Berry Juice

 Berry Juice


1.  Thoroughly rinse berries, and place them in a heavy pot with just enough water to make them bob. Bring to a slow boil, mash with a potato masher or spoon, bring back to a boil, and remove from the heat. Cool slightly.

Mixture of raspberries, blueberries and saskatoon berries.

 2.  Pour the mashed berries into a jelly bag or a colander lined with several thicknesses of cheesecloth. Let drip overnight and collect the juice in a pot.
3.  For a 4L jug, mix one quart concentrate, 1 Cup sugar, fill with water.

Dripping Juice, Jug of Juice

4.  Add a teaspoon of lemon or lime juice per cup.  Boil juice.  Process in a BWB canner for 10 minutes.

Two quarts berry juice concentrate for the pantry

Blueberry, raspberry, watermelon

Blueberry Limeade

1 (10-ounce) package frozen blueberries (2 cups), thawed
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup sugar
5 cups chilled water
Fresh blueberries, for garnish
Lime slices, for garnish

 

Add the blueberries, lime juice, and sugar to a blender and puree. Pour the mixture into a large pitcher. Add the water and stir gently. Pour into glasses filled with ice and garnish with additional lime slices and blueberries.

Infused Waters

I cut them off of pop at home.  The boys, that is.  Husband and I continue to be bad...  I've been buying more juices (fake crap, cheaper than soda), and watering them down so they aren't so sickeningly sweet.  But spring has finally sprung, so it's time to add a little something else to the water jugs in the fridge.

Picture borrowed from facebook

Infused waters.  Put as much fruit in water as you like and let the water sit for at least 30 minutes before drinking.  Use as is, or add simple syrop.

Simple Syrop -- Boil 1 Cup water + 1 Cup sugar until dissolved.  Sweeten infused waters to taste.

• Mint 
• basil
• rosemary
• sage
• thyme
• lavender
• tarragon
• Green tea, mint, lime
• Ginger/tea
  In advance: heat 1 teaspoon of ginger in two cups of tea, let it cool down.
  Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water with two cups of the ginger tea + 4-5 pieces of fresh ginger cut into cubes. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
• Strawberry, kiwi
• Strawberry, basil
• Cucumber, lime, lemon, basil
• Cucumber and mint
• Cucumber with lemongrass -- Wash the cucumber.   Using a vegetable peeler remove some of the waxy peel from the cucumber.   Proceed to peel the cucumber into ribbons using the vegetable peeler.   Put the ribbons into the pitcher. Using your hands, peel away the rough outer edge of the lemongrass.  Cut the lemongrass in half, lengthwise.   Place the lemongrass onto a cutting board.   Using a rolling pin, gently smash the lemongrass.   Add to the pitcher of ice and cucumber ribbons. Fill with water.  Give a stir.   Let chill in the fridge at least an hour.
• All Citrus Flavoured Water  -- slice 1 orange, 1 lime, 1 lemon into rounds, then cut the rounds in half. Add to quart jar, press and twist with a muddler or the handle of a wooden spoon. Press enough to release some of the juices, but don't pulverize the fruit into pieces. Fill the jar with ice. Pour in water to the top. Stir. 
• Orange and thyme
• Orange and Vanilla Flavoured Water -- Combine orange slices, vanilla and water in a large pitcher, and mix well.
• Lime and Basil
• Grapefruit
• Grapefruit/mandarin (fresh sliced and mulled)
• Lemon/ginger (grated ginger and fresh squeezed lemon)
• Lime/mint leaf
• Mango/kiwi (a light tropical taste)
• Blueberries (add frozen to your water bottle and let melt – You have yummy blueberry water)
• Pomegranate/blueberry
• Fruit herb teas
• Raspberry Lime Flavoured Water -- Quarter 2 limes; with your hands, squeeze the juice into quart jar, then throw in the squeezed lime quarters. Add raspberries. Press and twist with a muddler to release some of the juices (don't pulverize the fruit). Fill the jar with ice, then add water to the top. Stir, cover, and refrigerate.
•  Pineapple Mint Flavoured Water -- Add a sprig of mint to quart jar--you can throw in the whole sprig; or, remove the leaves from the sprig, if you prefer to have the mint swimming around and distributing in the jar. Muddle the mint--the goal is to bruise the leaves and release their flavor--don't pulverize them into bits. Add pineapple pieces, press and twist with the muddler to release juices. Add ice to the top and then water. Stir, cover, and refrigerate.
• Blackberry Sage Flavoured Water -- Add sage leaves to quart jar and bruise with a muddler. Add blackberries; press and twist with muddler to release their juices. Fill jar with ice cubes, add water to the top, stir, cover and refrigerate.
•  Blackberries with lemon and ginger
• Watermelon Rosemary Flavoured Water -- Add a sprig of rosemary to quart jar and muddle gently (rosemary releases a strong flavor without much muddling). Add watermelon cubes; twist and press gently to release juices. Fill jar with ice cubes, add water to the top, stir, cover and refrigerate.
•  Watermelon and Jalapeno -- Make simple syrop and infuse jalapeno and thyme for 5 minutes. Remove the jalapeno and thyme.  Pour syrup and chopped watermelon into a blender. Blend until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Serve cold over ice.
• Clover flowers
• Peach Slices and Cayenne Pepper
• Apples and Cinnamon cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon, and apples
• Rhubarb
• Dandelion -- Rinse and peel away all greenery

