Name: Homemade Canned Cranberry Juice
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: Per Jar; 1 3/4 cup fresh cranberries; 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar; Boiling Water

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Steps to canning cranberry juice

Wash the whole cranberries.
Add 1 3/4 cups of cranberries to each quart jar.
Add up 1/4 to 1/2 cups of sugar.
Add boiling water.
Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and put on lids.
Put the jars in the water bath canner and process for 25 minutes.

Introduction

Another great thing that I have learned recently is how to make and can homemade cranberry juice! I love it! It is also a very easy recipe of course. The best time to buy fresh cranberries from the grocery store is around Thanksgiving. I bought them at Aldi for $1.49 for a 12 oz bag and then again later for .99 cents. Now that I know how awesome the juice is, next year I plan to stock up and freeze bags to make throughout the year. I originally canned 14 quart jars and thought that was a lot, but rapidly ran out. I did find cranberries at the grocery store in January, but they were much more expensive than they are during the holiday season.

This is such a great way to make your own good quality juice and so natural without the high fructose corn syrup in commercial juice.

Cranberry juice is rich in vitamin C, which helps keep your immune system healthy and functioning properly. Cranberry juice has many health benefits, including preventing urinary tract infections (UTIs). Cranberries are filled with an antioxidant called proanthocyanidins (PAC). PACs reduce the ability for bacteria to stick to the wall of a urinary tract and thus reduce the chances of developing UTIs.

Preparation

The first thing to do is to wash cranberries.

Cranberries in a colander — Washing cranberries

Make sure you have clean jars and then place about 1 3/4 cup of the whole berries in each quart jar. Using a canning funnel helps the process. Each 12 ounce bag makes about 2 quarts of juice.

Add cranberries to a jar using a canning funnel

Add anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar to each jar. The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but I have seen that you can add less amount of sugar, just not less than 1/4 cup. The sugar is needed to draw the juice out of the berries. Although a friend of mine did use the sugar substitute stevia and she said her homemade canned cranberry juice still turned out awesome. I used between 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar in mine and it was great. I may try to use less sugar next time.

Then add boiling water to each jar. I also use the funnel to add the hot water. Fill to 1/2 inch headspace. Remove the air bubbles, wipe the rims of the jars and add the lids and screw bands.

debubbling the jars of cranberries, sugar and water — Debubbling the jars

Canning the Cranberry Juice

Cranberry juice is a high acid food therefore can be water batch canned.

Place the jars in the water bath. Use a jar lifter, as shown below. These are invaluable for putting the jars into and out of a canner.

I have a glass top stove, so did not want to risk water bath canning on the stove as it could break the glass. If you have a glass-top stove and want to use it, research it and see what the risks are. I know many that use their glass top stoves for canning. It is important to check with the manufacture regarding canning on your glass top. One risk is that the pot with the water and contents could be too heavy. I used to use my gas grill burner outside with a regular canning pot. About 3 years ago, I purchased a Ball electric water bath canner. I love it. It works great and has a spout that you can use to empty the water into your sink. It holds 9 pints or 7 quarts.

Placing jars into the canner using a jar lifter — Using a jar lifter to put the jars into the canner

jars in the canner with steam rising — Jars of cranberry juice in the canner

Process for 25 minutes at a full rolling boil. Process pints the same amount of time. When the time is up turn off the heat, remove your canner lid and remove the hot jars with your jar lifter. Place them on a towel on the counter and let sit for 24 hours without disturbing the jars. Store your jars of extracted juice in a cool dark place.

The Results

At this point, the cranberries are cooked and canned, but the juice won’t be ready to drink for another 4-6 weeks. Seems like a long time, when you see how good the juice looks. You can drink it sooner, it will just be less concentrated juice.

Canned cranberry juice — Juice right after being canned

This is what the delicious juice looks like after the 4 to 6 weeks of waiting for the cranberry juice recipe to be further extracted.

Cranberry Juice in Jar — Juice after 4 to 6 weeks and ready to drink

When ready to drink the juice strain juice to remove the cranberries and enjoy your fresh cranberry juice!

Canned cranberry juice in a glass — Canned cranberry juice on ice

What do with the leftover cranberries

There are several things you can do with the cranberries that are strained from the juice.

Freeze to be used later, such as in smoothies
Dehydrate the cranberries
Use in a recipe
Keep the cranberries in the juice and run it through your smoothie maker, such as a Nutri-Bullet.

cranberry juice smoothie — Cranberry juice with cranberries made into smoothie

Making Similar Juices

I have heard that you can use this same basic recipe to make other fruit juices, such as grape juice. I may try that in the future.

For more of my canning and other favorite recipes and other homestead-type activities, such as gardening and raising chickens, go to my website www.HawkPointHomestead.com. For updates, please follow my Facebook page at Hawk Point Hobby Homestead.

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