Canning Cherry Juice Concentrate with the Help of Steam Juicer
Canning cherry juice concentrate is achieved with the use of a steam juicer and a steam canner. Consuming black cherry juice concentrate is beneficial for your health, containing anthocyanins which helps with inflammatory. Store homemade cherry juice concentrate by canning or freezing it for later consumption.
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Homemade Cherry Juice Concentrate
Homemade juice is incredible. It is absolutely, without a doubt delicious and free of chemical preservatives. Homemade cherry juice concentrate doesn’t have to take hours to complete, as a matter of fact, it should be effortless, taking roughly 30 minutes.
If making juice is taking you any longer than 30 minutes, consider reevaluating the processes. Friends, there are better things to do with our time than being tied to the kitchen.
A steam juicer was introduced to me at the beginning of our journey to food ownership. And in truth, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. But as time went on the steam juicer became one of the most valued preserving tools in the cupboard.
Look, we’re busy people and it’s truly about being able to preserve foods as efficiently and effectively as possible. This is where modern preserving tools meet a traditional world of home food preservation.
Additional Cherry Preserving Recipes
- Canning Cherry Salsa
- Cherry Chipotle BBQ Sauce
- Canning Cherry Juice Concentrate
- Chunky Cherry Jam
- Brandied Cherries
A Steam Juicer
This preserving tool has taken preserving the harvest, specifically juice concentrate, to a new level.
Gone are the days of boiling the fruit and hanging it in cheesecloth to extract the juice. Upon the completion of the first round of extracting the liquid, a second round of filtering must begin.
Canning black cherry juice concentrate, or any fruit concentrate for that matter, means no sediment bust be in the liquid. Hence, why the process of making juice concentrate the traditional way takes time. Lots of time.
However, a steam juicer cuts the amount of time to extract the juice to a fraction of the time spent. There is no longer a need to boil, hang, and filter juice for a second time to achieve a juice concentrate. There is only 1 tool and 1 step.
A Steam Juicer is Not a Juicer
A juicer does not have the same functions as a steam juicer. These two appliances are very different, with different purposes.
Fruit Juicer
A juicer produces a product which contains both the juice of the fruit and its sediments. The juice extracted from a juicer cannot be canned. In addition to containing juice it also contains sediments from the fruit or vegetable. It is the sediment which makes it unable to be canned.
Steam Juicer
Unlike a juicer the steam juicer extracts only the juice of the fruit or vegetable item. Which in turn makes it able to be canned.
The Components of a Steam Juicer
The steam juicer is made of three components. In order to understand the difference between this and a juicer, you have to know the parts and what each does.
The water tank – The base holds the water which creates steam once water reaches a boiling point.
The reservoir – Extracted juice from the fruits and vegetable is stored within the reservoir. A food grade silicone hose which is attached to the reservoir is used to release the juice directly to jars.
The colander – This section holds fruits and vegetables which will be made into a concentrate. The entire fruit including stems, peel, and seeds is added to the colander. There is no need to remove the stems, fruit cores, or even the pits from cherries to make this homemade cherry juice concentrate.
Still on the fence about the steam juicer? Learn more in my article on canning grape juice concentrate.
The Sustainable Canning Course
Are you searching for canning classes near you? Look no further! The Sustainable Canning Course is a self-paced series of online classes designed to help you on the road to achieving food ownership.
The Sustainable Canning Course is an extension of my book, The Farm Girl’s Guide to Preserving the Harvest. I wrote this book to help guide those who seek to own their food source the opportunity to do so. It is a comprehensive, easy to understand book covering all methods of home food preservation, canning, drying, fermenting, curing, freezing, and storing fresh foods.
- Understand why pressure canning is necessary to preserve foods.
- Confidently alter or create recipes to be canned.
- Preserve many tomato products utilizing scientific information with traditional tools.
- How modern canning tools, such as the steam canner and steam juicer, revolutionized preserving methods.
- Understanding how to decipher information shared by the National Center of Home Food Preservation.
- Discover how easy it is to can meat, fish, soups, and stews.
These topics and many more are available within The Sustainable Canning Course. Reserve your spot now, and begin gleaning the necessary information needed to preserve foods as a modern sustainable homesteader does.