Rhubarb Juice

Rhubarb Juice

Pick, wash, cut rhubarb into 1" pieces.

Pulverize rhubarb in Magic Bullet (blender).

Let drain through strainer overnight.

Pour juice through fine mesh strainer, leaving as much pulp, foam, and sludge behind as possible.

 

Dilute and sweeten to taste.  I mixed it half and half with water and 2/3 Cup sugar.  Chilling in the fridge.

Year two:  I mixed one quart rhubarb juice with 1 cup sugar, then filled the 4L jug to the top with water.  Excellent.

From DIY Housewife

Lemonade

Lemonade

40 lemons
water to cover
1 cup sugar for every 4 cups liquid

About halfway through juicing the lemons I started wondering why I was farting around with all of these steps.  When I made the citrus concentrate, I put the peels back in the reserve water, to try to loosen up more juice.  Then I used all of the reserved water.  I quit juicing the lemons, cut them all in half, gave each a quick squeeze, then tossed it all back into the reserved water. 

Poured in the lemon zest that I had previously peeled, and I put it back on the stove to boil for 10 minutes.

I strained out the liquid from the lemon peels, for 20 cups of liquid.  I added 5 cups of sugar, and boiled the juice again to dissolve. 

It's a little too much zest, but drinkable.  Next time, I'll try the same method, but peel and discard the zest from about half the lemons.

Grape Juice

Grapes were on sale this week for 88/lb, so I had to try Canning Granny's grape juice recipe. If this works, I'll try it with blueberries next year as well.

Grape Juice

Sterilize jars.  Boil a pot of water.  Heat water bath.  Wash grapes. 

In each quart jar, put 1 cup of grapes and 1/2 cup sugar.  Cover with boiled water.  Place lids, and swirl each jar to dissolve sugar.

Process in BWB 20 minutes.

Wait 2 months.  Strain grapes.  Drink juice.

Crabapple Recipes

Great tutorial on crabapples here.

Changes I made:

Crabapple Jelly

8 cups	crabapple juice
8 cups	sugar

4 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp allspice

Measure juice into a large broad saucepan; add sugar, spices, stirring to dissolve. Boil over high heat until jelly stage is reached. Remove from heat, skim and pour into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 in (.5 cm) headspace. Seal. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Crabapple Sauce

10 cups	crabapple pulp
3 cups	sugar

4 Tbsp cinnamon
5 cups water

Combine pulp, water, spice, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Fill sterilized pint  jars leaving 1/2 in (1 cm) headspace. Seal. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Crabapple Juice

Boil crabapples 20 minutes.
Strain juice from pulp 2 hours.  (Keeps the juice from getting too thick).

Bring juice to boil.  Add 2 cups sugar for every 3 cups juice. Stir until dissolved.   Remove from heat.  Pour into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Process in BWB 10 minutes.

Citrus Lemonade Concentrate

Lemon Squash (or Lemonade) and Orange Squash


Citrus Lemonade Concentrate

20 lemons and limes
zest of 4 lemons
zest of 2 limes
8 cups sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
fresh mint

 Wash fruit.  Peel the zest from 4 lemons and 2 limes.  Set aside.

Heat fruit in a large pot of water for about 3 minutes to loosen the pulp.  Remove fruit.  Save liquid.

Juice the fruit, remove seeds, run through food processor.

Combine 4 Cups juice with 8 Cups reserved water, zest, sugar, mint and cinnamon.  Bring to a boil.

Strain out zests and mint.

Fill sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Process in BWB 10 minutes.

To serve, mix concentrate with 4 equal parts cold water.  Stir well.


Makes 18 half pints.