Canned Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

I saw this recipe in a canning book once and but couldnt remember what the proportions of lemon juice, strawberries & Sugar were. While at the farmer's market sunday they had half flats of gorgeous organic strawberries, berry season is just about to start! Of course I got some and planned to make this yummy fruit drink. I googled for the recipe and found this one on recipezaar that looks pretty close to what I remembered:

Ingredients
12 cups strawberries
4 cups fresh lemon juice or lime juice
5 cups sugar

Directions
1.Rinse and drain the strawberries quickly.

2Hull and measure.

3Squeeze the lemon juice and measure.

4You will probably need about 16 lemons, or 24 limes, but buy a few extra as they can vary quite a bit in juiciness.

5Put the jars on to boil in a large kettle, with the water coming up at least an inch over the tops of them.

6Let boil 10 minutes before removing to be filled.

7Meanwhile, purée the strawberries.

8Heat them with the lemon or lime juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved, but do not boil.

9Pour into hot sterilized jars to within 1 cm (1/2") of the tops.

10Seal with lids sterlized according to the manufacturers directions.

11(Generally, boil for 5 minutes.) Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

12To serve, mix with cold water to taste, about one part syrup to two parts water.

13Serve over ice.

Yield: 10 pint jars or 20 half pints




The lemon tree here is packed with lemons and new flowers, so I've been wanting to zest and juice a bunch so the tree can put all its energy into the next crop worth of fruit. Took me 2 hours of work to zest the lemon with a microplane grater, then juice the lemons by hand, and strain. I finalyl had to call my husband in to help cut/blend the strawberries and rinse off my canning jars to save me some time.

It looks really beautiful in the jars, I can't wait to open some up this summer for a refreshing taste of early spring.