Instructions for Making and Canning Cherry Juice Concentrate
- Add water to the water tank and place onto the stove. Bring the water to a boil.
- Wash cherries, discard removing any fruit which is bruised or rotten. Add fruit, including stems and pits, to the colander.
- Add the steam juicer components, first the water tank, next the reservoir, and finally the colander and lid. Apply the clamp to the hose to prevent the liquid from escaping.
- Allow the steam to extract the juice for 30 minutes. With the hose, release the extract juice concentrate direct into appropriate mason jars leaving 1/4-headspace.
- Wipe rims of jars, add warmed lids and rings, process according to your altitude. See the chart below.
My Book
The Farm Girl’s Guide to Preserving the Harvest is a comprehensive book covering multiple methods for preserving foods in the comfort of your home. Learn how to safely can, dry, ferment, cure, freeze, and store foods fresh as a sustainable homesteader would. The tips, tricks, and recipes within this book will provide you the confidence and knowledge needed to own your food source.
Canning Cherry Juice Concentrate
Preserving cherry juice concentrate through canning is quite easy to achieve. The steam canner has replaced the hot waterbath canner due these three factors:
- processes foods using only 2-inches of water
- less wear and tear on stove burners, and it is ideal for glasstop stoves
- reduces the amount of heat during the canning process
Use the chart below to determine the correct processing time:
| Jar Size | 0 – 1,000 feet | 1,001 – 6,000 feet | Above 6,001 feet |
| Pint/Quart | 5 mins | 10 mins | 15 mins |
| 1/2 Gallon | 10 mins | 15 mins | 20 mins |
Process half gallon jars using a turkey fryer.
Black Cherry Juice
Canning cherry juice concentrate is not something many consider when preserving this stone fruit. However, it is worth trying. For example, canning tart cherries provides those who suffer from gout or extreme inflammation relief throughout the year due to the high amounts of anthocyanins found in cherries.
Home canned cherry juice concentrate is used for cooking, baking, drinking, and added to flavor fermented beverages.
- A flavor Kombucha tea
- Use to flavor pancakes, cakes, and even waffles
- Flavor homemade yogurt
- Vinaigrette salad dressing
- Make popsicle
- A healthy juice option
To create a zero waste product use the exhausted cherries to make fruit leather bites.
I assume the jars need sterilization, but is the steamed juice pasturized in this process? Do I need to add, say, citric acid or some other preservative?
What is the shelf life of the cherry juice ? I also presume storage in the dark.
Can sterilized PET (ie, bottled water) bottles be used?
If new jars are being used they will NOT need to be sterilized according to Ball. However, recycled jars will definitely need to be sterilized prior to canning. If you plan on canning this juice concentrate then mason jars will need to be used or glass jars which can handle the canning process. Water bottles do not have the capability to reseal themselves, hence not making them shelf stable. This is juice concentrate which is canned, no acidic booster needs to be added to make this shelf stable. In regards to storage, most canned goods are kept in the pantry, root cellar, or cold storage space. Placing canned goods in direct sunlight will cause the goods to discolor. Juice concentrate generally lasts up to 6 to 9 months prior to it becoming vinegary.
If you do not have a steam caner, what are the times for a water bath? We use the cherry juice in place of sugar when doing raw pack.
The same time as you would process items in a hot water bath canner.
Hi there thank you for this post. Could I get some more information as to why juice form a juicer cannot be canned? I have done his with apple juice from our apples and now I’m concerned. Thanks so much.
Hi there, the juice from a juicer contains sediments (remnants of the item being juiced). What you receive from a steam juicer is a product which is 100% free of any sediment. The juice you receive from a juicer can be frozen if you’d like to preserve it that way.
In one of the imaging pictures canning jars in a large Turkey pan, for hot water bath procedure. Does the jars not need to be submerged?
The preserving tool you see in the photo is called a steam canner. This processes foods as a hot water bath canner (aka boiling water canner) would EXCEPT with the use of steam and 2 inches of water. A steam canner has revolutionized how high acidic food items are preserved – less wear and tear on your stove burner, safe for glasstop stoves, minimizes the amount of heat distributed, and ultimately the most convenient tool on the market. Not to mention approved by the NCHFP as an approved canning tool.