The Best Blackberry Lemonade Concentrate Canning Recipe
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A great way to preserve extra fruit from the garden or on sale at the grocery store is in lemonade concentrates. These concentrates are easy to throw together and taste soooo delicious on hot summer days after baling hay or even in the winter months to bring some sunshine to your table or a birthday party. I make several different kinds and they are always a hit when I mix them up.
Flavors of lemonade concentrates I make:
- blackberry lemonade concentrate
- strawberry lemonade concentrate
- peach lemonade concentrate
- blueberry limeade concentrate
- limeade concentrate
In these recipes I will call for fresh squeezed lemon juice, but you can absolutely use bottled store bought lemon juice in place of it (and I frequently do if I can’t find a good price on lemons) and it tastes perfectly fine!
How To Mix Up a Home Canned Lemonade Concentrate
This is a concentrate, so you will add water to it when you’re ready to serve and chill it. It will seem like A LOT of sugar, but I normally mix them 1 part concentrate to 2 parts water and like them that way. I recommend starting by mixing them with a 1:1 ratio and then adding more water to taste. This means for every quart, or 4 cups of concentrate, add 4 cups of water. I do not strain the concentrate liquid prior to canning them, but I do choose to strain them prior to mixing up for serving. Most of the fruit has lots of tiny seeds which are unpleasant in a drink, are very pulpy and thick, or both. I want it to be more of a nice fruit juice mixing into the water than something with all the seeds and chunks. Catch my drift? I simply place a fine mesh strainer over my canning funnel and dump the jar into the strainer and fill a half gallon jar with the concentrate, then add water. It works well and is super easy!
Other ways to mix up this concentrate would be to add sparkling water, some home fermented ginger bug ginger ale or lime soda, muddle in some mint for a mohito, or you can even use this concentrate to flavor some ice cream and mix with cream or make a sorbet pretty easily… especially if you have one of those cool ninja creami contraptions!
Equipment You Might Want:
- Water bath canner or steam canner
- Quart jars or pint jars
- Canning jars, lids & bands
- Large Stock Pot
- Immersion Blender
- Canning Funnel
- Ladle
- Thermometer
Simple Ingredients
- Fresh Blackberries
- Raw, unrefined sugar or maple syrup
- Fresh Lemons
​We got some lemons, now let’s make lemonade!
Step 1: Prep Fruit
Wash the berries and rinse well. Drain. Weigh out about 36 ounces of blackberries.
Around here, at the store blackberries come in 6 ounce clam shells, so use 6 of them if that’s the case. You can absolutely use more, just don’t use less. Fresh summer blackberries at the peak of the season in your zone will be the best!
Squeeze fresh lemons until you have 2 1/2 cups of fresh lemon juice. This takes about 3-4 pounds of fresh lemons. You can also use a good quality bottled lemon juice and it will be fine! If you have a lemon tree in your backyard, I envy you!
Step 2: Cook
Add the berries, sugar, and lemon juice to a properly sized stock pot (I use a 5 quart size). Over medium-high heat, bring the mixture to 190 degrees F and no hotter or I’ve found it makes the lemon taste off and maybe a bit bitter. DO NOT let the mixture boil. If you don’t have a thermometer or are just a bit lazy like me, just heat it til the mixture starts yelling at you like it’s trying to boil… same with making ricotta. When it’s yelling, it’s time to add milk. Just me? :D You do want to heat it so the berries burst and you can blend the mixture together easily. Stir during heating to dissolve the sugar and prevent burning.
Once the mixture is heated, remove from the heat. Using your immersion blender, blend until smooth and no chunks remain. I prefer to strain the seeds out as I mix the concentrate up to let the pulp and everything remain for best flavor infusion, but you can totally strain the mixture here through a fine mesh sieve if you would prefer. Do you thang!
Step 3: Prep for Canning
Wash jars and new lids in hot soapy water while the mixture is heating. Set aside on a clean towel so they’re ready to fill.
You can add hot liquid to room temperature jars. If you would prefer, heat your jars using your preferred method so you have hot liquid into hot jars, but I’m telling you, thermal shock only happens when you add cold to hot, not hot to room temperature jars. If you’re filling jars you just dug out of a snow bank or the back of your refrigerator with this almost boiling liquid, you’re just asking for it, ok?
​Ladle the homemade blackberry syrup and lemon juice mixture into prepared quart or pint jars (your preference) to 1/2″ headspace.
Wipe rims of jars and add lids and secure with screw bands according to manufacturer’s specifications.
Step 4: Water bath canning
Add quart or pint jars to your boiling water bath pot (or a steam canner), top with the canner lid and bring to a full rolling boil, and process jars for 15 minutes, adjusting time for altitude if necessary. This lemonade concentrate is actually so acidic I normally choose to open kettle can it into sterilized jars, but you can do whatever floats your boat or not even make this at all! If you’re not comfortable with the canning process, you can freeze this in portions in freezer safe containers.
Step 5: Storing
After the processing time is up, turn off the heat and allow the jars to rest in the water bath with the lid off for 15 minutes before removing completely. This helps them cool more gradually and prevents siphoning. Remove jars to a heat proof surface lined with a clean kitchen towel and allow to cool for 18-24 hours. After cooling, remove rings, test seals, wash jars, label and store in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures.
I hope you enjoy this easy canning recipe!
Equipment
- water bath canner or steam canner
- Quart jars or pint jars
- Canning jars, lids & bands
- Large Stock Pot
- Canning Funnel
- ladle
Ingredients
- 36 oz fresh blackberries washed and drained
- 2 cups raw, unrefined sugar or maple syrup
- 2 1/2 cups lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash and weigh out blackberries. Squeeze fresh lemons (about 3-4 pounds) until you have 2 1/2 cups.
- Add blackberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a stock pot. Heat on medium low heat, stirring frequently.
- Bring mixture to 190 degrees F, being careful not to boil but bring to almost a boil.
- Once blackberries have softened a bit, pulse with a stick blender til smooth.
- Working one at a time, pour lemonade concentrate into sterilized hot jars to 1/2″ headspace. Wipe rim, add hot lid and band, tighten and set aside to seal. This is know as open kettle canning, which is rebel canning nowadays.
- If you are not comfortable using the open kettle canning method, simply ladle your hot concentrate into clean pint jars and water bath or steam can for 15 minutes, adjusting your time for altitude.
If this is a concentrated how do you mix it to drink it?
Mix it 1 part water to 1 part canned concentrate. Be sure and strain the concentrate prior to serving to remove the seeds and pulpy bits. There is a section right at the top of the blog post on how to mix it up and what to use that may be helpful as well :)