steaming, just short of a simmer, so a thermometer takes the guesswork out of it. Do not let it boil.
Ladle the hot concentrate into your prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Run a bubble tool or thin spatula around the inside of each jar to release trapped air, then wipe the rims with a clean damp cloth.
Center a lid on each jar and screw the band down to fingertip tight. Load the jars into the canner, making sure they are covered by an inch or two of water.
Bring the canner to a full rolling boil, then process for 15 minutes, adjusting the time for your altitude (see notes). Start timing only once the water reaches a full boil.
When the time is up, turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the canner for 5 minutes before lifting them out. That short rest keeps the liquid from siphoning out.
Set the jars on a towel and leave them undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Do not retighten the bands while they cool, and you may hear them ping as they seal.
After cooling, check the seals by pressing the center of each lid. A sealed lid will not flex. Store sealed jars in the pantry, and move any that did not seal to the refrigerator to use first.

To serve, reconstitute by mixing 1 part concentrate with 3 parts cold water, then adjust it stronger or weaker to taste. One pint jar (2 cups) combines with 6 cups water to make 1/2 gallon of prepared plum lemonade.

Notes

Yield: When I make this recipe it yields about 5 pints, though it varies a little with how juicy your plums are and how much juice you get out of them. Both the plum juice and the lemon juice are safe to can on their own, so the ratio is not fixed for safety. Lean toward more plum or more lemon to suit your taste, and raise or lower the sugar however you like, since the sugar is here for flavor rather than preservation. Plan on about 4 pounds of plums and a cup of water to get the 4 cups of juice this batch needs.

Lemon Juice: Fresh or bottled lemon juice both work, and the recipe stays safely acidic either way, with every ingredient well below the 4.6 pH cutoff for water bath canning. Fresh juice, strained well, gives the fullest flavor, while bottled is convenient and has a steady acidity. Either way, use plain lemon juice with nothing else added.

Straining: Straining is optional and only changes the texture of the finished drink. Because this follows the fruit puree canning times, you can leave some plum pulp in rather than straining all the way to a clear juice. Strain it through a jelly bag for a clearer, smoother drink, or leave a little pulp for more body.

Reconstituting: One pint of concentrate makes a half gallon of plum lemonade. Mix 1 part concentrate with 3 parts cold water, or pour a pint into a half gallon mason jar and fill the rest with water, then serve over ice. Mix it stronger or weaker to taste, or stir it into seltzer or tonic for a fizzy version.

Storage: Sealed, processed jars keep on the pantry shelf for up to a year. If you are not canning, the concentrate keeps in the refrigerator for a few weeks or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Leave 1 inch of headspace if you are freezing so it has room to expand, and refrigerate after opening.

Altitude Adjustments: Process half pints, pints, and quarts for 15 minutes below 1,000 feet. Between 1,000 and 6,000 feet, process for 20 minutes, and above 6,000 feet, process for 25 minutes. This follows the NCHFP fruit puree times, which are the same across all three jar sizes. Do not can this in half gallon jars, since quart is the largest size.

Nutrition