Description
This home-canning recipe for lemon juice is simple to make. Transform fresh lemons into juice that will last for months in a few easy steps!
Ingredients
Scale
- 25 Meyer lemons for each quart of juice
- 1/2 cup sugar per quart (optional)
- 1 tsp salt per quart (optional)
Instructions
- Rinse the exteriors of the lemons. Remove the skin and divide the lemons into halves or quarters.
- Using your hands or a juicing device, squeeze the lemons to extract the lemon juice.
- Filter the lemon juice through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the pulp and seeds.
- Add salt and sugar, if desired. Both will help to tame the bitterness of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Test the acidity of the lemon juice using a pH testing kit. If the acidity is above 3, add citric acid or bottled lemon juice to bring it down to a pH of 2.
- Sanitize the canning jars by putting them in boiling water for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off, leaving them in water until ready to use them.
- Heat the lemon juice in a large stockpot over medium heat. It doesn’t need to cook or boil, but it should be hot when placing it into canning jars.
- Sterilize the lids and screw bands as the juice is heating by submerging them in hot water.
- Immediately, ladle the hot juice into the sanitized pint or quart jars using a canning funnel, leaving ¼ inch headspace.
- Wipe off the moisture from the jar rims using a clean cloth or paper towel.
- Add the canning lids and apply screw bands until they are fingertip tight.
- Fill your boiling water canner halfway with water, place the jar rack inside, and let the water reach a rolling boil.
- Lower the jars using a jar lifter into your canner. Most canners can hold 7 jars.
- Once the water is boiling, process the jars for 10 or 15 minutes, depending on your altitude. If your elevation is 6,000ft or less, process pints and quarts for 10 minutes. If your elevation is greater than 6,000ft, process pints and quarts for 15 minutes.
- Once the processing time is up, turn the heat off and let the jars sit in the canner for 5 minutes before removing them.
- Carefully extract the hot jars using a jar lifter and place them on a towel-covered counter to cool at room temperature overnight.
- Remove the screw bands and check that each jar has been sealed by pressing on the top. Sealed jars will be firm and will not indent.
- Label sealed jars and store them in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Canning Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 53kcal
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 9mg
- Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 1g