How to Can Lemon Juice ~ Citrus Series

Twas a dark and dreary day... But even the lack of light didn't threaten the resolve of the determined mother and daughter duo. They had planned to can lemon juice and were glad that they did. The final jars standing by the window were like a beam of sunshine, a beacon of light for all who passed by, proclaiming that a project was indeed completed! 

To begin, prepare your canning equipment (step-by-step canning procedures will be found here). Next, wash up your lemons making sure that they are all nice and firm. You will need a grocery bag filled with them in order to yield a batch of seven pint jars (sorry I don't have weight measurements to give you).

The next step is to cut your lemons in half and juice them. I used the citrus juicer attachment on our Bosch mixer but you can use whatever method you know to extract the juice (even some old fashioned squeezing!).

Finally, strain the juice through a sieve to remove any pulp and particles. Place the juice in a large pot and heat it to a low simmering boil.

Once that is accomplished, begin filling your sterilized jars (making sure to keep the juice "hot" but not boiling while doing so) and leave 1/4 inch headspace from the top of the jar. Process the hot jars (pint or quart) of lemon juice for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

{To learn how to can, visit here and the tutorial we used to can our lemon juice was found here.}

I think this lemon juice will come in handy! And how fun it was to line up the jars onto our pantry shelves! It is very enjoyable to do some preserving in the chilly winter months and these seasonal citrus projects are just perfect! You may also be interested in making traditional lemon marmalade, honey-lemon marmalade or even preparing your own lemon extract! Do you have an abundance of lemons right now? What have you been doing with them? Here is a list of our lemon inspired projects.

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