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Canned Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

A recipe for canned strawberry lemonade concentrate. Mix with water or club soda for a garden-fresh drink whenever you want, or try a family favorite and add to your iced tea.

This is a great recipe for using up strawberries when you’re tired of baking and making jam! This is easy: hardly any ingredients, no worrying about jam setting up, and no chopping.

finished glass

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate for Canning

A sweet and tart blend of fresh strawberries and lemon juice, canned to be shelf stable for fresh strawberry lemonade any time of year.
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Serving Size 60 drinks

Ingredients 

  • 6 cups strawberries cleaned, tops removed
  • 4 cups lemon juice bottled, fresh, or a combination
  • 6 cups granulated sugar

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Instructions 

  • Prep for Canning. Prepare water bath canner, pints jars, lids, and bands. Lids and bands should be placed in simmering water. Jars should be heated but do not need to be sterilized.
  • Puree berries. Puree the strawberries in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until liquified. Some seeds may remain but there should be no berry chunks. Transfer the strawberry puree into a large stainless steel (or other non-reactive) saucepan.
    blending berries.
  • Add remaining ingredients and heat. Add the lemon juice and sugar, and stir to combine. Heat mixture over medium heat until it reaches 190-200 degrees. Do not boil, just heat. If any foam forms, skim it from the surface using a large spoon.
    checking temp of puree.
  • Fill jars. Fill clean, hot pint jars with the lemonade concentrate, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Carefully remove lids and bands from the simmering water and fasten to be fingertip tight.
  • Process. Lower into boiling water canner, and process for 15 minutes at a full boil with the lid on. Remove cans and allow to sit undisturbed on counter for 12-24 hours or until jars seal. When the lids are pressed, they should be firm and not move at all. Any jars that have not sealed can be placed in in the refrigerator and used within 2 weeks. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place for up to 2 year
    process of removing jars from canner.

Notes

Fresh lemon juice is delicious in this recipe, but squeezing four cups of it is extremely tedious.ย  Try a blend of bottled and fresh.ย 
To serve, mix 1 part concentrate with 2 parts water or club soda.ย ย 
Calories: 86kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 39mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 3IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg

Temperature control is crucial here, but don’t let that intimidate you. We’ll heat this just enough so the sugar dissolves completely and bring out the strawberries’ color, but not so much that we cook away their freshness.

jars next to lemons

This one of the canning recipes that we go through the fastest. Everyone loves it.

Kitchen Wisdom

Save those lemon rinds after juicing – they’re great for deodorizing cutting boards with a quick rub, or steep them in white vinegar for a week to make an effective all-purpose cleaner. While we’re processing all these lemons anyway, might as well put every part to use.ย 

Tips for Success

Skim any foam from the surface using a large spoon to make the finished product more attractive. It’s just cosmetic, so if it doesn’t bother you, no big deal.

You don’t need to sterilize jars. They need to be hot so they don’t crack when you pour in the hot liquid, and they need to be clean (obviously). But they don’t need to be sterile.

You really need a blender or food processor for this recipe.

Make sure to remove the tops from the strawberries before adding them to the food processor.

Ingredients and Equipment

If you need help picking out what you’ll need as a beginner canner, I have some tips for you here. (Hint: basically a canner and an accessory kit will take care of everything!)

Strawberries: make sure they are clean and that you’ve removed the tops. You can hull them if you want to get particular about it, but I never do.

ingredients on counter

Lemon Juice: any mix of bottled or fresh is fine. Usually bottled lemon juice is used in canning recipes because acidity is so important for safety. But this recipe has so much lemon juice that you don’t have to worry about acidity. You certainly can use all fresh, and it’s delicious! But squeezing it by hand will drive you insane. Do some fresh and some bottled. ๐Ÿ˜Š

Sugar: plain old granulated is all you need.

Storage & Serving

Home-canned lemonade concentrate will last for 1 year stored in a cool, dark place. Make sure you check that jars are still fully sealed before using.

Once you’ve opened a jar, keep it in the fridge and use within a week.

For Serving:

  • Start with 1 part concentrate to 2 parts water and adjust to taste.
  • Try it with sparkling water for a homemade soda
  • Use as a cocktail mixer or snow cone syrup
  • We like it best mixed with unsweetened iced tea (2 parts 1 to 1 part concentrate)

When you open a jar months later, that first sip is like a time capsule of sunshine.

picture of smiling female

By Katie Shaw

Katie lives in Virginia with her husband, three daughters, a chocolate lab, and over thirty chickens. She loves creating simple tutorials for sourdough, bread, and soap. Her recipes, articles, and YouTube videos reach millions of people per year.

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Recipe Rating




16 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Absolutely Fabulous recipe. I added 2 Tbsp. of Citric acid to this recipe as I like the added Tartness.
    I used about 4 lbs. of fresh lemons to get the 4 cups needed. I agree on the full 6 cups of sugar as it is a concentrate.
    I am so fortunate to have a fresh strawberry farm around the corner that are so flavorful and that flavor transferred perfectly to the canned taste.
    I filled 5 500ml canning jars with a little left over to try right away. This recipe is now in the family recipe file.

    1. The sugar is ONLY for taste, and it has nothing to do with preserving the lemonade. You can safely omit some or all sugar.