Make and can Lemonade Concentrate 2 ways!

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       You're going to be seeing a few lemon recipes from me for a few days!  Anita gifted me a billion lemons and I am so excited to see what I can do with them all! 

     My granddaughter has been wanting to host a lemonade stand, so I promised her that I would bring her some lemonade concentrate for her to make her product with!  So, that is the first thing I've done with this bounty!  
      My grandson Logan doesn't eat processed sugars, so I also wanted to make a lemonade that is sweetened with honey.  
          I made both of these things today and canned them in my steam canner!  The results is delicious and the concentrate will be so great to have on my shelves to be able to pull out and make refreshing lemonade this summer when the temperatures in Phoenix are scorching.  (That is of course if Emily doesn't sell out of everything! That would be awesome for her! )  
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I decided to use my centrifugal juicer to juice my lemons. I peeled them first and took off as much of the white pith as possible to avoid bitterness. But, if you would rather use a citrus reamer or squeezer, that is another way to go.

These are used so much in our house for peeling citrus!

I had a juicer like this for years, but it finally died. I may need this one.

I use this type of juicer if I only need a few things squeezed.

      You can read about my centrifugal juicer here.
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      After you finish juicing your lemons, measure how much juice you have.  This measurement will inform you of how much sugar to add.  The general rule is 2/3 to  3/4 of a cup sugar to one cup of juice.  Of course, this depends on your taste and how sweet you like your lemonade to be.  So, I didn't give exact measurements.  My advice is to stay on the tart side of sweet because once the lemonade is mixed up, you can always stir in a bit more sugar or honey, but you can't take it out.     
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       To make the concentrate, you will need to heat up the juice and make sure that the sugar is dissolved.  I have read so many different recipes and reasons for doing things certain ways on various sites.  I decided that since I was canning this concentrate, the less I cooked the fresh juice, the better it would be.  So, I only heated up my juice and sugar  (or honey) mixture to just before it boiled.  Then, I ladled it into canning jars and steam canned it for 10 minutes.  I did quarts and pints together.  Everything sealed and the nice thing is that lemon is so acidic, it is a really safe thing to can.  
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Can you tell which jars have sugar and which has honey? LOL, of course the dark one has the honey.

     When replacing the sugar with honey, remember that honey as a stronger and sweeter taste than sugar, so you probably won't need as much honey as you do sugar.  For two cups of juice, I used just a little over a cup of honey.  In this recipe, you can taste the honey, so it adds a slightly different flavor to the lemonade when you make it. 
​     Here are the sugar and the honey varieties side by side: 

     The honey variety is also a very soothing beverage for someone suffering from a sore throat. 

     A lot of people in my part of the world have lemons dripping from their trees right now, and I feel so blessed to have them shared with me!  If you are one of the lucky ones who has lots of lemons in your life, I hope this recipe helps you out a bunch! Remember, the only difference between the honey sweetened and the sugar sweetened is the amount of honey is reduced.  Here is the recipe.  Click on it get the printable version! 
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     To mix up your lemonade, simply pour a jar of concentrate into a pitcher and add 3 jars of water to it. So, that is a ratio of 1:3, one part concentrate to 3 parts water.  Stir it up and add ice and you are set to go!  Also, I understand that lemon slices can be frozen, so if you do that, throw in a couple of those frozen slices when you serve it!  YUM! 

Lemon recipes from the past: 

• Lemon Bundt Cake
• Blackberry Lemon Bars
• Strawberry Lemonade Marmalade
• Lemon Curd Tart (gluten-free)

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