How to make strawberry lemonade concentrate

- Lisa Fulk is a certified Master Food Preserver and owner of Sunshine Canning. She teaches canning classes in the local area at various venues and is available for private canning lessons. She can be found at sunshinecanning.com or facebook.com/sunshinecanning.

I recently took the kids strawberry picking out at Eden Farm and as always, we came home with far more berries than we could eat. Usually I would turn the extras into jam or freeze them by the handful for smoothies, but I wanted to try something different. A friend of ours had given us a huge bag of lemons and my family is a big fan of lemonade, so why not strawberry lemonade? And since I am always on the lookout for reasons to get my kettle fired up, why not can it? This is a lovely treat for a hot day---a concentrated homemade “mix” ready to go at a moment’s notice. This recipe is from Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving and it is definitely a keeper!

Ingredients:

6 cups strawberries, cleaned and hulled

4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 cups sugar

Yield: ~ 6 pints

1) Prepare two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer’s directions.

2) Purée strawberries in a blender or food processor until smooth. Squeeze lemons to extract juice.

3) Add strawberry purée, lemon juice, and sugar to a large pot, stirring to combine. Heat to 190° F over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Do not boil.

4) Remove from heat and skim off foam. Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

5) Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

To reconstitute, start with 1 cup of concentrate to 1 cup of water (or ginger ale, tonic water or whatever strikes your fancy) and adjust for taste. We like a 1:2 ratio over here.

Helpful tips:

* Don't have any cheap lemons on hand? Freeze the strawberries and make this when you do!

* Don't let those lemon peels go to waste! Candy the peels, save the zest, add vinegar and make cleaning products---your options are endless!