I’m so excited with how easy it was to make a nutritious fresh juice in such a convenient way. I received my steam juicer as a Christmas gift last year and had been eagerly waiting to use it. All summer we went to farmers markets with hopes of finding berries in bulk, but no luck. This holiday season I’ve got a full-force cranberry obsession. After trying my easy honey cranberry juice recipe, I had to give this juice a go. I was blown away with how dark and concentrated this steam juicer cranberry juice appears. I think it would be absolutely delicious in a punch or holiday cocktail/mocktail. Canning isn’t always about main food groups only or emergency preparedness. Sometimes these fun recipes are just as important to have on the shelf.
Why use honey instead of sugar?
Much like my easy honey cranberry juice, I wanted to keep these ingredients as natural as possible by using honey as my sweetener again. Given some of the autoimmune issues I’ve encountered, I try my best to avoid processed sugar and cane sugar. I’m not perfectly strict my any means, but when it comes to canning, it’s easy for me to choose what goes in it. Some of these granulated sugars can inflame the body. This is why I always opt for honey or maple syrup when possible.
I will say that using the steam juicer can sometimes be a two-person job. Cranberries don’t have a ton of juice, which is why there wasn’t much juice in the canner. I ended up having Chris tip the juicer forward so I could get all of the liquid. I probably could’ve jimmied something together myself, but I can guarantee it wouldn’t have gone well. I’m looking forward to getting different fruits to try out in this.
Use this steam juicer cranberry juice as a holiday gift or in a holiday recipe. Cranberry is a very tasty flavor of this season and I’m thrilled I got to use it in canning.
Steam Juicer Cranberry Juice
An easy way to get a tasty concentrated juice out of a bunch of cranberries. This would make the best holiday punch ingredient.
Ingredients
- 8 12oz bags of cranberries
- Honey (½ cup per quart jar)
- Lemon juice (2 TBSP per quart jar)
Instructions
- Prepare steam juicer and waterbath canner according to instructions.
- Sort cranberries. Given they’re going in the steam juicer, just discard/compost the mushy ones. We can keep some of the imperfect ones since they’re not going in the jar.
- Once sorted, pour cranberries into the top of the steam juicer. Let sit for 1 hour, occasionally stirring the fruit.
- When the steam juicing is finished, shut the heat off. Get your quart jars cleaned and ready.
- Put ½ cup honey and 2 TBSP lemon juice into each quart jar. Take jar and add the cranberry juice to half inch headspace.
- Wipe rims, add lids and rings, then put jars into the canner.
- Process jars for 25 minutes*. Once finished, let sit overnight (or roughly that timeframe).
Notes
*25 minutes (both pints and quarts) if under 1,000 feet in elevation. For 1,000 to 6,000 feet, process for 30 minutes. Above 6,000 feet process for 35 minutes