Home Canning Citrus

Driving down the streets of our community, I have noticed several citrus trees filled with fruit that never gets picked. Starting to think about how much was being wasted, I decided to do some research and see if it is possible to can the citrus and its juice. This morning, we had our first canning workshop where we learned a simple way to segment grapefruit and orange(without the membrane) and can the fruit and juice. For those of you who still have an abundance of citrus on your trees, here are the instructions.

How to Make Homemade/ Home-canned Lemon Juice or Orange Juice
Making and canning your own lemon or orange juice is easy. Here's how to make your own home canned citrus juice, complete instructions in easy steps and completely illustrated. The lemon juice will taste MUCH better than anything you've ever had from a store, and by selecting the right lemons, it will be so naturally-sweet that you won't need to add any sugar at all.
Prepared this way, the jars have a shelf life of 18 months to 2 years, and require no special attention.

Directions for Making Lemon Juice or Orange Juice
Ingredients
Lemons or oranges (see step 1)
Equipment
Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)
Lid lifter (has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling water where you sterilize them.
Jar funnel
At least 1 large pot (at least 8-quart size or larger)
Large spoons and ladles
Canning jars - about $7-8 per dozen at Costco and Walmart (including the lids and rings)
Sieve:
a simple metal or plastic sieve.
colander
Filters - if you want filtered juice
jelly bag
cheesecloth
coffee filters
1 Water Bath Canner. You CAN use a large pot instead, but the canners are deeper, and have a rack top make lifting the jars out easier. If you plan on canning every year, they're worth the investment.

Recipe and Directions
Step 1 - Selecting the lemons-
Select fresh, unspoiled fruit

Step 2 - How many lemons and where to get them
You can pick your own, or buy them at the grocery store.
You'll get about 12 to 20 quarts of lemon juice per bushel of lemons. Count on 15 or 16 quarts per bushel.

Step 3 - Wash the jars and lids
Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sterilize" cycle, the water bath processing will sterilize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher with a sterilize cycle, you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then sterilize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot water until they are used. Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot lemon juice.
Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out.

Step 4- Juice the Lemons/Oranges
Unfiltered juice:
You can refrigerate the juice for 24 to 48 hours and then decant it (without mixing, carefully pour off clear liquid and discard sediment).
Filtered juice:
A better way if you want filtered lemon juice is just to line your sieve or colander with several layers of cheese cloth and let the juice drip through. It could take an hour..
If you want really clear lemon juice (but most people prefer "natural" style with some solids) you can strain the juice through a paper coffee filter place inside a sieve or colander.
If you want more filtered lemon juice, use a jelly bag. Just pour hot prepared fruit pulp into a jelly bag and let it drip. . Do not squeeze the bag.! In my experience this method takes forever.
Note: One of the easiest ways to extract juice is by using a steam juicer available at many hardware and variety stores. If you plan on making a lot of juice or doing this every year, it may be worth buying one. This unique piece of equipment allows you to conveniently extract juice by steaming the fruit which is held in a retaining basket. The juice drops into a reservoir which has a tube outlet for removal. Follow manufacturer’s instructions for using steam juicer.

Step 5 - Heat the lemon juice
Put the lemon juice into a large pot.
The lemon juice does not need any further cooking; just get it heated to a low simmering boil and keep it hot until you get enough made to fill the jars you will put into the canner (Canners hold seven jars at once, whether they are quart or pint size)

Step 6 - Fill the jars and process them in the water bath
Fill them to within ¼-inch of the top, wipe any spilled lemon juice of the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Put them in the canner and keep them cover with at least 1 or 2 inches of water and boiling. if you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint or quart jars for 5 minutes and half gallon jars for 10 min. This assumes you kept the juice hit until you filled the jars. If you are at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, see the chart below
Recommended process time for Lemon Juice in a boiling-water canner.
Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack Jar Size 0 - 1,000 ft 1,001 - 6,000 ft Above 6,000 ft
Hot Pints or Quarts 5 min 10 15
Half-Gallons 10 min 15 20

Step 7 - Remove and cool the jars - Done
Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then remove the rings if you like. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.


Selecting, Preparing and Canning Grapefruit and Orange Sections
Quantity: An average of 15 pounds is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 13 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pint – an average of about 2 pounds yields 1 quart.
Quality: Select firm, mature, sweet fruit of ideal quality for eating fresh. The flavor of orange sections is best if the sections are canned with equal parts of grapefruit. Grapefruit may be canned without oranges. Sections may be packed in your choice of water, citrus juice or syrup.

Sugar Syrup

Syrup Sugar Water Yield
Light 2 cups 4 cups 5 cups
Medium 3 cups 4 cups 5 1/2 cups
Heavy 4 3/4 cups 4 cups 6 1/2 cups


To prepare syrup, while heating water, add sugar slowly, stirring constantly to dissolve. Bring to a gentle boil. Fill jars while syrup is still boiling hot.

Procedure: Wash and peel fruit and remove white tissue to prevent a bitter taste. Segment or section the fruit. If you use syrup, prepare a very light, light, or medium syrup and bring to boil. Fill jars with sections and water, juice or hot syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process.
Table 1. Recommended process time for Grapefruit and Orange Sections in a boiling-water canner.
Process Time at Altitudes of
0 - 1,000/10 min. ft 1,001 - 6,000 ft/15 min. Above 6,000 ft/20 min.