Sunday, September 2, 2012

Citrus Lemonade Concentrate

I've been reading the back posts over at Canning Granny's blog (one of my new favourites), and came across these two posts, Lemon Squash (or Lemonade) and Orange Squash and I knew I had to try that!  I just happened to have a bunch of lemons and limes in the fridge, too, so I set about making a Citrus Squash.

Let me tell you, a little bit of lime goes a long, long way!

I of course, didn't follow the directions.  :)  Not completely.  Next time I will, lol.

For this batch, I think I had more limes than lemons, but limes are small, so I kind of figured a two to one ratio.  I washed them, then heated them, saving the liquid.  Well heating them did such an AMAZING job of loosening up the insides, and I don't have a juicer, so after squeezing out as much juice and pulp as I could with my hands, I tossed them back into the reserved water, to see if any more juice would come out.

I didn't want to waste the pulp, and I tend not to do things in small batches, so I juiced every one of them.  I got 4 cups of juice and pulp.
After reheating the reserved water, I pulled out the lemon and lime shells and measured the water.  8 Cups.

I sincerely thought about tossing the extra 4 cups, but it was such a pretty yellow colour, and smelled very much like lemonade...  In it went.  A total of 12 cups of lemon/lime liquid.  I didn't want to make it too sweet, so I started with 6 cups of sugar (double the original recipe for 2 cups of juice), added the lemon zest, and brought it to a boil.

Then we did a taste test.  Sour?  Not exactly.  Tart?  Yes, but...  The taste of the lime was just overpowering.

I added 2 more cups of sugar and brought it back to a boil.  Another taste test.  The lime was still overpowering.

I looked through the fridge and cupboards for something that would tone it down.  I settled on cinnamon, added a bit to my glass, and tasted again.  That's better.

I added three heaping teaspoons of cinnamon to the pot and brought it back to a boil.  It smells and looks like apple cider.  It still tastes like lime, but not overpoweringly.  A bit of mint would probably help, but I didn't think of that until after I had jarred and processed it.  Drinkable, at any rate, which is good, since I ended up with 18 half pints.

And, oh yeah, the pickle factory is still in business...

8 comments:

  1. it looks like an awesome recipe and you know that i am going to be trying it. something that might cut the bite of the lime is a bit of ginger maybe??? i make ginger-lemonade regularly...i find that a bit of ginger just takes the bite off of the tartness....and i use a lot less sugar when using the ginger.

    i would kill for that pickle factory! they look divine!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, kymber. I could try that as we use it.

      Oh, they are pretty darn good, lol. As I was making yesterday's batch #2 says to me, is there a way to just can cucumbers without wrecking them? Gee, thanks, kid.

      He was worried about all of those jars of pickles I had done not turning out. Honestly, I haven't had more than a jar or two turn out since we left the south. Of course, we haven't had a cucumber grow here either, and store bought cukes just aren't at their peak of freshness.

      So we opened a jar. And then another. They're only 5 weeks in, for best results wait 8 weeks, and they are already that good! lol

      Delete
  2. Earlier this summer I made a strawberry/lemon concentrate.
    Turned out pretty good especially when I mix it with some club soda. Using Kimbers idea of the ginger sounds wonderful. Think I might try that too. The concentrate might be good once cold season comes around as well.

    I goofed this year not planting cucs. I thought I had enough pickles and relish from last year but my bread and butter pickles are down to one jar! Dreadfull! I'll have to wait till next year I guess. If you think of it, and next time your camera is out, take a pic of your canning closet/pantry. I'd (we'd) love to see the total efforts of all your labor.

    PS You need to change your masthead Pic before it starts to snow again. I'm just saying (hee hee)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mmmm... Strawberry lemonade would be delicious!

      Oh no! Yes, dreadfull!

      I have misplaced my camera. Shameful, I know. So no new header for now.

      I usually do a cold room post in the fall. It's coming.

      Delete
  3. Wendy,
    Your post title confused me since I have never known of lemon squash. I thought this was going to be post about vegetables flavored with lemons!

    You may remember when I found 30 lbs of lemons when dumpster diving. I froze the juice in 4 oz Ball canning/freezing jars. This seems like a better solution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My post title was Citrus Lemonade Concentrate. ;)~ Squash is apparently a European term.

      What did you do with your juice afterwards?

      Delete
  4. Your kitchen must have smelled amazing! I love the taste of lime juice, but you are right. It doesn't take much to add flavour.

    ReplyDelete